THE LONDON REPORT June 21, 2009 THE JUNE gauntlet of retail company statements is set to continue this week, with two UK electronics giants due to issue full-year 2009 results. DSG, Kesa and Inchcape are lining up to report, following last week’s announcements from Tesco, J Sainsbury, Whitbread and Morrison. Kesa Electricals, which runs electronics store Comet among its Europe-wide retail [...]
MARTIN ON THE MARKETS June 21, 2009 AFTER three months of virtually non-stop rallying, are the brakes finally on? Despite a US data-led push ahead on Friday, the FTSE 100 index still finished the week down nearly 100 points. Even Friday’s fight-back may be tested this morning following a fade in US stocks after London’s close. GFT is calling the FTSE to [...]
British stocks lead the way in defence aerospace boom June 21, 2009 IT was a bad few days for civil aerospace firms at the Paris Air Show last week. After the first four days, total orders and commitments for civil aircraft totalled $14.1bn. To put that in context, at Farnborough in 2008, total orders and commitments for Airbus and Boeing alone came to more than $64bn. The [...]
THE TIPSTER June 21, 2009 BUYERS have been snapping up banks with decimated share prices, but there are still some crisis-resilient picks in the financial sector, such as Standard Chartered. On Thursday the bank will be in the spotlight when it releases its trading update. It has managed to survive the credit crunch relatively unscathed and its share price has [...]
TROUGHING UK ECONOMY WILL BOOST POUND June 21, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM WE might still be knee deep in recession, but policy makers have started to talk about how they will mop up in the aftermath of their generous fiscal and monetary incentives. In essence, it is prudent that this discussion takes place now. Even when deflation was a real fear in many [...]
Positive jobs data boosts Wall Street June 18, 2009 US STOCKS gained yesterday after a recent small pullback as data on the jobs market and regional manufacturing revived hopes that the recession-hit economy is stabilising. Government data showed that while the amount of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week, the number of people collecting aid after the first week fell [...]
Vodafone saves the day as the high street struggles on June 18, 2009 STRENGTH in Vodafone and defensive tobacco stocks pushed the FTSE 100 into positive ground yesterday, but gains were muted and offset by sliding commodity stocks. The index closed 2.40 points lower at 4,280.86, having closed down 50.11 points, or 1.2 per cent the previous session. Heavyweight mobile phone operator Vodafone was the biggest positive impact [...]
Confidence wavers but the drug makers have the cure June 17, 2009 RECENT confidence of a quick global economic recovery wavered yesterday, with commodity stocks down on weaker raw material prices but pharmaceuticals and telecoms gaining. “The bulls have lost their swagger and after a week long stalemate, the bears appear to be winning the recovery debate. Financial markets have now broken out of last week’s unusually [...]
US banks hit after S&P’s downgrade June 17, 2009 TECHNOLOGY shares buoyed the Nasdaq yesterday after positive broker comments on Qualcomm, but financial shares’ losses held back the Dow and the S&P 500. Banks were hurt by a broad debt ratings downgrade from Standard & Poor’s and uncertainty over the government’s extensive proposals for banking-industry reform. The KBW Bank index fell 3.3 per cent. [...]
BOND YIELDS ARE A THREAT TO RECOVERY June 17, 2009 GEORGE TCHETERTAKOVHEAD OF MARKET RESEARCH, ALPARI UK THE bond markets are often underestimated and overlooked by investors because they are usually very stable, in fact almost too stable for some traders to take notice. However, over the past 18 months they have not only been volatile, but also pivotal in influencing banks, governments, central banks [...]