German confidence slips February 16, 2010 Confidence among German investors slipped for the fifth month in a row in February amid dim prospects for the retail, consumer goods, steel and chemical sectors. The ZEW Institute’s closely watched confidence index showed yesterday that optimism about the next six months dropped to 45.1 points from 47.2 points in January. That is still well [...]
Tech stocks the apple of every trader’s eye April 19, 2010 AS THE recovery gathers momentum, business spending on technology is creeping back. In the leaner, greener post-recession world, enhancing productivity through more efficient technology is one way that firms are able to keep costs down. Now that firms are more confident about their business prospects they can start to make investment decisions – analysts are [...]
THE LONDON REPORT November 4, 2009 LONDON’S leading shares ended 1.4 per cent higher yesterday, boosted by a rebound from miners and banks, with retailers Next and Marks & Spencer also higher after posting forecast-beating figures. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 70.68 points at 5,107.89, recouping all of Tuesday’s losses when the index fell 1.3 per cent to [...]
Kingfisher sees revenues rise March 25, 2010 B&Q owner Kingfisher beat profit forecasts and raised its dividend yesterday – helped by a rise in sales of eco-friendly products. Pre-tax profit excluding one-off items jumped 49 per cent to £547m for the year to the end of January, above the average forecast of £543m. As well as raising its dividend for the first [...]
EURO HAS HIT ITS TOP, FOR NOW AT LEAST October 27, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT LAST week, after dramatic moves and countermoves in the currency market, the euro-US dollar pair finally broke through the critical 1.50 barrier. Business media ran a series of stories about the collapse of the dollar and everyone prepared for further declines. Yet despite all the hand-wringing, the dollar remained [...]
EURO HAS HIT ITS TOP, FOR NOW AT LEAST October 27, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT LAST week, after dramatic moves and countermoves in the currency market, the euro-US dollar pair finally broke through the critical 1.50 barrier. Business media ran a series of stories about the collapse of the dollar and everyone prepared for further declines. Yet despite all the hand-wringing, the dollar remained [...]
Topps Tiles sees revenues dip March 31, 2010 BRITISH retailer Topps Tiles posted a second-quarter fall in underlying sales, blaming a dip in confidence as the general election nears and consumers brace themselves for tax rises and job cuts. “If I cast my mind back to previous elections, they’ve never done us any favours that’s for sure,” Matt Williams, chief executive of the [...]
CHOOSE YOUR LETTER, AND FX OUTLOOK October 13, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT READING currency market research these days can be a little like watching Sesame Street. Every scenario assigns a different letter of the alphabet to the shape of the recovery. The direction for the dollar for the next 12 months could be determined by whoever is correct in their alphabet [...]
THE TIPSTER MACRO DATA KEY TO THE WEEK AHEAD October 18, 2009 WITH a slew of macroeconomic data on the way, sterling-US dollar – otherwise known as cable – is sharply in focus this week. Although the pound made some solid gains at the end of last week, these may well be reversed on Friday when the UK third quarter GDP figure is released. Forecasts have been [...]
THE TIPSTER MACRO DATA KEY TO THE WEEK AHEAD October 18, 2009 WITH a slew of macroeconomic data on the way, sterling-US dollar – otherwise known as cable – is sharply in focus this week. Although the pound made some solid gains at the end of last week, these may well be reversed on Friday when the UK third quarter GDP figure is released. Forecasts have been [...]