THE TIPSTER May 5, 2010 IT MIGHT be worth buying a small tranche of UK banking stocks. For the first time in over a year they have all drifted lower, not because of bad debt issues or sub prime worries, as was the case during the credit crunch, but because of a retraction in global risk sentiment. Spreadex offers a [...]
FTSE 100 hit by falling banks as fears over Eurozone debt contagion continue May 5, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares index shed 1.3 per cent yesterday laid low by weaker banks, as Eurozone debt contagion concerns intensified and Moody’s warned that Portugal’s debt could be downgraded. The FTSE 100 ended down 69.18 points at 5,341.93, a fourth consecutive session of falls, closing at a level not seen since 25 February. The FTSE [...]
Fallout from Greek crisis continues to hit Wall St May 5, 2010 US STOCKS sagged yesterday as more signs emerged that the fallout from the Greek debt crisis could spread to bigger European economies. The euro hit a 14-month low as investors shunned the debt of weaker Eurozone countries and jumped into safe-havens. US Treasury prices and the dollar surged on fears Greece’s debt problems could hinder [...]
When the spark has gone, you have to act fast May 5, 2010 I DON’T want to sound ungrateful, because I have kept my job through the recession, but the truth is that I am bored and I have lost my spark. I have been in my current position for three years – the longest I have done anything – and I feel that I have mastered my job. [...]
A book by two bloggers is wise but concise May 5, 2010 REWORK BY JASON FRIED AND DAVID HEINEMEIER HANSSON Vermillion Books, £10.99 THIS is perhaps just the sort of book you would expect from internet entrepreneurs famous for a blog (called 37 Signals); rather than convoluted arguments, re-heated out-of-context quotations from Machiavelli or Nietzsche and endless, bulletpointed arguments, it’s a collection of short, sharp and thought-provoking [...]
Music is still playing for Latin America carnival May 4, 2010 LATIN America has always been seen as dangerously volatile by many institutional investors, but the recent stock market carnival is looking like a party too good to miss. The region’s leading economy, Brazil, is now firmly established as one of the BRIC big four. It is also due to host the World Cup in 2014 [...]
THREE CHEERS FOR MARKET DARWINISM May 4, 2010 MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARTEMIS ASKED by a journalist what had given him most trouble as prime minister, Harold Macmillan replied, loftily: “Events, dear boy. Events.” Uncertainty surrounds the result of tomorrow’s election. But whoever wins will know, sooner or later, how Macmillan felt. Stock markets certainly do. On economic and corporate news that was consistently better [...]
Moving away from equities can pay May 4, 2010 THE markets may have recovered from the credit crunch, but the investment community is still trying to navigate a post-crisis world and reduce portfolio risk. New research by Towers Watson, the professional services firm, has found that although many pension funds and institutional investors still rely on equities to generate their returns, in reality a [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS May 4, 2010 EXPENSIVE AND ATTRACTIVE TRUSTS Stockbroking firm Killik & Co yesterday listed three listed investment trusts that it finds expensive and three that look attractive from a discount perspective. The expensive trusts are Better Capital, Polar Capital Technology and 3i Infrastructure while Utilico Emerging Markets, Acorn Income Fund and BlackRock New Energy are attractive. In terms [...]
Return to normality will be bad news for the yen May 4, 2010 TODAY is the last day of Golden Week in Japan, one of the country’s most important public holidays. But the last few months have been anything but golden for the yen. The currency has fallen by more than 10 per cent against the US dollar and nearly 8 per cent against sterling. There are a [...]
