Wall St ticks up as Apple stock climbs higher December 6, 2012 US stocks closed modestly higher yesterday, a day ahead of the key monthly jobs report, as a rebound in shares of Apple helped boost technology shares. Traders were reluctant to bet heavily a day before the Friday release of the November employment report. Just 5.62bn shares changed hands on US exchanges. Investors are also keeping [...]
Mining firms and Tesco help push UK’s bluechip index up 0.4 per cent December 5, 2012 MINING stocks helped Britain’s main share index rise yesterday on expectations of stronger demand from China, offsetting lingering concerns about the US and European economies. Miners added 1.8 per cent after the head of China’s Communist Party said the world’s largest consumer of metals will approve policies targeted aimed at helping the economic recovery. Britain’s [...]
Apple’s fall hits the Nasdaq but Dow still rises December 5, 2012 A volatile trading session ended with US stocks mostly higher yesterday, even as Apple, the most valuable company in the United States, suffered its worst day of losses in almost four years. In a strange occurrence, Apple accounted for the entirety of the Nasdaq 100’s fall of 1.1 per cent, while the Dow industrials – [...]
FTSE closes flat as low confidence and poor construction data bites December 4, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index closed flat yesterday, underperforming most European bourses as a swathe of downbeat domestic data outweighed optimism about crisis-hit Spain and Greece. British construction activity shrank last month, and confidence about the next year fell to its lowest in almost four years, as the British Chamber of Commerce said that growth in [...]
US economic stalemate sees markets dip December 4, 2012 US stocks finished slightly lower in a quiet session yesterday as the back-and-forth wrangling over the “fiscal cliff” gave investors little reason to act. Trading volume was light as legislators continue to negotiate a deal to avoid a $600bn (£372bn) package of tax hikes and federal spending cuts that would begin 1 January and could [...]
Crunch week to set the tone for sterling in 2013 December 4, 2012 IT IS a crunch week for the great British pound. The currency will be pushed and pulled by both monetary and fiscal forces. The market has been waiting with bated breath for today’s Autumn Statement, when chancellor George Osborne will outline his fiscal strategy to kick-start the UK’s ailing economy. There is also a chance that [...]
FTSE lifted by mining stocks but gains eroded by US economic data December 3, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares posted modest gains yesterday, helped by strength in heavyweight mining stocks after data showed China’s manufactur-ing sector expanded for the first time in over a year. But strong earlier gains were eroded in the afternoon after disappointing US manufacturing data raised concerns over the health of the world’s biggest economy just as [...]
US stocks sour after lacklustre factory figures December 3, 2012 US stocks struggled to extend the previous week’s gains, dropping on Monday as disappointing US factory numbers dampened optimism about China’s economic growth. The declines broke a three-day streak of gains for the S&P 500, keeping it shy of its 50-day moving average of about 1,420, a level that the index has been below since [...]
Flood-hit UK to face record wheat prices December 3, 2012 CROP failures in Britain and globally are pushing grain prices to record highs. Floods in the UK have forced it to depend on foreign grain imports. The country is expected to import more than 2m tons of wheat in the 2012-2013 season – a 30 year high. But prices have also been driven up by [...]
How the US jobless data could affect the markets December 3, 2012 ONCE a month, the US non-farm payrolls are released. They typically bring a bout of volatility to many asset prices – a move that is widely welcomed by derivatives traders, who have at times found themselves contending with relatively flat markets. The number is usually released on the first Friday of the month – the [...]
