STOCKS MUST NOT RELY ON QE STIMULUS January 3, 2011 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT AS WE head into the new year, there are a number of significant financial and economic issues still unresolved. The most immediate problem is the European debt crisis. The potential insolvency of many banks and the high levels of public debt of many member states will continue to weigh on the [...]
Government guarantees on loans create ethical perils, report says December 19, 2010 GOVERNMENT guarantees of bank creditors warp incentives and damage the “ethical foundations of capitalism”, according to a report out today. State guarantees create a system in which “the poor pay taxes to keep the rich rich, regardless of how foolish or lazy the loans they have made might be”, said the influential think tank Policy [...]
Emerging markets can give us all Christmas cheer December 19, 2010 WITH temperatures dropping to -15C and snow making it impossible to get to shops to fill those all important stockings, it’s hard to partake in this year’s Christmas cheer. It’s even harder to be jolly after a year that promised the beginnings of great things, which never came. But hope is the mantra for the [...]
Give your career a new year’s boost December 8, 2010 WITH 2011 on the horizon, now is an excellent time to start thinking about adding a new string to your bow. If you are in search of a New Year’s Resolution, you could do worse than choose to study for a professional qualification. Luckily, there are options this January. BPP is launching its MBA next [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 6, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES EMPLOYER OPTIMISM INCREASES IN BIG ECONOMIES Hiring in the US and half a dozen other leading economies will increase for the first time in more than two years during the first quarter of 2011, according to a report released on Monday by Manpower, a global recruiting firm. Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey shows plans [...]
Two dangers to look out for in 2011 November 30, 2010 AS readers know, I am relatively sanguine about the outlook for the global and UK economies next year. But this doesn’t mean that I’m blind to the risks facing the recovery. Two in particular worry me. The first is the possibility of a break-up of the euro. Arturo de Frias at Evolution Securities has crunched [...]
Football clubs have to look to long-term November 30, 2010 INSOLVENCY is becoming more common for football clubs. So how can clubs avoid administration in the hard times ahead? What can administrators do to prevent it? The unique – and controversial – element of a football club insolvency is the requirement that certain football related creditors be paid in full as a condition of the [...]
Brussels pushes for short-selling ban power November 26, 2010 THE European Parliament and EU executive are pushing to fast-track powers to ban short-selling of government debt by early 2011. Senior officials in the European Commission, which is scrambling to contain spiralling borrowing costs for countries like Ireland and Portugal, believe the option to ban would prevent speculators from aggravating such problems. Michel Barnier, the [...]
IRELAND BETS ALL ON DRASTIC CUTS November 24, 2010 THE Irish government today released a four-year austerity plan described as “draconian” and “staggeringly austere” by analysts, with €15bn (£12.6bn) of budget cuts planned by 2014. But the measures failed to placate the markets, where Irish bond yields continued to rise on fears that the government will be unable to get the cuts through parliament: [...]
Bailout chaos fails to cheer markets November 23, 2010 MARKETS continued to tumble and peripheral Eurozone gilt yields jumped yesterday as Ireland’s political turmoil added to the uncertainty surrounding its bailout. The Eurostoxx 50 saw 1.5 per cent wiped off its value, sliding to 2,745 while the Irish ISEQ 20 index lost two per cent to close at 432. In a sign of contagion [...]