ODD JOBS October 20, 2010 SEAN WOOLLERSON PIRACY INSURER, JLT My first job after university was with M&S, but I joined JLT about 20 years ago and now one of the big things I deal with is Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. I get calls in the middle of the night to tell me that a ship has [...]
China’s first interest rate rise since 2007 drags FTSE down October 19, 2010 China’s first interest rate rise since 2007 hit mining shares and dragged the FTSE 100 lower yesterday, offsetting gains from banks after solid results from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 38.63 points, or 0.7 per cent at 5,703.89, having earlier dipped below the 5,700 level [...]
Bank of America scare hits stocks October 19, 2010 U stocks posted their biggest loss in two months yesterday on fears banks might be on the hook for billions of dollars in souring mortgage bonds. The afternoon selloff hit investors already reeling from an unexpected credit tightening by China and disappointing financial results from Apple and IBM. The biggest scare came on news that [...]
Unloved, unowned but undervalued: Emerging Europe shakes off its past October 19, 2010 SANDWICHED between the bright stars of emerging Asia and the fading light of the West lies Eastern Europe, an investment destination that is often forgotten and perennially unfashionable. This is partly because the region has struggled to shake off its Soviet legacy – at least in the minds of Western investors it is still tainted [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS October 19, 2010 INVESTORS REGAIN THEIR RISK APPETITE Investors are channeling most of their renewed risk appetite into global emerging market equities in the wake of an expected second wave of QE, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch October survey of fund managers. The level of risk that investors are taking in their portfolios rose more [...]
The true scale of QE is n still cloaked in mystery October 19, 2010 EXPECTATIONS about quantitative easing (QE) have now been driven so high – with the market anticipating between $500bn and $1 trillion of extra liquidity – that someone was soon bound to call a halt to the party. That killjoy has arrived, in the form of US broker BTIG’s Mike O’Rourke. “There are many who have [...]
DOLLAR-YEN IS READY FOR A REBOUND October 19, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT WHY is the yen so strong? This is the most common question I am asked by anyone who follows the currency markets. It is easy to understand the perplexity. Japan has been mired in deflation and low growth for more than twenty years. Yet the price action in dollar-yen has [...]
This might look dramatic, but it’s all priced in October 19, 2010 TODAY is jam-packed with economic data: the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes are released at 9.30am and George Osborne unveils the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) at 12.30pm. All this activity seems to have unnerved sterling traders. The pound dropped 0.2 per cent to $1.5844 and 0.1 per cent to 88.40p per euro yesterday morning. Some [...]
THE TIPSTER October 19, 2010 RECENT weakness in the dollar has been exaggerated by talk of another round of stimulus spending from the Fed. While this is increasingly likely to happen, the dollar is approaching what looks like a point of inflection. ETX Capital is quoting 77.51-77.59 for the Dollar Index December contract. Euro-dollar may have had a recent uptrend, [...]
