Play the election with sterling-kiwi April 27, 2010 EVERY poll putting the Liberal Democrats on a par with the Conservatives seems to result in sterling sinking a little lower. But with the effect of a hung parliament on the pound difficult to quantify, there are still plenty of foreign exchange traders who think there’s room for sterling to bounce even if we don’t [...]
Greece pushes the euro into uncharted seas April 27, 2010 EUROPEAN woes went from bad to worse yesterday after Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, downgraded Greek and Portuguese debt. Greek debt at BB+ is now effectively junk status. Investors dumped the euro, causing it to fall nearly two cents against the US dollar. But what now for the single currency? It managed to maintain [...]
CLEGG EFFECT WEIGHING ON STERLING April 27, 2010 BORIS SCHLOSSBERG DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT EVER since Nick Clegg’s winning performance in the first television debate, the spectre of a hung parliament has tempered cable’s rally despite surprisingly positive UK economic results. The emergence of the Liberal Democrats as a political force has served to complicate matters considerably, increasing the possibility of an [...]
THE TIPSTER April 27, 2010 IN the FX markets it is currently a case of betting on hung parliament fears in the UK or troubles in the Eurozone. Greek debt concerns continue to cause weakness in the euro, which has plunged towards the £0.86 level. From here the pair could go either way. If you’re expecting further downside for the [...]
Bribery law heralds welcome scrutiny April 27, 2010 EARLIER this month, the Bribery Act 2010 received its Royal Assent, and it is currently anticipated to be in force by the latter part of the year. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is on record as saying that the Act will greatly assist its efforts in combating corruption both here and overseas. Certainly, the act [...]
RBS competition fine will solve nothing April 27, 2010 THE ROYAL Bank of Scotland was recently fined £28.6m by the Office of Fair Trading for breaking competition law after the bank shared information with Barclays. But the case raises a number of questions, not least about the regulator’s intentions in imposing the fine, and its efficacy in deterring such behaviour in future. Firstly there [...]
Vive la France: banks are looking good value April 26, 2010 RISKS to the financial sector are finally starting to abate, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published earlier this month. It also reduced its estimates of bank writedowns caused by the financial crisis by $0.5 trillion. But banks still face a mountain of challenges, and the future of the sector is [...]
ANALYSIS | UK BANKS April 26, 2010 WHILE banker bashing has become something of a national sport here in the UK, it has had little discernible impact on the share prices of our largest financial institutions, which have posted strong performances since their lows in the first quarter of 2009. The partially nationalised banks, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, have seen their [...]
CFD ANALYST PICKS April 26, 2010 TECHNICAL STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Short FTSE at 5,725 Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 5-10 days We managed to exit our long position from a couple of weeks back for a profit and recommended reversing and establishing a fresh short last week. The short trade is now in the money and [...]
FED TO LEAVE RATES LOW THIS MONTH April 26, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT IT IS a relatively quiet week on the data front but the closely-watched preliminary US first-quarter GDP will be published on Friday. The forecast is for a rise of 3.4 per cent – a sharp moderation from last quarter’s 5.6 per cent. Meanwhile, today sees President Obama host the first [...]