Scientists give food warning
26 Jan 2011 [1 Comment | 10 views]
A new report compiled by taking the views of 400 people apparently in the know and from across the world, should be enough to scare the willies out of you. The report is called The Future of Food and Farming, and was put together by the Government Office for Science in London. It pretty much [...]
Cost of food set to escalate, but is this crisis what it seems?
6 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 339 views]
According to data out from the UN, global food prices hit a new all-time high in December. The Guardian and the Independent were full of woe on the news, warning that prices are now higher than their levels in 2008 when we saw rioting across the world. The Guardian quoted Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist at [...]
Equities: what happened in 2010
5 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 198 views]
There is not much to say here. We thought this was one of those occasions when a nice simple table says it all: This is what key indices, commodities and currencies did in 2010. 31 Dec 2009 31 Dec 2010 Percentage change FTSE 100 5,412.88 5,899.94 9.00 Dow 10,428.05 11,577.50 11.02 NASDAQ 2,269.15 2,652.87 [...]
Gold: arch bears turn to bulls – is the barbarous relic set to move even higher?
22 Dec 2010 [1 Comment | 526 views]
For quite a while Capital Economics have been bears on gold. As of this week that has changed, with the consultancy now forecasting that the pretty yellow metal could reach $2,000. Mind you, contrarians argue that the time to buy is when the most bullish of investors has turned bearish, and the time to sell [...]
FTSE set to achieve new record next year, but housing market to be flat – early forecasts for 2011 roll in
17 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 479 views]
It’s that time of the year when predictions start rolling in. Here are a couple of good ones. Gavin Oldham at The Share Centre reckons the FTSE 100 will hit a new all-time high next year, and the Council of Mortgage Lenders sees sharp falls in mortgage borrowing and a rise in mortgages in arrears [...]
Peak oil has already arrived
19 Nov 2010 [1 Comment | 882 views]
Yesterday, it was told here how the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES) has predicted that peak oil, that’s that point when global output of oil starts to peak, is less than ten years away and could even occur during the lifetime of this government. Well, just a few hours later [...]
Peak oil is less than a decade away
18 Nov 2010 [3 Comments | 1,721 views]
Peak oil is meant to describe that future time when the supply of oil goes into permanent decline. It’s the date some fear; others dismiss it, saying it’s a very long way off indeed. But both sides of the peak oil debate agree on one thing. The day it arrives will be a bleak day. [...]
Buy: equities, gold, bonds and oil soar; does this mean bye-bye common sense?
5 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 580 views]
Markets went on a spending spree yesterday, setting all-time highs and post-recession highs for a range of assets, including shares, oil and gold. Some of the movements were contradictory, with assets that normally do well in times of peril rising, as well as feel-good securities. But the headline really relates to the fact that major [...]
Will quantitative easing fuel the next bubble?
3 Nov 2010 [2 Comments | 1,166 views]
As a result of the recent mid terms, Republicans now dominate the US House of Representatives, meaning any attempt by Barack Obama to try and get approval for further fiscal stimulus will be vetoed. That leaves quantitative easing (QE) as the only game left in town. More QE will probably follow. The consequence of this [...]
Pound falls to seven month low against Euro
25 Oct 2010 [0 Comments | 902 views]
Sterling dropped so that there were just 1.126 euros to the pound last night. That was the lowest exchange rate since March. More to the point, the fall in the pound has occurred quite rapidly. This begs the question, why? To put the fall in sterling in context, in early September there were 1.20 euros [...]
