Why 2016 will be the year that peer-to-peer lending finally enters the financial mainstream December 21, 2015 UK peer-to-peer platforms will have lent over £2bn by the end of 2015. Our activities account for 92 per cent of the alternative finance industry, and peer-to-peer lending forms a significant part of the wider financial landscape in its own right. In just 10 years, we have developed into a grown-up and regulated industry. [...]
With anti-austerity party Podemos winning 69 seats in the Spanish election, should markets be scared? December 21, 2015 Chris Bailey is European strategist at Raymond James, says Yes The Eurozone is ending 2015 the way it began – with a political earthquake. Back in January, Greece’s radical anti-austerity party Syriza was making headlines. Today it is Spain’s Podemos. Formed just a few years ago, it is now the third largest political force in [...]
Don’t expect surprises before year end – eToro Tips & Picks December 21, 2015 The last trading days before Christmas have been a major anti-climax. The Fed rate rise had a minimal immediate effect on the markets: the volatility that many expected failed to occur. The wilder speculation about capital flight from emerging markets has so far been proved wrong. Indices in Indonesia and other emerging markets saw small [...]
FTSE 100 set to close out 2015 around 6,000 – London Report December 21, 2015 THE FED “feel good factor” and the Santa rally that historically has resulted in 80 per cent of December trading sessions closing positive have not been enough to sustain positive numbers for the FTSE. On Friday the FTSE 100 closed down 50 points at 6052, bringing to an end the brief surge following the Federal Reserve [...]
Best of the Brokers for 21 December 2015 December 21, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com Engineering firm Fenner has been given a “sell” rating from analysts at Panmure Gordon, due to further weakness in commodity-related markets. The current 141p share price has been given a target of 100p. The firm is now forecast for a pre-tax break-even for [...]
Denise Leicester’s Ila is a beauty brand that loves you back December 21, 2015 Beauty products all claim to be the most age-defying, youth-providing, beautifying, and so on. And there’s a bamboozling list of chemical names which claim to do just that. But a growing awareness that what you put on your skin is as important for your health as what you put in your mouth, is leading more [...]
Seizing the Moment: Why Antoine de Kermel thinks 2016 is the year of “moment marketing” December 21, 2015 In digital marketing, time is precious. And as brands vie to be noticed in the digital space, many are recognising the impact that offline events can have on online activity. “Moment marketing” may be the shot in the arm their campaigns need. Named as one of the six major marketing trends in Warc and Deloitte’s [...]
Neuroscience: The secret to becoming a better leader December 21, 2015 Those looking for the secret to becoming a successful business leader have thousands of management books to choose from. The key is knowing which ones to trust – which is why we started the annual Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Management Book of the Year competition. It’s now in its sixth year. Trends come and [...]
Saudi Arabia is acting like a drunken gambler in its oil war December 21, 2015 An absolutely elemental maxim of how you can go wrong in political risk analysis revolves around what is called “The Drunken Gambler in Vegas Syndrome”. Every casino owner alive has made millions off the fallacy, just as a great number of foreign policy disasters have been forged because of it. Simply put, it lays out [...]
The biggest economic stories of 2015 and 2016 – Investec Comment December 21, 2015 Seven years after cutting them to record lows, last week, the US Federal Reserve finally put speculation to rest about when it would begin the process of increasing interest rates, announcing a small 25 basis points rise. This was hardly a surprise: it was almost completely factored into markets, so the real question was over [...]