Archive for June, 2011

European markets have continued their gains of the past couple of days as optimism remains high, that despite the popular unrest on the ground in Athens, the next stage in the Greek parliamentary process will continue to go in the favour of policymakers in Europe. This has also translated into a belief that a credit...
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Traders bought into risky asset classes such as mining, banking and energy stocks in Europe, helping to lift indices by 1% on Tuesday on optimism that Greece would secure the funding it requires from its European partners. Optimism for Greece lifts equity markets Whilst there may be huge amounts of discontent in the streets of Athens...
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Stocks across Europe sharply rebounded yesterday’s heavy losses on news late last night of a deal between Greece, the EU and IMF. The parties agreed on extra tax rises and spending cuts to help plug a revenue shortfall and smooth over their ties with international lenders to secure the next tranche of loans and a...
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A cent-and-a-half rally for sterling last Monday was reversed just as swiftly on Tuesday. Having completed its exploration of the week’s two-and-a-half cent range by lunchtime on Wednesday, the pound spent the second half of the week doing nothing. It opened in London this Monday morning within ten ticks of its position seven days...
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European markets have built on the rally last night in US markets, buoyed by optimism ahead of tonight’s midnight confidence vote in Greece and a lot of positive corporate news. This combination has pushed the FTSE up 1.4% today with Costa Coffee owner Whitbread seeing sales rise 9% in Q1, with trading momentum keeps...
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At the beginning of last week the pound retreated by another cent to allow the GBP/AUD another record (post-flotation) low. A three-and-a-half-cent rebound took sterling to the week’s high on Thursday morning before it fell back by two and a half cents before Friday lunchtime. When London opened yesterday morning the pound was a...
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Having stuck to a two-and-a-half-cent range for the first half of last week sterling fell on Wednesday night, extending that loss on Thursday and Friday. In the early hours of Monday morning the pound jumped higher, adding two cents and taking a serious bite out of the Kiwi’s earlier gains. Sterling opened in London...
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The first half of last week saw the GBP/EUR slide by nearly a cent; the second half saw a complete recovery, and more. When London opened yesterday morning the pound was a net one cent higher on the week. Another drought-ridden crop of UK economic statistics began with the British Retail Consortium reporting lower sales...
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European markets have rallied strongly, especially in Germany, after Chinese economic data showed that the Chinese economy continued to power ahead. Improved industrial production figures have seen a good proportion of mining stocks push higher, despite these gains being tempered after the People’s Bank of China stated that inflation remained a top priority and...
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A one-way street took the pound steadily lower. From Tuesday’s opening sterling had lost nearly three cents by close of play on Friday. It opened in London this morning unchanged from that level. With one exception the week’s UK economic statistics were lower on the month, lower than forecast, or both. Mercifully, it was...
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