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March 16, 2009
by Elaine Frei
The euro and the pound both strengthened in relation to the US dollar on Monday, while the greenback also declined against the Swedish krona and the Korean won as equities markets gained to raise risk appetite among investors.
The pound made its gains as Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) said it has had a strong start to the year ...
March 13, 2009
by Elaine Frei
The price of crude oil dropped Friday ahead of Sunday’s meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries amid uncertainty about the decision the cartel will take concerning production quotas.
West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down 96 cents to $46.07 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude dropped 59 cents to trade at ...
by Elaine Frei
Most European equities markets were higher Friday, with banks mostly higher after both Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) said that they do not need any more government bail out money and Bank of America followed earlier announcements from Citigroup in claiming to have operated at a profit in the first two months of the year.
In ...
by Elaine Frei
The Swiss franc was weaker again Friday as the Swiss National Bank continued to intervene to weaken the currency after its value rose so much that it has made Swiss products less competitive in the rest of Europe and in the US.
The intervention has taken the Swiss currency to its biggest weekly decline versus the euro since 1999 and comes ...
March 12, 2009
by Elaine Frei
April contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude added $4.70 to $47.03 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, while Brent crude was up $3.69 to $44.88 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.
The gains came as traders worried that Russia will cut oil production along with OPEC after reports surfaced that Russia’s Vice Premier will attend ...
by Elaine Frei
Europe’s equities markets saw gains Thursday on gains for banks, insurers and the pharmaceuticals sector.
In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.49 percent to 3,712.06 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.56 percent to 6,060.31.
Insurers led the 100, where Friends Provident (LSE: FP) added 9.38 percent for the best performance on the index, but Aviva (LSE: AV) dropped 10.54 percent after ...
by Elaine Frei
The Swiss franc was weaker Thursday after the Swiss National Bank intervened to weaken the currency by cutting the interest rate there to 0.25 percent and by buying foreign currencies, the Swiss central bank also said it will begin purchasing corporate bonds.
At nearly noon in New York, the Swiss franc traded at SFr1.5226 to the euro and at SFr1.1905 to ...
by Peter Charalambous
The drinks company Coca-Cola has emerged as one of the frontrunners in a bid to buy a minority stake in Innocent Drinks as the smoothie maker’s founders are looking to raise money to support an international expansion.
Innocent was founded 11 years ago by Adam Balon, Jon Wright and Richard Reed, graduates of Cambridge university ...
by Peter Charalambous
Greater indication that social networking sites are also being affected and having to adapt in the face of the current economic climate can be seen as the teen sites Piczo and Stardoll are merging international operations in order to be more appealing to advertisers.
It is being described as a merger of equals and will bring about a combined monthly unique ...
by Peter Charalambous
A BBC reports sheds light of the unemployment trends and figures in the near future as official unemployment figures stand a 2 million but as the government has mounting debts spending cuts and tax hikes will be inevitable and as a result the peak of unemployment is likely to be much higher.
BBC forecasts reveal that this peak is likely to be ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that using a survey that focuses on a typical basket of goods for those over 60, the IFS has found that inflation for pensioners is running at 5.4 percent in January whilst inflation for the general public has actually fallen to just 0.5 percent.
Home-owner pensioners have not benefited greatly ...
by Peter Charalambous
Over the last twelve months the number of billionaires has fallen by a third as the number of people across the world who are worth over £1billion fallen from 1,125 last year to 793 as the average billionaire had their net worth fall from $3.9bn to $3bn.
Collectively the world’s richest individuals had ...
by Peter Charalambous
Quantitative easing as a new policy took its first steps yesterday as many investors looked to sell government bonds to the Bank of England.
In an unprecedented response the Bank of England had planned to spend £2bn of newly printed money although received offer to buy in excess of £10bn worth of gilts.
As a result the pound has ...
March 11, 2009
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices dropped in New York and held steady in London after the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil stockpiles in the United States grew unexpectedly last week.
The EIA reported that crude oil inventories added 700,000 barrels in the week ending 6 February against an expected decline of around 1 million barrels, while distillates stockpiles grew by ...
by Elaine Frei
European equities markets were mostly higher Wednesday, but the FTSE 100 was lower in London on declines in the banking even though insurers saw gains.
The FTSE 100 was 0.58 percent lower to 3,693.81 but the FTSE 250 added 1.21 percent to 6,026.68.
The biggest gainer on the 100 was insurer Legal & General (LSE: LGEN), which added 8.24 percent ...
March 10, 2009
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices fell Tuesday after morning gains on a new report issued by the US Energy Information Administration which cut its February global demand forecast by 200,000 barrels per day, while it said it expects that oil will average $42 per barrel this year and $53 per barrel next year.
The earlier gains came as equities markets advanced most analysts ...
by Elaine Frei
European equities markets saw substantial gains Tuesday as banks raced higher on reports that a memo issued by the head of Citigroup (NYSE: C) said that the bank is having its best quarter since 2007.
In London, the FTSE 100 added 4.88 percent to 3,715.23 while the FTSE 250 was up 3.21 percent to 5,954.8.
London’s banks were led higher by Lloyds Banking Group ...
by Elaine Frei
The pound saw declines Tuesday on more bad economic news for the UK, but it still managed to gain on the US dollar.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that the average number of transactions per estate agent fell to 9.5 in the three months ending in February, the worst in the thirty years since records have been kept, while ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to a report called Litterbugs from the think tank, The Policy Exchange, a national body is needed in order to co-ordinate solutions to the UK’s litter problem which costs the taxpayer £500 million a year.
Bill Bryson, the author and president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, has revealed that the current situation is both unsustainable and untenable ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Italian-owned group Tiscali, which is the nation’s fifth-biggest internet provider, is currently in a desperate state of affairs having asked banks to suspend its loan repayments after a statement released late on Friday.
Following the announcement shares were suspended as the planned sale of its UK assets to BSkyB had fallen through.
The group had planned on selling its UK assets ...
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