Celebrate Christmas in style this year December 6, 2012 1. Slava’s Snowshow at the Royal Festival Hall 17 Dec – 7 Jan After a sell-out session last Christmas, Slava’s Snowshow returns to London’s Royal Festival Hall this month. The internationally acclaimed show is ideal for a family day out, featuring performances from clowns and musicians with a finale that leaves the audience knee-deep in [...]
High street hit as customers shop online December 12, 2012 CUSTOMERS are increasingly deserting the high street to do their Christmas shopping online, according to two data releases out this morning. Last week, retailers saw 1.7 per cent fewer customers entering their shops than last year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Springboard Footfall Monitor, out this morning. Shopping centres were hit especially hard with [...]
No time off for traders as fiscal cliff is looming December 16, 2012 THE last two weeks of December are traditionally quiet for stocks, but traders accustomed to a bit of time off are staying close to their mobile devices, thanks to the “fiscal cliff”. Last-minute negotiations in Washington on the so-called fiscal cliff – nearly $600bn of tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in [...]
John Lewis boasts record sales in the Christmas trading period January 2, 2013 JOHN Lewis yesterday reported bumper sales over the festive period boosted by online orders, which now account for a quarter of the company’s total sales. The department store group reported £684.8m of sales for the five weeks to 29 December, including a record take of £31.7m for the first day of its sales in stores [...]
That’s a wrap: Citi’s tardy trader gets extra paperwork December 11, 2012 A TRADER over at Citi clearly hasn’t heeded The Capitalist’s recent warning about office Christmas party hijinks, which result in one in ten festive revellers being disciplined at work the next day. At a desk at Citi, one team decided to take the matter of punishment into their own hands when a colleague was AWOL [...]
How traders could pilot festive market sentiment November 26, 2012 AS CHRISTMAS rolls around, many market pundits will once again seek to explain away the typical bull market sentiment as a seasonal anomaly – or indeed, to give it full moniker, a Father Christmas rally. But is this actually something you can hope to trade successfully? Or is this seasonal sentiment nothing more than a [...]
The markets don’t sleep during the festive period December 17, 2012 OVER the Christmas period, equity markets are often seen as offering slim pickings for spread bet and contract for difference traders. Granted, there’s the prospect of a Santa rally, but otherwise the FTSE-100 index tends to end up trading in tight ranges as volatility ebbs away. Underlying volumes are low, traders generally aren’t at their [...]
Black swans get into the Christmas spirit December 9, 2012 THE official 12 days of Christmas may not start until 25 December itself, but hundreds of Canary Wharf workers will be getting in the spirit a little early by taking part in a festive run around the Docklands this Wednesday. To liven up proceedings, children’s charity Starlight – which organises the run to raise money to [...]
Christmas countdown for rival high street retailers December 4, 2012 AS we move into the final countdown to Christmas, our high street department stores are pulling out all the stops. Looking back over 2012, the race between Marks & Spencer and John Lewis has never been tighter. YouGov’s BrandIndex highlights how the two brands began the year with six points separating their Index scores – [...]
Smartphones take centre stage in the Christmas shopping rush November 25, 2012 CONSUMERS will not be far from their smartphones when stocking up on gifts this Christmas, with some £3.5bn sales expected to be purchased on or influenced by smartphones, according to business advisory firm Deloitte. The accountancy firm predicts 10 per cent of in-store Christmas sales (£3.2bn) will be influenced by smartphones, with another £330m of [...]