Oil bulls at risk of being complacent July 17, 2018 | City Talk Crude oil prices have continued to struggle today with Brent prices trading near three month lows. Recent weakness in commodity prices appears to be starting to act as a bit of a drag on equity markets more broadly, with the current weakness in Brent crude oil suggesting contrary to some indications that we may well [...]
Trump’s in town, traders beware July 12, 2018 | City Talk President Trump arrives in the UK today on his first UK state visit. The unconventional leader has been ruffling feathers, and has not been afraid to stand up for American interests. Theresa May will be on a charm offensive as the prime minister will be seeking a positive trading relationship with the US, especially with [...]
Litigation funder Augusta completes £150m financing round to pedal expansion plans July 10, 2018 Litigation funder Augusta has successfully completed a £150m financing round from institutional and private investors as its business moves into the next phase of expansion. Augusta, whose main markets are in the UK and Australia, says the boosted finances will enable it to fund disputes of a bigger size and scope and reach other jurisdictions [...]
TP ICap shares sink more than 30 per cent as it parts ways with chief executive and warns on higher costs July 10, 2018 Shares in the world's largest interdealer broker TP Icap sunk more than 30 per cent this morning, after the company said it had parted ways with its chief executive, and warned earnings would come in below expectations. Ahead of the group's interim results for the six months to 30 June to be announced next month, [...]
Ocado delivers mixed results July 10, 2018 | City Talk Ocado revealed a mixed set of first-half results. Revenue rose by 12.1 per cent to £799 million, while EBITDA slipped by 13.9 per cent to £38.9 million. When you factor in depreciation, amortisation, impairments and net finance costs the company swung to a loss of £9 million. The CFO expects the full-year pre-tax loss to [...]
What’s the difference between emerging and frontier markets? July 5, 2018 | City Talk Here’s the thing about labels: They always tell you more about the people who apply them than what they are applied to. Take “emerging market.” It is one of the few terms that applies to both India and China. These are not similar places. Business travellers from one have been known to check bags full [...]
Tit for tat trade response risks 1930s mistake July 4, 2018 | City Talk “Trade wars are good and easy to win”, so says US President Trump who last weekend railed against the EU for being as “bad as China” when it comes to trade practices that he perceives as being disadvantageous to US jobs and business. Over the past few weeks the rhetoric over global trade has been [...]
Anglo American share price spikes on $7bn Vedanta deal reports July 4, 2018 Shares in FTSE 100-listed miner Anglo American have spiked today after reports linking it to a $7bn (£5.3bn) deal with Vedanta Resources. Indian website Livemint reported today that Vedanta was considering a plan to take control of Anglo's South African business by merging it with Vedanta via a share swap. Vedanta’s chair Anil Agarwal owns [...]
Will Bitcoin Make or Break the internet? July 3, 2018 News in the last week included a report called, ironically, 'Beyond the Hype' from the global central bank (BIS, the Bank of International Settlements) which contains more than its own share of hype, including a headline stating ‘Bitcoin Could Break the Internet'. Together with the same obvious errors that the Bank of England's Mark Carney [...]
The True Value of Cryptocurrency: Why the Current Price Doesn’t Matter July 3, 2018 As Canada’s first cryptocurrency market advisory and investment firm we, have seen the price of bitcoin rise from the lows of $150 back in 2013 to the highs of nearly $20,000 in late 2017, before a steep slide back to test support around the $6,700 – as of yesterday afternoon. For those [...]