Dubai reminds traders that stocks are on fragile ground November 29, 2009 DUBAI’S inability to meet its debt payments rattled stock markets across the world last week as the shock announcement sparked new worries about the health of the global economy and governments’ abilities to service their debt. The FTSE 100 index dropped 171 points on Thursday before regaining some of its losses in Friday’s trading. Financial [...]
MORE QE ON THE CARDS TO BOLSTER UK November 1, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMthe release of stronger-than-expected US GDP data last week and favourable confidence numbers from the eurozone highlight the position of the UK as being one of the weakest economies in the G10. There is a strong chance that this week’s Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting will bring yet another [...]
Orange to sell iPhone next week November 2, 2009 ORANGE said yesterday that it will start selling the Apple iPhone from 10 November, ending O2’s exclusive carriage deal in the UK. But there was no sign of the price war that consumers had anticipated, with France Telecom’s Orange setting similar tariffs and contract structures to O2. The network operator will provide the sought-after 3GS [...]
Rosy services data boosts UK prospects November 4, 2009 STRONG growth in Britain’s services sector added to the more upbeat mood prevailing in the UK yesterday, ahead of the Bank of England’s monetary policy decision. The CIPS/Markit services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) yesterday showed the headline business activity index surge to 56.9 in October above 55.3 in September and beating the consensus forecast of [...]
Rosy services data boosts UK prospects November 4, 2009 STRONG growth in Britain’s services sector added to the more upbeat mood prevailing in the UK yesterday, ahead of the Bank of England’s monetary policy decision. The CIPS/Markit services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) yesterday showed the headline business activity index surge to 56.9 in October above 55.3 in September and beating the consensus forecast of [...]
Play the Bank’s QE decision with a punt on gilts October 25, 2009 THIS year we have witnessed the Bank of England take the unprecedented step of buying billions of pounds worth of assets – mostly government bonds – in order to loosen monetary policy further than can be achieved through interest rate cuts alone. It goes without saying that this policy of quantitative easing (QE) has had [...]
Tories: no more cash bonuses October 25, 2009 GEORGE OSBORNE will today call on the Treasury and Financial Services Authority to stop high street banks paying out cash bonuses of more than £2,000. Retail banks such as state-owned Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland must be banned from paying out cash bonuses, he will say, to allow profits to be pumped [...]
Sales jump at Halfords on bike lift October 8, 2009 THE boom in commuter cycling and stay-at-home holidaymakers yesterday boosted Halfords as it reported sales growth for the successive quarter. The bike, camping products and car maintenance retailer yesterday reported sales rose by 3.8 per cent in the 13 weeks to last Friday. And like-for-like sales made a 2.2 per cent jump, up from a [...]
RISK TRADE IS STILL IN PLACE DESPITE DUBAI November 29, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMTHE shocking news that Dubai is on the brink of default is a reminder that the financial crisis still has a few tricks up its sleeve and the global economic recovery is far from firmly established. Economic data suggests that next year will see only slow growth in the US, Eurozone, Japan [...]
Britons more bullish on jobs and outlook September 8, 2009 BRITISH consumers are more confident about the future economic situation and sentiment about the present has also improved, the Nationwide consumer confidence survey will say today. The survey indicates that all the confidence indices rose during August with the expectations index rising by three points to 94. The present situation index, which has generally been [...]