Unlike the foreign exchange markets, where traders expect their bets to move vividly when the Fed puts an extra comma on its policy statement; unlike the equity markets, where traders expect price panic when Merkel sneezes; unlike commodities markets, where traders expect Armageddon when rainfall increases by one drop per year; in the gold market,…
The FTSE 100 rose 93.78 points to 6,675.41. The FTSE 250 gained 186.53 points and closed at 17,482.53. The FTSE All Share increased by 48.02 points to 3,536.21. The FTSE AIM All Share finished 5.05 points higher at 749.82. Centamin (CEY) has been upgraded from a “hold” to a “buy” by Canaccord Genuity and the…
Wednesday saw the Shanghai Composite plunge by as much as 8% on its open, with trading in almost half of Chinese shares halted to stem the volatility. By midweek, the main Chinese index was down by around a third from the highs, having given back all of its gains from the March rally. There haven’t…
On 08 July George Osborne delivered the first budget from a Conservative government since Ken Clark stood at the House of Commons despatch box in March 1997. Although many of Mr Osborne’s measures had been well trailed, the final coup de grâce – the introduction of a mandatory Living Wage – came as a surprise. This will have important implications on both government finances and corporate profitability in the UK which I would like to unpack here.
Here’s a picture of a very casual bloke on a roof opposite my house on the ‘mobi’ to his ‘Bezzie Mate’. Climb up your roof too, and have a look around. What do you see? He’ll be seeing a lot of cranes. There’s plenty of building going on. So you wouldn’t expect the Construction sector…
After a roller coaster weekend in EU politics, financial markets opened Monday with increased volatility but in certain ways disregarded the political and economic implications of what happened during the weekend. The Greeks said “no” to a new bailout, Yanis Varoufakis was dismissed, the dra(ch)ma is back on the table; but still investors don’t seem…
The FTSE 100 fell 50.10 points to 6,535.68. The FTSE 250 tumbled 170.18 points to 17,443.28. The FTSE All Share decreased by 28.49 points to 3,573.98. The FTSE AIM All Share finished 5.82 points lower at 758.15. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has once again voted to hold rates at 0.5%. The scale…
The FTSE 100 rose 54.34 points to 6,486.55. The FTSE 250 tumbled 106.79 points to 17,106.14. The FTSE All Share increased by 20.01 points to 3,539.89. The FTSE AIM All Share finished 5.98 points lower at 744.23. George Osborne set out a new budget today with key changes including the minimum wage for over 25s…
Broadly speaking I think that anyone who has voted for a Labour government over the years since the war has become increasingly disillusioned with what they’ve got in return, and I think that’s set to continue because the whole idea of the Labour party is now obsolete – Socialism has outlived its usefulness and relevance.…
I was looking at some photos of a long past trip. I’m in hardly any of them because I took them. Remember that? Nowadays, of course, it’s the opposite. Probably a majority of photos, certainly on social media, are of the person posting them, and more often than not, ‘selfies’. I suppose the correct word…
