Gold’s surprising stability deserves some closer attention February 12, 2013 AFTER reaching a peak of $1,922 per troy ounce in September 2011, gold has struggled to break new ground, with every rally since then failing to match the previous. Indeed, after the price performances of 2003 to 2011, the last 18 months have been constrained. And for quite a few reasons this is surprising. One [...]
FTSE pauses for breath beneath the 6,300 mark February 11, 2013 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 was lifted yesterday by strength in energy stocks and food retailers, but the index was still struggling to break through the four-and-a-half year highs hit at the start of February. London’s blue chip index gained 13.13 points, or 0.2 per cent at 6,277.06, holding within the 70-point range of the last five [...]
US markets are quiet after six weeks of gains February 11, 2013 US stocks ended a quiet session with slight moves yesterday as investors found few reasons to keep pushing shares higher following a six-week advance, though the longer-term trend was still viewed as positive. The benchmark index is up more 6.4 per cent in 2013, putting both the S&P 500 and Dow industrials near multi-year highs. [...]
Bank ringfences will solve little February 11, 2013 Chief Market Strategist, Cantor Index I AM enormously proud to have survived 50 years in Canada. Over the last week, however, there has been little news involving banks to be remotely glad about. We heard some “mea-culpa” testimony to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards from Lloyds Banking Group’s chief executive Antonio [...]
Oil prices ride a wave of recent global optimism February 11, 2013 FOR a long time, oil prices have been dominated by supply shocks, as one major oil producer after another has gone through a period of unrest. But while the Middle Eastern oil producers are still a long way from an oasis of calm, it is now expected demand-side improvements, rather than supply worries, that are [...]
The Tipster | Wooing investors in Rio February 11, 2013 THE honeymoon is over for Rio Tinto’s newly-appointed chief executive Sam Walsh. Investors seem to be out of love with the mining giant, which reports earnings on Thursday. Since 2009, Rio has traded at a 30 per cent discount to its net present value, according to some analysts. But details of a cost-cutting plan could [...]
Obama’s path to popular prosperity February 11, 2013 The US immigration debate has implications for financial markets BARACK Obama, in his State of the Union address tonight, is expected to lay out an ambitious agenda for his final term in office. For now, staving off a growth-killing sequester or government shutdown next month is the main preoccupation of markets. But over the longer [...]
Analyst picks for 12 February 2013 February 11, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Short Aussie-dollar and sterling-dollar Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few days Amid weaker economic data coming out of Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, both the Aussie and sterling have weakened, and the dollar has gained strength. US treasury yields [...]
Market braced for bad news in Inflation Report February 10, 2013 ECONOMISTS have warned that markets should be braced for bad news this week as the Bank of England releases its quarterly update on the UK’s financial outlook. “The upcoming Inflation Report is likely to project that inflation will still be clearly above the two per cent target two years ahead, and perhaps not even back [...]
US bull market to face further tests in March February 10, 2013 THE US stock market is no stranger to strong performances in January, only to see the lofty gains early in the year transition into months of grinding action that goes nowhere. That’s what happened in 2011 and 2012, and some analysts think 2013 could follow the same routine. Markets are higher this year in the [...]
