Dollar fighting back against Euro

April 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Euro hung around $1.30 in value for much of the early to mid part of 2007. In the last few months of the year, it began an impressive surge that paused briefly in early 2008 at around $1.48. Analysts began to wonder if the Euro’s strength relative to world currencies was finally reaching a peak. After a couple months of floundering in the mid-$1.40s, the Euro broke loose again and climbed over $1.50. Read more

Posted by livewire admin | Filed Under LiveWire Features and Articles 

HBOS speaks with forked tongue

April 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

A month ago HBOS was screaming about unfounded rumours as to the state of its capital. It went crying to the FSA as its share price collapsed from just over 700p to just under 400p asking that the “rogue shorter” be hunted down and hung by the neck until severely punished. Talk circulated that it should be made more difficult for shorts to be placed in the market and that the evil Hedge Funds had made the whole situation worse. Read more

Posted by livewire admin | Filed Under LiveWire Features and Articles 

China, Gold and The Coming Flood of Wealth

April 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Chinese government has set its sites on an average of 10% growth per annum and is achieving that because it has the power to ensure that this happens. The full, synthesized Chinese economy is under the firm control of the government. Read more

Posted by livewire admin | Filed Under LiveWire Features and Articles 

More positive tech earnings drive equities

April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Several more US tech stocks helped strengthen US equities during Wednesday and Thursday (April 24) trade. Following in the footsteps of impressive earnings from companies like IBM, AT&T, and Yahoo, Apple and Microsoft helped lead another new earnings push in the technology sector. Read more

Posted by livewire admin | Filed Under LiveWire Features and Articles 

Starve the rich to feed the poor, how Japan may cause the failure of current Federal Reserve policy

April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Having written 2 in-depth articles about the rationale behind the Federal Reserve and US Govt plans to bail out the financial system some readers of the last couple of Occasional Letters may well have wondered if I was about to change my outlook. This article should put paid to any such thoughts. Read more

Posted by livewire admin | Filed Under LiveWire Features and Articles 

Tech stocks buoy US equities

April 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Many people have been amazed at the resilience of US equities markets over the last several months, especially considering the ongoing bad news in credit and real estate. Even with recession talks and consistently bad earnings for the fourth quarter and early into 2008, the Dow remains about 1,000 points above its low late last year. The blue chip index, comprised of 30 of the largest cap stocks currently sits just below 12,700 in late afternoon (April 22) trade. Read more

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The Long Wait - Bank of America

April 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Well they didn’t disappoint, Bank of America joins the bailout/writeoff club big league, they even went one better and managed to miss already easy street estimates. BofA posted Q1 earnings of $1,21Bn or 23 cents a share, the estimates were looking for 43 cents. Thats not just missing the barn door, thats being at the wrong farm. BofA made a provision of $6.1Bn against losses in its home equity, home builder and small business portfolios. Is it just me or is $6-7Bn the favourite writedown number these days? Read more

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The Weekly Report

April 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Weekly Report. This week I have to highlight conditions in the bond markets as a priority, we maybe about to endure a bust of quite large proportions. I will also look at some longer term stock market indicators, confirmation that the Bank of England will follow the US and show why the current rally in stocks is due to a visit from an old friend, as readers at Livecharts.co.uk will know only too well. Read more

Posted by livewire admin | Filed Under LiveWire Features and Articles 

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