The diagram above charts what is called the Buy To Open Put Call ratio in the US – which is a measure of pessimism and is thus interpreted on a contrarian basis, ie the higher it is the more bearish people are. This therefore means there is potential fuel for a rally. Looking at above,…
Treasury bond yields which continued to fall to record lows in early June have begun to turn up in recent days as we can see from the chart below. Falling bond yields are of course symptomatic of economic weakness. The chart below compares the yield on the 10-Year T-Note (green bars) to the S&P 500…
The FTSE 100 closed on Friday at 5,479, up 0.8% on the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7% on the week to close at 12,767, after a 115 point gain on Friday. The S&P 500 Index moved up 1.3% on the week to 1,343 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% to 2,873. Gold…
The markets continued to rally this last week against a backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the Greek election; the polls are indicating a close call between the two parties with conflicting opinions on whether Greece should remain a member of the Eurozone. Depending on the results, the markets could gap in either direction…
ICAP’s takeover of Plus is central to the broker’s plan to move aggressively into futures trading for the first time and tackle the dominance of the NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse exchanges. Analysts view the deal as a move by the broker to pay a cut price for PLUS’s exchange licence, a potentially attractive asset…
Board of DirectorsPlus Markets Group plc33 Queen Street, London EC4R 1BR Dear Sirs, Plus Markets Group Plc (the “Company”) As one of the Company’s largest shareholders, without whose funding the Company may have already ceased to exist, we are extremely disappointed at the contents of the announcement made on 8 June 2012, which we believe is…
With the Dow Industrials closing down 143 points at 12,411, expectations last night were for another weak start on European markets as they closed before the major sell of on Wall Street. However, FTSE futures are holding up, barely changed from yesterday’s close and Wall Street futures are up around 30 points. The debate continues…
Markets remained upbeat, spurred on by the first rate cut by the Central Bank of China since 2008. The S&P and DOW have held onto this week’s gains while key European indices were all in positive territory. The eagerly awaited testimony before Congress from Fed Chairman however disappointed markets, but was still insightful in our…
The US market fell off its highs, Asian stocks are down overnight and European futures are down because of Ben Bernanke’s comments to Congress yesterday which gave little indications of significant Federal Reserve intervention in the short term. The volatility is likely to continue today and next week as the European problem remains unresolved and…
North Sea oil producer, Ithaca Energy, saw its shares hit £1.10 yesterday. The shares have fallen from over £1.75 in the last week or so on news that it had ended takeover talks with several interested parties due to the offers being insufficiently high! This morning the company has today announced that the North Sea…
