Sterling wobbled, and then it crashed
2 Mar 2010 [1 Comment | 357 views]
Well, it didn’t really crash, but it did suffer the worst one-day fall in a year. So that’s bad, but not the stuff crashes are made of.
The pound is now down by around 30 per cent from peak, and arguably that is the stuff crashes are made of. But then again, before we get carried [...]
Is the cult of equities dead?
10 Feb 2010 [0 Comments | 294 views]
So when do you think the recession began? Did you say 2008? Well, technically you are right of course. But bear in mind that the FTSE 100 peaked on the penultimate day of 1999. And while it got close to equalling that level during the heady days of 2007, right now the UK’s main stock [...]
At last, proof markets are stupid
13 Jan 2010 [1 Comment | 310 views]
The Chinese central bank did a very smart thing yesterday, and shares plunged.
As you know, there has been growing talk of a Chinese bubble. Some say that when it bursts the fallout will be analogous to the bursting of the Japanese asset bubble 20 years ago, and that China will suffer its own lost decade.
While [...]
Now things are just getting ridiculous.
5 Jan 2010 [0 Comments | 157 views]
Markets have begun the year like they finished the last, booming. News from what have just about become the most reliable of all economic indicators, Purchasing Managers Indices, is good, very good indeed. The UK’s top finance chiefs, the men who have the legend CFO, inscribed on their business cards, are at their most optimistic [...]
Oil falls and food soars: is the commodity genie set to escape again?
15 Dec 2009 [0 Comments | 235 views]
Inflation is on the up again. Yesterday revealed the latest inflation data from the ONS. Consumer prices rose by 0.3 per cent in just one month. The annual rate of inflation has risen from just 1.1 per cent two months ago, to 1.9 per cent. But the tale of woe gets worse. Producer prices have [...]
Equities too expensive, so is gold, that leaves…
11 Dec 2009 [0 Comments | 211 views]
Yesterday was one of those days in which all of the buses came along at once. So busy is the media, focusing on the Pre-Budget Report, that some of the most fascinating pieces of analysis and news for investors were virtually ignored.
According to Capital Economics, US stocks are around 40 per cent overvalued, at least when [...]
Oil falls back again
10 Dec 2009 [0 Comments | 154 views]
Oil fell back to within a whisker of $70 a barrel yesterday, the lowest level since early October. A couple of weeks ago, it passed $80.
Data from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) revealed that recent demand for oil within the US fell back to its lowest level since July.
The EIA also recently said that it [...]
China frets over gold bubble
3 Dec 2009 [0 Comments | 128 views]
Here’s the thing about gold. China owns rather a lot of it. So much so, in fact, there’s a danger that if she buys any more of the stuff the market will be distorted.
What with Greece, wilting under debts, closer than ever to travelling the road to the economic river Styx; what with Latvia and [...]
Gold boom, or is it fool’s gold boom?
1 Dec 2009 [0 Comments | 149 views]
The devil is working for various central banks across the world. At least, you could be forgiven for concluding that if you were to glance across the newspapers and blogosphere.
The Fed is printing money, the Bank of England is creating new money faster than you can say Mervyn King, and that’s why gold is rising [...]
House prices: the recovery, the truth
9 Jul 2009 [0 Comments | 60 views]
The latest round is complete. Yesterday, the Halifax released its latest monthly housing market survey, following recent releases from Hometrack and the Nationwide.
As ever with these things the picture is mixed, but the trend seems to be clear.
Perhaps a more interesting story came in The Times earlier this week, with the hint that lack of competition [...]
