THE LONDON REPORT September 24, 2009 BRITAIN’S leading share index lost 1.2 per cent yesterday as a weak US housing report and cautious comments from the Bank of England governor raised investor concern over the pace of economic recovery. At the close, the FTSE 100 was 60.10 points lower at 5,079.27, finishing below the 5,100 level for the first time in [...]
NEW YORK REPORT September 24, 2009 US STOCKS fell yesterday as signs of weakness in housing and investors’ worries that authorities might be curbing stimulus efforts too soon sparked caution. World central banks said they would scale back infusions of US dollars into their banking systems, fueling unease triggered a day earlier when stocks sold off following the US Federal Reserve’s [...]
CAREERS CLINIC September 23, 2009 DR LYNDA GRATTONLONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL I’m a manager in a struggling private equity division. Morale is low, and I’m losing confidence in my abilities to motivate the team and make decisions. How can I lead more effectively? YOU’RE in a very common situation in the City at the moment, with small teams of highly-paid and [...]
Making too many impulsive trades? It’s all the fault of your hormones September 23, 2009 WALK onto any trading floor from the Square Mile to Wall Street and you will notice the sheer amount of testosterone in the atmosphere. Trading floors are filled with young men shouting either into a telephone or at their multitude of screens, intent on striking lucky and making their fortune. The male bias of many [...]
UNCERTAINTY MAKES FOR EDGY TRADERS September 23, 2009 GEORGE TCHETVERTAKOVHEAD OF MARKET RESEARCH, ALPARI UK Over the past few weeks, market participants have been quick to price in monetary policy tightening in response to resurgent stock markets, buoyant macroeconomic indicators and strong sentiment across the developed world. Policy divergence or even policy “desynchronisation” whereby policy tightening is carried out at different rates, could [...]
TRADING OTHER GENDER STUDIES September 23, 2009 &9679; Researchers Paola Sapienza, Luigi Zingales and Dario Maestripieri found that female MBA students with higher testosterone levels are more likely to feel comfortable taking financial chances and to choose risky careers like investment banking or trading. &9679; But Swedish researchers found earlier this year that women given testosterone for a month were no more [...]
NEW YORK REPORT September 23, 2009 US stocks fell yesterday as investors worried the Federal Reserve is closer to pulling back on extraordinary measures to inject funding to shore up the economy. The Fed’s policy-setters met and kept interest rates unchanged, as expected, but they also said the US central bank would slow its programme of purchasing mortgage debt to its [...]
Good soft skills are key to turning grads into good employees September 23, 2009 IN India right now, a British training firm called Speak First is running a series of “finishing schools” to improve Indian graduates’ soft business skills and increase their chances of gaining employment. The schools address the fact that the academic and intellectual excellence of many Indian graduates is not matched by abilities in areas like [...]
POUND-EURO PARITY COMES EVER CLOSER September 23, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM ALMOST a year after the pound touched parity with the euro, the recent rapid drop in the value of the pound has raised speculation that euro-sterling could see parity again in the not too distant future. Sterling-dollar – cable – is also at risk of even more losses now that it [...]
Dollar’s days as the world’s only reserve currency could be numbered September 23, 2009 OVER the next two days, world leaders gathered at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh will attempt to address the issue of the persistent global imbalances that have been cited as a long-term cause of the recent economic downturn. Integral to this debate has been the long-standing issue of the US dollar’s hegemonic status as the [...]