BEST OF THE BROKERS March 4, 2010 SIGNET JEWELERS Ahead of Signet’s financial results, Standard & Poor retains its “strong buy” recommendation. Expects continued market share gains for Signet as weaker peers grapple with execution problems and supports their optimism for a cyclical recovery. Expects Ernest Jones stores to benefit from a recovery spending. JARDINE LLOYD THOMPSON Shore Capital recommends a “buy” [...]
The age of flexible pensions October 7, 2010 AS UNIONS reacted furiously to the publication of Lord Hutton’s public sector pensions review yesterday, Britain’s working population has a trickier issue to resolve than raising “French-style riots”: what to save and how. Despite de-leveraging significantly over the last year, Brits are still not saving enough. And on top of the pensions deficit, it is [...]
ETFs: how to sort the wheat from the chaff September 29, 2010 INNOVATION is not always a good thing, or at least, that is what David Norman of TCF Investment says about the boom in exchange traded funds (ETFs): “There’s been a big rush to launch products: a lot of innovation, not all of it is good. Say you want exposure to a certain emerging market, for [...]
Consumer confidence improving June 2, 2009 CONSUMER confidence in the UK enjoyed its biggest rise in almost two years during April, according to Nationwide. The UK’s largest mutual said its consumer confidence index rose eight points to reach 50 in April, with 26 per cent of survey respondents saying they expect the economic situation to be better in six months time. [...]
Data undermines hopes of recovery February 23, 2010 US stocks suffered their biggest one-day decline in nearly three weeks yesterday after a sharp drop in consumer confidence heightened worries over one of the most vulnerable areas of the economy. Consumer confidence in February slumped to a 10-month low as the short-term outlook on jobs worsened. Results from retailers added little hope, as bellwethers [...]
Economic Diary March 7, 2010 IT IS a busy week ahead on the economics front once again. While last week was dominated by central bank decisions from across the world and independent surveys, this week we will see a slew of statistics that may or may not confirm rebounding consumer confidence and output. UK February Sales figures due In the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 5, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph NATIONAL GRID IN $26M US INQUIRY National Grid is facing an investigation by United States regulators over allegations it is trying to charge more than $26m in excessive costs to American consumers, including management expenses for private school tuition fees and the transatlantic shipment of a wine collection. The claims [...]
Moneysupermarket sees earnings drop February 24, 2010 Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com saw its revenues for the full-year plunge 23 per cent to £137m while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 26 per cent to £36m. Despite this it will pay a special dividend after saying its business has stabilised and trading improved in February as customers hunt for better [...]
February sees bumper sales on high street February 25, 2010 BRITISH consumers returned to the high street in their droves in the first half of February, after January’s cold snap kept them at home. The Confederation for British Industry (CBI) said that in early February retailers had seen the strongest annual growth in sales volumes since May 2007. Almost half of all firms surveyed (46 [...]
Travis Perkins says markets still subdued February 24, 2010 builders’ and home improvements supplier Travis Perkins reckons its markets have stabilised but is not expecting them to start growing again until, at best, the end of 2010, its chief executive said. “We’re at the bottom and we’re going to burble along it and there’ll be some weeks and months when we’re up and some [...]