HOW HURDLES CAN SAVE THE BONUS September 15, 2009 DAVID MARDLEHEAD OF EUROPEAN VENTURE CAPITAL, TAYLOR WESSING THE City’s “bonus culture” has come in for criticism since the onset of the credit crunch. Traditional models of share-based remuneration, while encouraging long-term growth, have lost much of their appeal in an era of shrinking corporate valuations. But skilled people still need to be paid well. [...]
THE LONDON REPORT September 15, 2009 The FTSE 100 rose for a third straight session yesterday to close up by 0.5 per cent, boosted by bullish economic data from the US, as oils, miners and banks underpinned the rally. The index ended 23.28 points higher at 5,042.13, after trading as low as 4,996.52 earlier in the session. Energy stocks were higher, [...]
Better outlook for banks one year after Lehman September 14, 2009 WHEN Lehman Brothers collapsed a year ago, it seemed that the world would never be the same. Global markets wobbled and once giant investment banks were crippled as sub-prime mortgages and credit default swaps unravelled and we braced ourselves for a worldwide recession. Wall Street had shrunk to less than a third of its pre-Lehman [...]
SILVER SHINE MATCHES GOLD’S GLEAM September 14, 2009 DAVID MORRISONCFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFTPLENTY has been written about gold’s recent advance and its break above the $1,000 mark. And if you are bullish on the yellow metal you may also want to look at silver. Until the late 1800s, the gold-silver price ratio was fairly constant at around 15 to 1 due to their [...]
FTSEputs in highest close in almost a year on bank gains September 14, 2009 THE UK benchmark share index closed up 0.2 per cent yesterday as buoyant banks and defensive stocks countered weak miners and oils, keeping the index above 5,000 amid optimism over the pace of the rally seen since March. The FTSE 100 closed up 7.38 points at 5,018.85, its highest closing level since late September 2008. [...]
USin further gains as M&Adeals rise September 14, 2009 US stocks rose yesterday as reports of more merger activity added to a string of recent deals, suggesting investors still see value in the market after its run up of more than 50 per cent since March. Optimism about potential deals overshadowed concerns about trade friction between the United States and China after Washington imposed [...]
A busy week on the high street as retailers report September 13, 2009 It’s time to hit the high street this week, with a whole host of retailers updating the market. In keeping with that theme, the Office of National Statistics will tomorrow release the Retail Prices Index data for August, which is expected to show that prices fell 1.5 per cent year-on-year, compared to a decline of [...]
Expect ups and downs in Asia for at least the rest of 2009 September 13, 2009 MARKET analysts in the US and Europe are persistently pointing out just how fast equities have rallied in the advanced economies over the past six months. But if you thought that the Western world has staged a miraculous stock market rally, you should look at the meteoric performance of Asian stocks. Asian indices were not [...]
Take a punt on the market outlook for bricks and mortar September 13, 2009 A YEAR ago, many housing market observers were predicting doom. Prices would keep falling well into 2010, they said. The market could take years to pick up. But how wrong they were. Just as we have seen in the stock market, things have turned round much more quickly than almost anybody thought. Mortgage lender Halifax [...]
THE TIPSTER NEW FINDS POWERING OIL AND GAS September 13, 2009 ACTIVITY in oil and gas companies has been going strong over the past few weeks, making a number of small and mid-caps ripe for a buy. Last week’s announcement that Desire Petroleum has managed to secure a rig for drilling in the Falklands Islands, where up to 3bn barrels of oil and gas may be [...]
