GOLDMAN, GOLD AND GOLDILOCKS May 3, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT OVER the past week, a number of big stories have jostled each other off the front pages. The Greek debt crisis went critical and the odds of European contagion shortened after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece, Spain and Portugal. On Friday it was reported that Goldman Sachs may face [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 29, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES STEEL INDUSTRY SET FOR A ‘NEW VOLATILITY’ Lakshmi Mittal warned yesterday that the impending large rise in the costs of iron ore would lead to “new volatility” in the steel industry by pushing up prices of the metal in a development that could harm the competitiveness of some of ArcelorMittal’s European plants. The [...]
ENI to approve EDF entry into South Stream April 29, 2010 Eni should approve French utility EDF’s entry to its South Stream gas pipeline venture within weeks, giving a boost to the mammoth project which had appeared to be stalling as gas prices plunged. Eni chief executive Paolo Scaroni yesterday said the allocation of a stake to EDF did not necessarily have to be equally split [...]
Pernod Ricard bullish for 2010 as duty-free thrives April 29, 2010 FRENCH drinks group Pernod Ricard lifted its full-year profit target as it posted third-quarter sales above forecasts and said key markets such as the United States, Russia as well as duty free had improved. Pernod’s comparable third-quarter sales in North and South America combined rose three per cent, in Asia and the rest of the [...]
Iron-clad entertainment April 29, 2010 Film IRON MAN II Cert: 12A Compared to the brooding darkness of the Batman films or the commercial cynicism of the Transformers franchise, 2008’s Iron Man was a breezy joy of a blockbuster, and so is its sequel. It may lose the thread of its plot from time to time, and the final showdown is [...]
Shell profits soar on high crude prices April 28, 2010 OIL major Royal Dutch Shell, yesterday announced a 49 per cent rise in profits on the back of higher oil prices and growth in production. Europe’s largest oil producer said earnings on a current cost of supply basis, were $4.9bn (£3.2bn) for the first three months of the year, up from $3.3bn in the equivalent [...]
BAT struggles as cigarette demand falls April 28, 2010 BRITISH American Tobacco reported a four per cent fall in underlying first quarter volumes yesterday as fewer customers bought cigarettes. The London-based group, which makes Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes, said its consumers were finding economic conditions difficult and volumes suffered as a result of the decline in some markets. Overall volumes [...]
In such skilled hands, intrigue in Stalinist Russia cannot fail to grip April 28, 2010 THE BETRAYAL BY HELEN DUNMORE Fig Tree, £18.99 Dunmore is one of the literary establishment’s most respected practitioners: she’s a poet and an Orange Prize short-listed author. Her work isn’t light reading, but fans call it some of the most rewarding on the shelves today. Following on from The Siege (short-listed for the Orange Prize [...]
BAT sees volumes fall but sales hold up April 28, 2010 BRITISH American Tobacco, the world’s No 2 cigarette maker, reported a four per cent fall in underlying first-quarter volumes but said price rises led to good sales growth and it remains on track for 2010. The London-based group, which makes Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes, said that its consumers were finding economic [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 26, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FISHMEAL PRICES SCALE ALL-TIME HIGH The price of fishmeal, the key feedstuff for salmon and shrimp aquaculture, has surged to an all-time high after an earthquake wiped out processing plants in Chile, the world’s second-biggest exporter of the commodity, this year. The blow comes as the industry is already battling a supply squeeze [...]