‘Bond market tantrum risks’: Gilt traders brace for Labour leftward pivot as Starmer future uncertain
THE LONDON REPORT July 5, 2009 OUSEBUILDERS will come under scrutiny this week, with giants Persimmon and Barratt Developments set to update markets. Traders will be hoping for further signs that there is an an uptick in mortgage availability, as banks repair their balance sheets and are able to resume lending to homebuyers, feeding through to the battered sector. Barratt, set [...]
House prices in Britain rise again in June June 30, 2009 HOUSE prices saw a monthly increase of 0.9 per cent in June, bringing the annual rate of decline to 9.3 per cent from 11.3 per cent in May, according to data published yesterday by Nationwide, which stoked optimism that the housing market has turned. The mortgage lender said that the three month rate of change, [...]
YES, RECOVERY WILL BE LONG AND HARD June 28, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM HAVING rallied between March and early June on the expectation that the global economic downturn could be in the process of bottoming, the market is displaying a reluctance to extend risk. The reason is clear – economic data may have improved, but they are not yet sufficiently strong to confirm that [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 25, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES TOYOTA WANTS MORE NIMBLE FIRMAkio Toyoda, the new chief executive of Toyota Motor, yesterday pledged to bring a looser, more nimble management style to the carmaker, which is facing its biggest crisis since Sakichi Toyoda – his grandfather and Toyota’s founder – ran the company six decades ago. Mr Toyoda promised “to do [...]
NEW YORK REPORT June 24, 2009 THE Dow fell for the fourth day and other indexes ended well off the day’s highs yesterday after the Federal Reserve reiterated concerns about the economic outlook at the end of its policy meeting. Technology shares sustained some strength, bolstered by stronger-than-expected quarterly results from software maker Oracle. The Fed, as expected, left the benchmark [...]
Britain’s economy is improving slowly June 24, 2009 MOST commentators are focusing on the world’s appalling economic performance this year – the UK will collapse by 4.3 per cent, the US by 2.8 per cent, Japan by 6.8 per cent and the Eurozone by 4.8 per cent, according to yesterday’s revised forecasts from the OECD. But that is no longer really news. The [...]
Fed sounds cautious note June 24, 2009 THE US Federal Reserve said last night that the recession was easing as it kept interest rates on hold, but warned that economic activity would “remain weak for a time”. It also vowed to press on with its strategy of buying up mortgage-related debt and government bonds. America’s central bank, chaired by Ben Bernanke, kept [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 23, 2009 The FTSE 100 closed down 0.1 per cent yesterday, falling just 4.03 points to 4,230.02 in a choppy session, with thin volumes exacerbating movements, after losing 2.6 per cent on Monday. The index has gained more than 22 per cent since hitting a six-year low in March, but is still down 4.6 per cent on [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 23, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GCL-POLY TO BUY SOLAR ASSETS FOR $3.4BNGCL-Poly Energy, a Hong Kong-based power plant operator, said yesterday it would pay HK$26.4bn (£2bn) to acquire solar assets from its chairman as it seeks to expand in the green energy sector. The company said it would buy Jiangsu Zhongeng, a supplier of polysilicon and wafers used [...]
Fitch highlights negative equity June 22, 2009 A report by credit agency Fitch Ratings will today say that one in 10 borrowers with excellent credit ratings are trapped in negative equity, owing more on their mortgage than the value of their homes. The agency will also forecast a peak-to-trough fall in house prices of up to 35 per cent. The report, which [...]