By Zak Mir It would appear that on the EU issue people remain polarised between the initial stated benefits of a free market and free movement of people and services, and the nightmare of the PIIGS economic disaster, Brussels red tape/gravy train, and of course the economic straitjacket of the single currency. All of this…
By Richard Gill, CFA It’s no secret that the game of football is one of the biggest on the planet, not only socially but also economically: the last Word Cup in Brazil was watched by an estimated 3.2 billion around the planet; governing body FIFA calculates that 270 million people actively participate in the sport;…
By Zak Mir The aftermath of the financial crisis has seen many of the rules regarding both companies and markets rewritten in quite a painful way, and this seems to be very much an ongoing process. After all, in the wake of the latest HSBC/Swiss tax debacle, anyone hoping that the banking sector might be…
by Frederik Vanhaverbeke In the latest of a new series for SBM Frederik Vanhaverbeke, author of Excess Returns: A comparative study of the methods of the world’s greatest investors, looks at how some of the world’s greatest investors are so successful. If you just stick to buying good companies (ones that have a high return…
The Markets UK industrial output dropped by 0.2% in December, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, as production declined at North Sea oil and gas rigs. Year-on-year, the figures were up by 1.7% and monthly manufacturing growth of 0.1% exceeded analysts expectations. The ONS said that the drop in oil…
Fifty or so years ago, when Panorama kicked off, it was a respected programme. The edition I saw last night covering HSBC’s customers who may prefer not to pay tax (there’s a surprise) was pure garbage. As it happens, wearing my accountant’s hat, I used to do back tax cases and know a bit about…
As readers know, we last week featured Crispin Odey’s review of the prospects for Western economies and, quite possibly, others in the coming years. There is no obvious explanation as to how this despairing prospect has come to settle in. However, one feature stands out: we are grossly overgoverned by centre-left drivellers. These dreadfully silly…
The Markets New official figures disclosed that the Indian Economy grew by 7.5% year-on-year for the quarter between October and December, but many analysts are struggling to make sense of a new formula that the Government used to determine the figures. The number has been revised sharply upwards from a prior estimate of 5.3%. Jyotinder…
By Dave Evans of Binary.com Following the ECB’s big reveal over its Quantitative Easing programme, the euro has stabilised, but has never looked likely to stage a sustained recovery. One step forward has very quickly been followed by one step back. EUR/USD Daily Chart As the daily chart of the EUR/USD shows, the mini…
I met Sean Daley getting on for eight years ago. He had been CEO of Camco Corporation, operating in Kyrgyzstan and which was a subsidiary of what became 3DM Worldwide, now known as Environmental Recycling Technologies (AIM: ENRT). There was an attempt in Bishkek upon his life in July 2006 during which four gun shots,…
