ETPS HAVE BEEN BOOSTED BY CRISIS September 23, 2009 NIZAM HAMIDHEAD OF SALES STRATEGY, ISHARES EUROPE WHILE trading volumes on equities have fallen by 46 per cent during the financial crisis, volumes in exchange-traded products (ETPs) have been comparatively healthy. Over the past year trading volumes in ETPs rose to €54bn from €37bn and as a proportion of trading, they have risen from about [...]
THE LONDON REPORT September 23, 2009 THE leading share index closed lower yesterday as falling commodity prices stung oil firms and miners while investors stayed cautious ahead of the conclusion of a US Federal Reserve policy meeting. The FTSE 100 ended 0.1 per cent, or 3.23 points, lower at 5,139.37, erasing gains from earlier in the session as shares on Wall [...]
NEW YORK REPORT September 23, 2009 US stocks fell yesterday as investors worried the Federal Reserve is closer to pulling back on extraordinary measures to inject funding to shore up the economy. The Fed’s policy-setters met and kept interest rates unchanged, as expected, but they also said the US central bank would slow its programme of purchasing mortgage debt to its [...]
Making too many impulsive trades? It’s all the fault of your hormones September 23, 2009 WALK onto any trading floor from the Square Mile to Wall Street and you will notice the sheer amount of testosterone in the atmosphere. Trading floors are filled with young men shouting either into a telephone or at their multitude of screens, intent on striking lucky and making their fortune. The male bias of many [...]
UNCERTAINTY MAKES FOR EDGY TRADERS September 23, 2009 GEORGE TCHETVERTAKOVHEAD OF MARKET RESEARCH, ALPARI UK Over the past few weeks, market participants have been quick to price in monetary policy tightening in response to resurgent stock markets, buoyant macroeconomic indicators and strong sentiment across the developed world. Policy divergence or even policy “desynchronisation” whereby policy tightening is carried out at different rates, could [...]
Lawyers lobby G20 over emissions September 22, 2009 EARLIER this month UK lawyers issued a “communiqué” calling on the G20 to implement more effective regulation ahead of the Pittsburgh summit which begins tomorrow, and the UN climate-change convention in Copenhagen in December which is expected to produce a successor to the Kyoto agreement. So, why should world leaders listen to a bunch of [...]
OFT SENDING OUT MESSAGE TO BUSINESS September 22, 2009 MICHAEL GRENFELLCOMPETITION LAW PARTNER AT NORTON ROSE LLP THE huge fines imposed yesterday by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on UK construction companies for cartel activity send a strong signal to British business generally: the authorities will penalise anti-competitive behaviour, even in a recession. The fines totalling £129.5m on 103 construction firms for bid [...]
Baltic blues disperse as strength returns September 22, 2009 SINCE the start of the financial crisis, the Baltic states have cast a long shadow over their Scandinavian and Eastern European neighbours. Swedish banks, which lent heavily to the Baltic states in euros, now find themselves running a high risk of loan default. Sweden’s Swedbank, which is the Nordic bank most heavily exposed to the [...]
WHY DOLLAR COULD RALLY AHEAD OF G20 September 22, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT NOW that the dollar has replaced the yen as the primary carry trade funding currency, the greenback has become even more sensitive to risk assumption and risk aversion flows. Since the carry trade depends on stable or widening interest rate spreads, any hint of economic turbulence will spark fears [...]
