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January 24, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Demand from investors pushed the price of platinum to a new record on Thursday in New York, where it touched $1,617.90 per troy ounce, a gain of $58.80.
Gold was also gained ground when it added $23.90 to $907 per troy ounce after going as high as $911.10 per troy ounce earlier in the day on declines for the US dollar, while March ...
by Elaine Frei
The euro gained in relation to the US dollar and the yen on Thursday on comments from a European Central Bank official and on reports that German business confidence was higher in a new survey.
At the same time, the dollar weakened on a decline in existing home sales in December and while the yen was hurt as some investors returned to risk.
At ...
by Kay Murchie
Asos, the largest online fashion and beauty store has announced an excellent festive period with sales up 87% compared with 12 months ago. The company said full-year profits are likely to be well ahead of forecasts.
Asos, which stands for As Seen on Screen, specialises in selling affordable versions of outfits worn by celebrities and is attracting over 2 million shoppers ...
January 23, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Declines in the price of grains were at or near daily exchange-imposed limits on Wednesday as worries grew that the US is in or is about to enter a recession.
March soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped their limit of 50 cents to $11.89 per bushel.
CBOT March wheat was within a cent of its limit as it dropped 29 ...
by Elaine Frei
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index soared 2,332 points, or 10.72 percent, Wednesday to 24,090.17. The gains came after Tuesday’s interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve and a similar cut today from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, to 5 percent from 5.75 percent.
Most other Asia-Pacific equities markets followed the Hang Seng higher although Taiwan’s Taiex index dropped 2.29 ...
by Elaine Frei
The euro was weaker against a number of currencies Wednesday even after the president of the European Central Bank insisted that fighting inflation is the most important issue driving monetary policy in the Eurozone.
It took $1.4570 to buy a euro, but by just after noon in New York, the euro had come back a bit and was trading at $1.4561 to the euro.
At ...
by Stewart Douglas
Retail chains Dixons, PC World and Currys have today announced that they will no longer stock analogue TVs in any of their branches, with a view to offering Freeview-ready digital TVs which have an in-built digital tuner, as part of the wider move towards the digital TV switchover process which will end in 2012.
The move comes in preparation for ...
by Stewart Douglas
Technology company Apple has today announced a growth in profits over the last quarter of 2007, seeing a 57% growth in its bottom line as a result of growing demand for the iPhone and its Mac computer brand helped propel the company forward inspite of weak consumer market conditions.
Following the high-budget launch of the iPhone last year, the company has sold some 2.3 million ...
by Kay Murchie
Following renewed stock market turbulence, discussions to take-over Close Brothers, the 130-year old UK investment bank, have failed.
Cenkos, the stockbroker, and Landsbanki, Iceland's second-largest bank, have abandoned their take-over bid after the 3 parties failed to agree on the terms of the deal.
Cenkos hoped to take the asset management and corporate finance businesses as well as Winterflood ...
by Kay Murchie
Research from fund analyst, Moneyspider.com, has established that Fidelity is delivering below-average performance to thousands on nearly half of its funds.
Fidelity, which manages approximately £30 billion of UK saver's cash, is the UK's second largest fund manager after Invesco Perpetual.
Tony Ahearne of Moneyspider.com said this research will no doubt be of concern to UK investors, particularly ...
by Kay Murchie
At least 600 staff have lost their jobs at Dolcis after the shoe shop confirms it has been placed into administration following weeks of speculation.
Administrators KPMG closed the 185 outlets after discussions with an unnamed rescue backer failed to materialise. KPMG said that 35 of Dolcis' 67 stand-alone shops would continue to trade.
Joint administrator Brian Green said Dolcis is a well recognised, ...
January 22, 2008
by Stewart Douglas
Oil conglomerate BP has today become the latest in a long line of companies to announce they will freeze pension contributions over the course of the next year after it revealed that its current fund was valued in excess of 135% of current fund liabilities.
According to the rules of the pension scheme, the company can freeze its contributions to the pension fund whenever ...
by Stewart Douglas
Pub and restaurant group JD Wetherspoon has today announced that it is approaching the new year with caution following a downturn in sales over the festive period throughout its operation, after feeling the effects of the credit crunch on its top line over the last few weeks.
The national pub chain reported a downturn in like for like sales over the eleven weeks to ...
by Elaine Frei
Fears of a recession in the United States sent crude oil prices lower Tuesday as many investors worried that a recession is unavoidable, despite the Federal Reserve’s move to cut interest rates today.
February contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude, which expired at the end of the day, were down 72 cents to $89.85 per barrel at the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile ...
by Elaine Frei
The US Federal Reserve voted, by a margin of 8 to 1, to cut its main interest rate to 3.5 percent from 4.25 percent on Tuesday, sending the dollar lower versus the euro and most other major currencies.
The Fed hadn’t been scheduled to meet until 29 - 30 January, and some analysts expect that it will cut interest rates ...
by Kay Murchie
Morrisons, the fourth largest chain of supermarkets, said a successful advertising and offering promotional deals in the build-up to Christmas has brought over 4 million extra customers.
Its pre-Christmas advertising campaign was fronted by Scottish singer Lulu and football pundit Alan Hansen.
The supermarket chain added that excellent availability throughout saw record levels of trade across the 375 stores in their estate.
In the ...
by Kay Murchie
Building materials supplier, Wolseley, has posted a 25% decline in 5-month trading profit.
The company, which is one of the largest distributors of building equipment in the world, warned that a deteriorating US housing market is spreading to home repairs and improvement and across Europe, sending its shares plummeting 12%.
Furthermore, pre-tax profit fell over 30% in the 5 months to the ...
by Kay Murchie
According to sources Biffa, one of the UK's largest integrated waste management groups, has received a counter-approach worth approximately £1.5 billion from a fund backed by General Electric (GE).
Following the news, shares in Biffa rose 4%. Prior to Christmas, Biffa opened its books to a rival consortium backed by private equity firms Montagu and Hg Capital, which have made an indicative ...
January 21, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were significantly lower on Monday growing worries about the US economy. Markets in Hong Kong and in India dropped more than 1,000 points each. The Hang Seng fell 1,383 points, or 5.49 percent to 23,818.86, its biggest decline since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. The Sensex was down ...
by Elaine Frei
With floor trade closed on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday as US markets took the day off to celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., the price of oil fell in electronic trade on big losses in European and Asian equities markets.
February contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude, due to expire on Tuesday, were down as much as $2.01 ...
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