SMEs looking for support at Westminster May 6, 2010 SMALL and medium-sized firms make up 99 per cent of all UK businesses, but although our nation relies on entrepreneurs to provide employment to millions of citizens, small firms have felt ignored by politicians during the election campaign and the economic downturn. A survey by accountancy firm Haines Watts, for which 650 business owners from [...]
UK should brace itself for austerity May 5, 2010 RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM OVER the next few months the British electorate will wake up to the reality of what it means to live in a country with a budget deficit of £163bn. The bleak truth is that few will be immune to the tax hikes and spending cuts that will inevitably hit over the next [...]
The gold price continues its march higher as risk falls off May 5, 2010 THE LAST two years have been good for gold. It’s been one of the only assets to march higher during the financial crisis, and is now getting a boost from the sovereign debt problems in Europe. Since Europe’s crisis, investors’ reactions have been to ditch risky assets in favour of perceived safe havens – gold [...]
Play the Greek chaos with limited downside May 5, 2010 SCENES of riots in Athens have filled our television screens and newspapers this week, heightening the sense of chaos that is gripping the country. Against this backdrop of unrest, even the €110bn bail-out package from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union agreed last weekend, has not been enough to calm the market’s fears [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS May 5, 2010 DB X-TRACKERS LAUNCHES S&P 500 ETF Deutsche Bank’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) arm db x-trackers announced on Monday the launch of its new S&P 500 Index ETF, which is UCITS III compliant. The fund will be listed on various European and Asian stock exchanges from the middle of this month but institutional investors can trade the [...]
THE TIPSTER May 5, 2010 IT MIGHT be worth buying a small tranche of UK banking stocks. For the first time in over a year they have all drifted lower, not because of bad debt issues or sub prime worries, as was the case during the credit crunch, but because of a retraction in global risk sentiment. Spreadex offers a [...]
FTSE 100 hit by falling banks as fears over Eurozone debt contagion continue May 5, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares index shed 1.3 per cent yesterday laid low by weaker banks, as Eurozone debt contagion concerns intensified and Moody’s warned that Portugal’s debt could be downgraded. The FTSE 100 ended down 69.18 points at 5,341.93, a fourth consecutive session of falls, closing at a level not seen since 25 February. The FTSE [...]
Fallout from Greek crisis continues to hit Wall St May 5, 2010 US STOCKS sagged yesterday as more signs emerged that the fallout from the Greek debt crisis could spread to bigger European economies. The euro hit a 14-month low as investors shunned the debt of weaker Eurozone countries and jumped into safe-havens. US Treasury prices and the dollar surged on fears Greece’s debt problems could hinder [...]
When the spark has gone, you have to act fast May 5, 2010 I DON’T want to sound ungrateful, because I have kept my job through the recession, but the truth is that I am bored and I have lost my spark. I have been in my current position for three years – the longest I have done anything – and I feel that I have mastered my job. [...]
A book by two bloggers is wise but concise May 5, 2010 REWORK BY JASON FRIED AND DAVID HEINEMEIER HANSSON Vermillion Books, £10.99 THIS is perhaps just the sort of book you would expect from internet entrepreneurs famous for a blog (called 37 Signals); rather than convoluted arguments, re-heated out-of-context quotations from Machiavelli or Nietzsche and endless, bulletpointed arguments, it’s a collection of short, sharp and thought-provoking [...]
