Editor's Picks
London mid-morning: Footsie plummets to 4,893
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
The Footsie tumbled below the 4,900 mark in mid-morning trade, with the blue chip index losing over 3% of its value for the second straight session. Despite rising mildly higher early on, the revival proved extremely short-lived as gains for the miners vanished. The FTSE 100 stood at 4,893 at 10.20am, down 3.5% from Monday’s close of 5,069.
Market overview: Footsie close to 200 point fall
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
0936: Having dived below 5,000 the top-share index quickly moved below the 4,900 level. Results from hotels group InterContinental must have been pretty good, because the stock is the sole gainer among Footsie constituents. The group's revenue per available room grew by 6.7% from a year earlier in the first half of 2011, driven by strong demand in Greater China and the US, where the Holiday Inn
Brent crude drops below $100
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Oil prices plummeted well below $100 a barrel on Tuesday, as ongoing anxiety regarding the global economic recovery sparked demand concerns. Brent crude dropped by more than $5 in the early hours to $98.74 a barrel, representing a 22% fall from the $127 peak in April. By 09.43am in London, prices edged back over the $100 mark to trade at $101.89.
Young & Co calls time on 180-year brewing history
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
A 180-year association with brewing ale is to come to an end at Young & Co's Brewery with the decision by the company to sell its minority stake in the Wells & Young's Brewing Company to Charles Wells.
Sales rise in July as clothes shops slash prices
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Retail sales in July were up by 0.6% on a like-for-like basis from the same month last year as clearance sales helped draw in shoppers, the British Retail Council (BRC) has said. Including the impact of new stores, sales were up by 2.5%, the BRC said. “Food sales growth picked up in July after a poor June. Clothing and footwear picked up after a tough June, helped by clearance sales.”
Europe open: Tin hats still needed
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Markets remain extremely volatile but the safe bet seems to be to reduce exposure to equities. Friday's ratings downgrade for US sovereign debt has severely dented confidence in global equity markets while on a more local level there is still the worry that the whole eurozone project could collapse under the weight of the region's debt burden.
London open: Flat start as Antofagasta and Vedanta rally
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Stocks are flat this morning, despite the predictions of a resumption of the slide, though recent volatility suggests it would be foolish to rule that out.
Group NBT sees upper end profits
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Group NBT, the provider of domain name management services to nearly a third of FTSE 100-listed companies, expects its profits to be at the upper end of previous forecasts after an improvement in market conditions.
Pearson to buy Stark
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Education specialist and publisher Pearson announced that it will acquire German education materials firm Stark from Syntegra Capital for an undisclosed sum. Stark, which provides education materials including test preparation resources for pupils and teachers had revenues of around €20m in the fiscal year ended 31 July 2010. Gross assets at the firm are estimated at €32.6m.
Tuesday tips round-up: Morgan Sindall, Centrica, Imperial Tobacco
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Cautious optimism is about the best one can expect from a business such as Morgan Sindall, so heavily exposed is it to a range of activities in construction. The shares have been trending down since the start of the year and sell on less than eight times’ earnings and have the support of a yield approaching 7%, but it is difficult to see them as anything more than a hold, says the Times.
Market overview: Footsie surprises with firm opening
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
0825: Footsie has confounded expectations and opened firmer, up 14 at 5,083. In the wake of yesterday's bloodbath in US markets, the expectation - based on bid/offer quotes being offered on financial spread betting sites - was that the Footsie would open with a triple-digit fall and dive below 5,000 but thanks to bargain hunters hoovering up mining companies after yesterday's shake-out, the
IHG hails Holiday Inn relaunch
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Global hotels group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) saw revenue per available room (RevPAR) grow by 6.7% from a year earlier in the first half of 2011, driven by strong demand in Greater China and the US, where the Holiday Inn relaunch is delivering sustained outperformance.
Housing market remains flat says RICS
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Fewer people put their homes on the market in July as house prices slipped further, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). While there was a slight improvement in the number of surveyors seeing prices fall, new instructions, which saw a slight upturn during the early part of the summer, could not keep up the momentum and fell back in July.
London pre-open: Footsie set to dive below 5,000
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Investors had better get used to the value of the Footsie starting with the number four as the blue-chip index is set for a triple-digit dive at the outset, following last night's nightmare on Wall Street.
Housing market remains flat
Tuesday 09 Aug 2011
Fewer people put their homes on the market in July as house prices slipped further, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). While there was a slight improvement in the number of surveyors seeing prices fall, new instructions, which saw a slight upturn during the early part of the summer, could not keep up the momentum and fell back in Jul
Chariot strikes deal with BP
Monday 08 Aug 2011
Chariot Oil & Gas has announced that its subsidiary, Enigma Oil & Gas Exploration, has entered into a farm-out agreement with BP.
US close: Dow down, deeper and down
Monday 08 Aug 2011
The first day of trading since the ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) cut the USA's debt rating from AAA was every bit as rough as some pundits feared.
US midday: Golds tops $1700 as equities tank
Monday 08 Aug 2011
Any thoughts that a ratings downgrade of US sovereign debt had already been priced into the market were quickly dispelled when the US markets opened sharply lower, and then added to losses throughout the morning session.
Europe close: Car makers stuck in reverse
Monday 08 Aug 2011
European stocks made a solid start to the day, but headed south in the mid-morning and continued heading that way for the rest of the day, as US markets reacted more negatively than expected to Friday's downgrade of US sovereign debt by ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
London close: FTSE 100 battered again
Monday 08 Aug 2011
It was a dour day for the FTSE 100 index as many of the UK's leading shares plummeted amid another day of sell offs. There had been hopes that a fall in US Treasury yields and action by the European Central Bank to buy Italian and Spanish debt would calm markets, but falls in Asia were enough to ensure the FTSE 100 dropped 1.2% when it opened.
You are here: news > editors picks
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN