Banks take FTSE 100 lower after US figures disappoint October 15, 2009 THE FTSE 100 closed lower on yesterday as banks fell after US banking earnings failed to meet some expectations, while miners tracked metal prices down. The index ended down 0.6 per cent, or 33.15 points at 5,222.95, retreating from a 56-week closing high set on Wednesday. Although third-quarter earnings from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup came [...]
Tesco starts to close gap on faster growing rivals October 13, 2009 TESCO, the UK’s largest retailer, is closing the gap on faster-growing competitors, market researcher TNS WorldPanel said yesterday. TNS, which tracks sales growth in the grocery sector, said sales at Tesco, which has been growing less quickly than rivals in recent months, rose 4.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 4 October. This was [...]
Insurers fail to lift the FTSE as investors await US results October 7, 2009 BRITAIN’S leading shares closed lower yesterday as falls in oil majors and food retailers offset gains in insurers as investors waited for the start of the earnings seasons in the US to give a fresh direction. The FTSE 100 closed down 29.08 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,108.90, after ending 2.3 per cent higher [...]
Banks and oil lead the markets lower October 7, 2009 EUROPEAN shares closed lower yesterday with banking and oil stocks leading the fallers, as investors booked profits ahead of the US third-quarter corporate results season. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.4 per cent at 988.76 points. The benchmark index is up 19 per cent this year and has surged 53 [...]
Tesco set to report slower sales growth October 4, 2009 TESCO, Britain’s biggest retailer, is set to report slower underlying UK sales growth than rival J Sainsbury for the fifth quarter in a row this week, alongside a small rise in first-half profit. But analysts expect Tesco to flag a stronger second-half profit performance, and some see signs it is beginning to close the gap [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 24, 2009 HALFORDS GROUPAhead of Halfords’ second-quarter trading update on 8 October, Investec upgraded its forecasts and its target price to 435p, from 400p. The broker believes a combination of better weather and more “staycations” than last year will deliver a more robust performance than previously expected, and says “buy”. WM MORRISONJefferies International upped its target price [...]
SILVER SHINE MATCHES GOLD’S GLEAM September 14, 2009 DAVID MORRISONCFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFTPLENTY has been written about gold’s recent advance and its break above the $1,000 mark. And if you are bullish on the yellow metal you may also want to look at silver. Until the late 1800s, the gold-silver price ratio was fairly constant at around 15 to 1 due to their [...]
Spike in share sales triggers market fears September 10, 2009 A FLOOD of share sales in the US coupled with the busiest week for initial public offerings (IPOs) in almost two years could mean that the recent market rally is nearing the end. September is on pace to be the busiest month for secondary issuance since May, which some portfolio managers see as a sign [...]
Profit up 45pc at Morrison as sales boom September 10, 2009 WM MORRISON, the smallest “big four” supermarket, reported another stellar rise in like-for-like sales yesterday, helping it to book a 45 per cent pre-tax profit rise to £449m in the first half. Morrisons, which has staged an industry-beating sales boom in the recession, said profits were in-line with expectations and that 19 stores it bought [...]
HOW WOULD YOU RATE WM MORRISON’S PERFORMANCE? September 10, 2009 NICK BUBB PALI INTERNATIONALThe results were in-line with expectations, but that shouldn’t take anything away from what was a very good performance. Dare I say it, it was better than Sainsbury’s. The stores they bought from the Co-operative Group opened earlier than expected, and that bodes well for the longer-term push into smaller stores. SAM [...]