THE TIPSTER November 3, 2009 THE Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) begins its meeting today to decide whether its QE policies should be extended further. Sterling has fared better than might have been expected, but given the poor economic data and banking sector woes, pressures on sterling remain to the downside. With analysts revising US non-farm payrolls upwards, [...]
Carry trade bubble will burst, so be prepared November 3, 2009 DESPITE his notorious doomsaying, everybody does sit up and pay attention to Professor Nouriel Roubini’s views on the market. And earlier this week, he argued that the mother of all carry trades – borrowing dollars and using the proceeds to invest in countries with higher interest rates – faces an inevitable bust, with problems for [...]
JOBS CRUCIAL TO SUSTAIN US RECOVERY November 3, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT LAST week I wrote that the recovery trade was starting to hit a ceiling as risk assets stalled at key resistance levels of 10,000 on the Dow, 1,100 on the S&P 500 and 1.50 for euro-dollar. Despite relatively positive economic data from across the G20 this week, the risk [...]
This week’s MPC decision to set the tone for sterling November 3, 2009 IN THE run-up to the Bank of England’s interest rate and quantitative easing decision on Thursday, sterling remains extremely vulnerable to further selling pressure. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)’s moves will set the tone for the pound, and for the wider currency market, going into the end of the year. Sterling has pared back some [...]
Aussie to struggle in the short term November 3, 2009 IT was a surprise to nobody that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday took the well-publicised step of hiking the interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5 per cent. What might have surprised currency traders, though, is the subsequent pullback in the Aussie dollar against the greenback. The Aussie dollar has been a [...]
Why insider trading is hard to prove November 3, 2009 LAST month, the FBI smashed an alleged $20m insider trading scheme centring on the New York hedge fund Galleon, when they raided its offices and arrested billionaire financier Raj Rajaratnam and five accused accomplices. In the wake of criticism of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in this country over its percveived toothlessness, the regulator is [...]
CSR IS BOTH GOOD AND PROFITABLE November 3, 2009 DESMOND HUDSONCHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE LAW SOCIETY LAST week, City law firm Simmons & Simmons announced that it is putting corporate responsibility at the heart of its new business strategy. CSR-type work will appear on timesheets, and be considered in appraisals. This has ignited the debate about the “real” motivations behind corporate community investment. The rather [...]
Banking shake-up gives the markets a case of the jitters November 3, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to its lowest closing level in a month yesterday, led down by banks after shake-ups at Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds and poor results from Swiss peer UBS The FTSE 100 closed 67.29 points or 1.3 per cent weaker at 5,037.21, having surrendered the 5,000 level for the first [...]
Buffet’s bet leads to cheer on WallSt November 3, 2009 The Standard and Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq rose slightly yesterday as news of a major railroad acquisition helped sentiment, but the Dow edged lower on caution before a Federal Reserve statement on interest rates and the economy. Morgan Stanley’s downgrade of semiconductor stocks also limited a broad advance. The Dow Jones Transportation Average rose 5.3 [...]