Positive momentum to continue as oil fears lessen February 27, 2011 THE fighting in Libya was a dominant theme for the markets last week, and is set to continue to be so, with Saudi Arabia’s pledge to bridge any shortfalls in oil production stabilising crude prices and likely to provide some underpin to stock markets at least for the open today. Assuming the London Stock Exchange [...]
A twenty-first century wine firm, bringing Burgundy’s reds to China February 27, 2011 What is it like to work for a firm with two and a half centuries of tradition at your back? Hew Blair says it “drives you forward,” and his young broking manager Tom Jenkins agrees. The wine merchant Justerini and Brooks, the first wine firm to receive the royal warrant, has provided wines for every [...]
In a dangerous time, gold still shines brightly for investors February 27, 2011 INVESTMENT COMMENT THE current bull market in gold has been running for over a decade and, after a recent correction, shows little sign of stopping. Gold bottomed at around $250 an ounce in July 1999. Since then, gold has risen over 450 per cent, to around $1,400 an ounce. One of the most significant drivers [...]
NEWS IN BRIEF February 27, 2011 TEUCRIUM LAUNCHES NATURAL GAS ETF Teucrium has announced a new exchange-traded fund (ETF), the WTI Crude Oil Fund (CRUD), which offers exposure to futures contracts for WTI crude oil, also known as Texas Light Sweet Crude Oil, traded on the NYMEX. Launching the fund, they claim that unlike many of the ETFs in the Oil [...]
The knock-on cost of pricey commodities February 27, 2011 Inflation is the word on everyone’s lips at the moment. RPI inflation – the measure that best reflects the true rise in the cost of living in the UK – is now at 5.1 per cent a year as producers raise prices to protect their profits. But even the biggest brand owners are struggling to [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD February 27, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● HSBC Holdings releases its annual results on Monday. It is expected that the results will show the bank to be back to pre-crash levels, with a dividend forecast of just over 3 per cent. ● Carrefour will report full-year results Thursday. The focus of the market is likely to be on management [...]
SPREADBET NEWS February 27, 2011 ● IG Index is now offering clients the ability to deal directly on the monthly US non-farm payroll figure. These figures already trigger one of IG’s busiest dealing periods, with an average of 5,000 trades within a minute of their announcement. The next figures are due out on Friday. Last month they rose by 36,000, [...]
THE TIPSTER February 27, 2011 FTSE 250 house builder Barratt Developments released a statement that sales have been strong since the start of the year, and losses amounted to £4.6m compared to £178m losses last year. The firm has cut its net debt by 11 per cent to £537m. It is forecast to fall to £400m within a few months. [...]
Triangulating what you see in the charts February 27, 2011 PYTHAGORAS and his chums used to worship triangles. They believed that the magic of numbers was the ultimate in human wisdom. Traders might find they will too, once they learn how to spot a triangle pattern forming on their trading charts, since it is one of the most common patterns to develop before a breakout. [...]
FOLLOW THESE TWO TRADING RULES TO WIN February 27, 2011 CONSULTING ANALYST, INTERTRADER WELCOME to this eight-week course on profitable trading. Let’s begin with a recommendation. “Phantom of the Pits” is probably the greatest trading book ever, and it’s available for free online. Authored by Art Simpson, it is an interview with “The Phantom”, an anonymous super-trader from the pits of Chicago. He is rumoured [...]