Wall St rocked by weak labour data February 25, 2010 US stocks recovered most of their losses but ended lower yesterday after weak employment and durable goods data added to recent worries about the strength of the economic recovery. Trading started on a sour note, but rumors of a 4-for-1 stock split planned by Apple coincided with a late-day rebound in stocks. A spokesman said [...]
Fiscal tightening is a delicate matter February 25, 2010 TODAY we should get confirmation that Britain emerged from recession in the last quarter of 2009, when the expectation is that the previous figure will be revised higher. Not a single economist polled by Bloomberg thinks that fourth quarter GDP data will be revised lower – the majority see an upward revision to 0.2 per [...]
Doing God’s work in the City February 25, 2010 LLOYD Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, caused a stir when he said the bank was doing “God’s work”. Well, perhaps he should meet Mark Speeks, the managing partner and co-founder of Acuity Capital, a private equity firm based in the City, who is also an assistant priest at St Botolph’s church in Aldgate. [...]
Transparent privacy policy gets clouded February 25, 2010 GOOGLE has got itself in hot water in recent days because of a data protection slip up with its new social network, Buzz. Users were able to see other members’ email addresses – and the addresses of their “followers”– without notification or the need to grant people access to this information. The company is now [...]
HIRING February 25, 2010 Q. Since I set up my business, it has just been me and my partners. But we are doing well and we want to start hiring. How do I go about it? A.There are two ways to hire staff, says Stuart Hearn from Plus HR, a consultancy. The first is to use an agency, which [...]
Sovereign Oilfield collapses into administration as debt talks fail February 24, 2010 OIL engineering company Sovereign Oilfield Group called in the administrators yesterday after talks with its lenders to renegotiate the terms of its debt failed. The Aberdeen-based company appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator after failing to sell off parts of itself to pay down debt. PricewaterhouseCoopers said it would look to sell Sovereign Oilfield’s subsidiaries where it [...]
Banks boost FTSE on hopes that RBS results bring cheer February 24, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares rose 0.5 per cent yesterday, led by banks and echoing gains on Wall Street as US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke assuaged fears of an earlier than expected interest rate rise. The FTSE 100 ended 27.83 points higher at 5,342.92 buoyed by the Fed chairman’s statement and after it had closed 0.7 [...]
Wall St rises after Bernanke pledge February 24, 2010 FEDERAL Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reassured lawmakers interest rates will remain low, driving US stocks higher yesterday as investors welcomed the promise of more cheap money. Banks, which have benefited from borrowing rates at historic lows, led the market higher. Bank of America was the Dow’s biggest percentage gainer, rising 2.45 per cent. Investors overlooked [...]
Understanding tracking error is key to savvy ETF investing February 24, 2010 EXCHANGE-TRADED products may have only just entered the mainstream and been accepted by the European investment community, but some market commentators are already questioning whether the end is nigh for these funds. This was indeed the question posed by financial blogger Felix Salmon, citing news reports of a recent piece of research from Morgan Stanley [...]
The Tipster February 24, 2010 FEARS over the size of Japan’s public debt have been growing since the onset of the Greek debt crisis. However, comparisons between Japan and Greece look over- done. Japan’s debt is mostly held by domestic investors, and the yield at which it can borrow is below that of Greece. This is helping ease investors’ fears [...]
