Before the Bell: Honeymoon in Washington January 21, 2021 Joe Biden was sworn in as the new US President overnight with financial markets granting him a DC honeymoon on his first day as the buy everything trade returned with a vengeance. Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst atOANDA, said this morning that equity markets soared, as did precious metals, and currency markets saw commodity link currencies outperform [...]
Wall Street hits record heights as Biden presidency lifts stimulus hopes January 20, 2021 Wall Street hit record heights today as Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th US President lifted hopes that his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan would help settle a tumultuous global economy. The tech-focused Nasdaq rose as much as 1.6 per cent during trading, before settling 260 points up at market close to a fresh peak. Before [...]
How do you know a good broker from a bad one? January 20, 2021 | Sponsored Back in the halcyon days of the early world wide web, if you wanted to find out if a product or service was any good, you didn’t have bucket loads of choice. After trawling through some questionable forums and ‘web blogs’, any reviews you found were likely to be about as reliable as your dial-up [...]
UK dividends won’t recover until 2025 at the earliest after bruising year January 20, 2021 UK dividends are unlikely to recover until 2025 at the earliest after a catastrophic year for payouts amid the pandemic. Eight years of growth wiped off UK dividends last year as companies started to make cuts at the beginning of the second quarter following the outbreak of coronavirus. Payouts fell 44 per cent to £61.9bn [...]
London Metal Exchange to shut iconic trading ring January 19, 2021 It survived two world wars, the Spanish flu, and the numerous financial crises, but now the London Metal Exchange’s iconic open-outcry trading ring is set to close for good. Sky News reported that the trading ring, with its distinctive red circular sofa, would be shut as part of a review into modernising the LME. Since [...]
Market confidence is only artificially low, says IW Capital CEO January 19, 2021 The impact of Covid has been continually unpredictable since the first ripples in January of last year to the third lockdown of this year. Despite this, there is plenty of reason to feel optimistic about 2021. Both historical evidence and current sentiment point to a period of boom after months of gloom, according to Luke [...]
FTSE 100 opens higher as markets await Yellen grilling January 19, 2021 The FTSE 100 slipped back after a strong start this morning as markets await testimony this afternoon from incoming US treasury secretary Janet Yellen. After a quiet day yesterday which saw the index shed 0.2 per cent, London’s leading market rose 0.6 per cent at the opening bell to 6,762 points. But after a couple [...]
Rio Tinto sees iron production tick up on rising China demand January 19, 2021 Mining giant Rio Tinto said that iron ore production had increased in the final quarter of the year on the back of increased demand from China. The Anglo-Australian company said that output from its Pilbara iron assets had risen 3.0 per cent in the last three months despite the challenges of Cyclone Damien and the [...]
Before the Bell: Janet Yellen faces US lawmakers today January 19, 2021 A lacklustre trading session for Europe in the absence of US markets yesterday saw European equities finish the day rather mixed with the FTSE100 finishing the day on the back foot, while German and French markets finished the day modestly higher. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, told City PM this morning [...]
FTSE 100 falls as recovery concerns weigh on markets January 18, 2021 The FTSE 100 is fell today as last week’s slide in investor confidence continued. London’s premier index closed 0.2 per cent down to stand at 6,723 points. The FTE 250 of midcaps went the other way, rising 0.1 per cent to 20,646 points. In a sluggish day of trading, markets never really got going, with [...]
