Paternity leave threat to firms February 4, 2010 FOR years employers have been wary about giving jobs to women of child-bearing age, but they might soon be casting nervous glances at the males in their offices, too. As of 6 April next year a father will be allowed to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave in the first year of their [...]
Q&A CHOOSING A NAME February 4, 2010 Q. I’ve got a great idea for a business, but I’m struggling to find a name. How do I go about it? A.The first step is to look at the nature of the service you are providing and use that as a way to come up with conceptual themes, says David Haigh, CEO of Brand [...]
Copper will remain strong in 2010 despite Chinese policy tightening February 3, 2010 CASTING an eye back over 2009, copper was clearly one of the standout performers. Its price has risen 126 per cent over the past year, fueled by rising expectations about the global economy, China regaining its voracious appetite for industrial metals and a weakening US dollar increasing copper’s attractiveness (it is priced in dollars). After [...]
USE COVERED WARRANTS TO TRADE GOLD February 3, 2010 A RALLY in the price of gold towards the end of 2009 began speculation that the commodity downturn was over and fuelled the belief that the financial markets were starting to recover. Now, after growing a mere 0.1 per cent in the last three months of December 2009, the UK economy has officially crawled its [...]
FTSE falls ahead of BoE decision February 3, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index lost 0.6 per cent, snapping a three-session winning streak with investors turning cautious ahead of today’s Bank of England monetary policy decision and Friday’s US jobs report. At yesterday’s close, the FTSE 100 index was 30.16 points lower at 5,253.15 after a see-saw session, having reversed from an intraday peak of [...]
Dow hit by healthcare concerns February 3, 2010 US stocks mostly fell yesterday as Pfizer’s disappointing outlook weighed on the health sector, and President Barack Obama’s pledge to complete banking and healthcare reform revived fears of increased regulation. Obama reiterated his commitment to overhaul the healthcare system and impose stricter regulatory reforms on Wall Street, underscoring the political risk that has driven US [...]
Exchange traded bonds arrive in retail market February 3, 2010 FOR investors wanting to diversify their investments, bonds have always been an attractive option. However, until now retail investors who manage their own portfolio would have found it difficult to try and buy UK bonds. Earlier this week, though, the London Stock Exchange launched an electronic retail bond-trading platform, and for the first time investors [...]
INVESTORS FLOCKING TO SAFE HAVENS February 3, 2010 SENTIMENT in the foreign exchange market has changed dramatically over the past week as investors increasingly question whether the strong performance of risk assets in 2009 can be sustained in 2010. Monetary policy tightening in both China and India have made investors much more wary. As Greece’s debt problems have come to the fore in [...]
Whether QE stays or goes, sterling is weak February 2, 2010 THE big event this week for sterling is tomorrow’s decision from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Up until last week, it had been widely expected that the Bank’s £200bn quantitative easing programme would be paused in February, but dismal fourth quarter GDP growth data raised the possibility that the MPC might extend [...]
