Whatever your view on the market there are tools to take advantage October 19, 2009 RECESSION or recovery? Deflation or inflation? New bull market or dead-cat bounce? These are the issues which have dominated investors’ attention throughout the first nine months of the year. Equities have plunged and rallied, yields on government bonds have blown out and contracted sharply, while commodity prices have soared and sterling and the dollar have [...]
Russia to raise $18bn by bond October 18, 2009 RUSSIA is to launch its first international bond in a decade in a bid to boost its public finances. Russia, which last issued a bond aimed at international investors in 2000, has signalled plans to raise up to $18bn (£11bn) in dollar-denominated securities in the first quarter of next year as the cost of borrowing [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 15, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BUYERS AWAIT DYSON’S FANSSir James Dyson, champion of British industrial design, has launched his latest invention aimed at catapulting the conventional electric desk fan into the 21st century. His “Air Multiplier” fan boasts reduced energy consumption and no external blades. But fans of Dyson inventions must wait several weeks for the fan to [...]
Nervy Argentina seal place at the last October 14, 2009 DIEGO MARADONA was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief last night after his Argentina side secured their place at next summer’s finals with a nervy 1-0 win in Uruguay. Defeat in their final qualifier could have knocked the two-time champions out altogether, or at least sent them into a play-off. But a scrappy [...]
RUSSIA AND CHINA INK DEALS October 13, 2009 RUSSIAN and Chinese companies have signed deals worth $3.5bn (£2.2bn) during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing, where he was hosted by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao. The deals included a $500m loan from the Agricultural Bank of China to Russia’s second biggest lender VTB.
Changing oil currency wouldn’t hurt the buck October 13, 2009 QUESTIONING the dollar’s status as a global reserve currency has become almost de rigueur in the past few weeks. In fact, it has been an ongoing discussion for some months now. It was discussed at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the end of September and then a news report last week suggested that the [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 12, 2009 BURBERRY GROUPDeutsche Bank raised its target price for Burberry to 620p, with a “buy” recommendation, ahead of the retailer’s second quarter sales update tomorrow. The broker said that expectations appear to be reasonably high, but that it believes that, most significantly, excess inventory will have been cleared through. DUNELM GROUPInvestec said that the recent placing [...]
Russia’s economy set to shrink October 11, 2009 President Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Russia’s economy will shrink by 7.5 per cent in 2009, but said intervention by the Kremlin had prevented a worse decline. The country, which relies massively on oil exports, has been hit by the massive slump in energy prices. Medvedev said his government had been surprised by the severity [...]
Telenor makes peace with Alfa and plans $23bn merger October 5, 2009 NORWEGIAN Telenor and Russian Alfa Group have agreed to merge their Russian and Ukrainian holdings into a $23bn (£14.4bn) New-York listed telecoms firm, ending one of Russia’s longest corporate wars. Telenor’s stock surged 15 per cent on the news the row had ended. The dispute was seen as a major threat to foreign investment in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPER SAY THIS MORNING October 4, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESBERMUDA LOOKS TO BECOME HUB FOR CAT BONDSBermuda is making a push to become a leading centre for catastrophe bonds and other forms of specialist insurance investment by creating a special type of regulatory regime. Matthew Elderfield, chief executive of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, expects the next wave of capital that enters the insurance [...]