FED HAS DONE A GOOD JOB ON US EQUITIES January 31, 2011 THE Federal Reserve has so far done an excellent job of goosing US equities through its ongoing asset purchase programme. As Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has intimated, boosting stock prices is now one of the Reserve’s aims, on top of its officially mandated dual role of ensuring price stability and full employment. So investors were [...]
Desert sands blowing into the gears of the economy January 31, 2011 THE LAST time Egypt unsettled international markets this badly was in 1973. On 6 October of that year, the Egyptian army mounted a shock assault on the Israeli occupied Sinai Peninsula. After initially losing ground, the Israeli army rapidly recovered, fighting back until a ceasefire was agreed on 25 October. The war, though relatively small, [...]
THE TIPSTER January 31, 2011 IN JUST under two years the fashion designer Ted Baker has seen its share price more than double. It has also surpassed its 642p high of 2007 to reach a record 673p in December 2010. Since the firm was floated in 1997, earnings have grown by 10 per cent each year, which is always a promising [...]
Mounting Egypt unrest to send stocks sharply lower January 30, 2011 EUROPEAN stock markets are all expected to trade lower on the open this morning, following the heightened turmoil witnessed in Egypt over the weekend. GFT is quoting the FTSE 100 index to open down 49 points from Friday’s close, at a level of 5,932. Elsewhere in Europe the German Dax is called down 32 points [...]
Your guide to picking up bargains January 30, 2011 THESE days, it sometimes seems as if nobody seems to try to pick shares any more. Instead, they trade indices, the number of which seem to grow by the day, or other assets like currencies. But following individual companies trials and success remains a particularly satisfying way to trade. Here are a few tips to help [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD January 30, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp will launch the first iPad only newspaper on Wednesday, The Daily. ● The oil giant Exxon Mobil reports earnings today. ● As does budget airline RyanAir, which releases its third quarter earnings results today. ● Tomorrow the iPhone chip manufacturer ARM Holdings releases its fourth quarter results, which [...]
THE TIPSTER January 30, 2011 THE EMBATTLED oil giant BP may have found support after ingratiating itself with the Russians over the controversial Rosneft deal. But threats continue to linger over the Gulf oil spill and brokers who had been viewing the stock as something of a bargain are now tempering their outlook. Combine this with waning oil prices and the [...]
Blocking out the sirens’ call: how to protect your wealth from emotion January 30, 2011 JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES once said that “there’s nothing so dangerous as the pursuit of an rational investment policy in an irrational world”. Despite that advice, every day, people try to construct rational, risk balanced portfolios. And often they fail, instead buying what is fashionable, or panicking when they should be cool-headed. According to Dr Greg Davies, [...]
Adding a little power to your ETF portfolio January 27, 2011 GIVE me a lever long enough and I shall move the world”. So said Archimedes. Had the Greeks invented listed products, he might also have moved his stock portfolio. Leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs), which trade like ordinary equities on the stock exchange, are now offering investors the chance to lever up, achieving the big [...]
Vodafone drags on the FTSE despite strong insurer gains January 27, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 share index closed slightly lower yesterday, after a dip in index heavyweight Vodafone, dented by weak results from AT&T, offset a surge in insurers following positive broker comment. The FTSE 100 closed down 4.13 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,965.08, having added 0.9 per cent the previous session. Vodafone, the company [...]