It’s not gold but silver that earns first place February 26, 2012 SINCE the 2008 global recession, an increasing number of investors have moved away from the more traditional equities markets and have begun to consider commodities as a promising substitute. More recently, with the Eurozone crisis and various rounds of quantitative easing, interest in alternative investment options has spiked once again. In fact, from 2010 to [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD February 26, 2012 Today A diverse group of FTSE 100 reporters will kick off a busy week in the corporate calendar this morning, with banking giant HSBC likely to be top of many investors’ watch list. Analysts are expecting the bank’s geographical diversity to offset any potential weakness in it investment banking division, with profits expected to hit [...]
THE WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD February 26, 2012 A RALLY on Wall Street will be put to the test this week, with the S&P 500 at its highest level since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The broad index is up 8.6 per cent for the year, closing at 1,365 on Friday. The S&P 500’s close was the highest since June [...]
Turning obstacles into business opportunities February 26, 2012 A STAGNATING economy can offer smaller businesses the room to expand – Rajesh Agrawal, founder of RationalFX, certainly believes that the recession granted his money transfers and online foreign currency payment business an opportunity. But Agrawal has been thriving for some time despite leaving his small home town at 22 to live on only 5,000 [...]
KICK-STARTING STARTUPS AND THE ECONOMY February 26, 2012 RISING youth unemployment and the threat this poses to the economy is obviously looming large in the minds of politicians and business leaders. Hot on the heels of initiatives for paid internships, the government is now offering cash rewards for companies which take on an unemployed young person under the age of twenty-four. The reasons [...]
Possibilities for new companies abound even in troubled times February 26, 2012 TIMES are undeniably tough for many people in the UK, with living standards daily eroded as we pay the price for the malinvestments of our credit-fuelled boom. However, as bad as things are, hope springs eternal in the minds of British entrepreneurs – as it must. Although Investec’s recent Entrepreneur Confidence Index reveals that only [...]
FTSE inches upwards as US figures propel commodities February 23, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares rose yesterday as investors welcomed robust corporate earnings newsflow, with Royal Bank of Scotland spearheading an advance in banking stocks after the lender unveiled in-line full-year results. The UK benchmark closed up 21.34 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,937.89. RBS, up 5.1 per cent, was the second-top blue-chip riser, recovering after [...]
Wall Street nears pre-Lehman highs February 23, 2012 WALL Street stocks rose yesterday after data showed the US labour market remained on the mend, but the market stalled as it approached highs not seen since before the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. In an upbeat note for the economy, new US claims for unemployment benefits held steady last week and were at the [...]
US stocks slide on doubts over credit February 22, 2012 BANKS led US stocks lower yesterday as the S&P 500 stalled near a 10-month high after signs of weak European business activity rekindled concerns about a recession overseas. US banks were the S&P 500’s worst performing sector. Investors feared that weak Eurozone growth would hamper countries dealing with heavy debt loads and the banks exposed [...]
FTSE down as investors look again at weak Eurozone data February 22, 2012 BRITAIN’S leading share index edged lower yesterday as investors refocused on fundamentals, specifically weaker-than-expected Eurozone data, with the Greek debt restructuring theatricals out of the way for now. Recession concerns increased after data showed the Eurozone’s service sector unexpectedly shrank in February, with Europe being Britain’s main market for its goods. “The FTSE ends the [...]