No blue skies for the Nikkei stock market this summer July 19, 2010 DESPITE the bearish fundamentals plaguing the Japanese currency, the yen has proved remarkably resilient over recent months, boosted first by safe-haven inflows as a consequence of the European sovereign debt crisis and then from the deterioration in the US recovery. This strength in the yen has had a detrimental effect on the health of Japanese [...]
THE TIPSTER July 19, 2010 EXPECTATIONS are high for Ryanair’s first quarter trading update that will be announced today. Its last update in June showed a 280 per cent jump in pre-tax profits for 2009. Back in June it announced that it expects growth to expand by 11 per cent in 2010. The airline is rarely out of the news [...]
Bid for Tomkins fails to boost investor cheer as BP’s woes drag down FTSE July 19, 2010 WEAK US housing data helped push Britain’s top shares lower yesterday, as cautious investors trimmed positions in riskier assets, while BP fell after leaks were discovered in its capped well. The FTSE 100 closed down 10.57 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,148.28, having shed one per cent on Friday. The index’s fall echoed a [...]
Wall St rises as IBM and Texas results hit after bell July 19, 2010 US stocks rose yesterday, spurred by optimism ahead of earnings from key technology companies and after Dow component Boeing announced strong orders. Investors bet on solid reports from International Business Machines (IBM), the world’s largest technology services provider, and chip maker Texas Instruments, hoping both would show strength similar to Intel’s results last week. But [...]
Nervy markets ahead of bank stress test results July 18, 2010 EXPECT a lot of talk and even more nerves ahead of the European bank stress test results this week. For the market open this morning, that means erring to the downside. GFT is quoting the FTSE 100 index to open down 28 points from Friday’s close, at a level of 5,130. The German DAX is [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD July 18, 2010 AFTER ugly economic data and an unexpected downturn in sentiment on quarterly earnings, Wall Street will face a tough time battling back from the latest sell-off. Technology and banking results will once again shape investor mind-set in a week dominated by a blitz of quarterly earnings. But it will be a tough job to shift [...]
Trade volatility if you want to take a view on the markets July 18, 2010 WHEN people think of volatility, images of falling stock prices, anxious traders and massive losses come to mind. But spread betters should use periods of volatility as an opportunity. Most spread betting companies allow traders to take a position on volatility – usually by betting on the Vix index, which measures the implied volatility of [...]
Don’t bet on strong bank earnings July 18, 2010 REACTIONS were mixed as the first of the season’s US bank earnings rolled in last week. Some analysts – like GFT’s David Morrison – were blaming poor revenue growth reported by Citigroup and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BoA-ML) on Friday for the subsequent dip in the S&P 500 as it plunged 2.09 per cent in [...]
THE TIPSTER July 18, 2010 OIL giant BP has been trading at levels that have been described as an excellent buy opportunity. And with the well-head in the Gulf of Mexico capped, the share price is spurting higher although the company could still be seen as a bid target. Interim results on 27 July will be closely followed as traders [...]
SPREAD BET GURU July 18, 2010 MARKET STRATEGIST [email protected] Q. Dear Josh, what are the main weightings behind the FTSE 100 index? A. The FTSE 100 is a weighted index of the leading 100 companies, as measured by market value, that are listed on the London Stock Exchange. As you might expect, the companies with the highest market capitalisation have the [...]