London open: Struggle in early trade
19th Nov 2010 08:31
An early retreat follows losses for the mining heavyweights, though it's Capita that leads the fallers Friday. Outsourcing giant Capita yesterday said revenue growth in the second half of 2010 had been subdued due to government cuts in public spending. Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Kazakhmys and Anglo
Read moreeBay takes Big 4 lenders to task
15th Nov 2010 13:15
Online auction site eBay has joined the chorus of organisations grumbling about a lack of lending to small businesses on the part of banks. The web site's Online Business Index, a bi-annual report into the attitudes and performance of hundreds of online businesses operating on eBay's UK site, indic
Read moreLondon close: Footsie little changed
11th Nov 2010 16:44
Footsie closed little changed, which wasn't a bad result given a triple-digit loss for the Dow when it opened. Ireland was the story breaking as the trading day closed. Yields on benchmark Irish bonds rose to over 9% on reports that the EU might have step in and bail the country out. José Manuel
Read moreLondon afternoon: Financials drag index lower
11th Nov 2010 14:24
An early three-digit loss on Wall Street has the Footsie near its worst levels of the day, with financials the biggest fallers. Insurers Aviva, L&G and Standard Life are deep in the red, as are and RBS and Barclays on fears about Irish debt. Metal heavyweights are limiting the deficit though. Most
Read moreBroker tips: Barclays, Prudential, Schroders
10th Nov 2010 13:08
Nomura expects downgrades to Barclays' consensus numbers after the banking giant's trading update on Tuesday. "We view consensus for fiscal year 2010 and 2011 as too optimistic", says analyst Robert Law. "We estimate £5.35bn for 2010, against a consensus of £5.8bn and have £6.8bn for 2011, against
Read moreBroker snap: Nomura uneasy about BarCap
10th Nov 2010 12:43
Nomura expects the investment analyst community to downgrade earnings projectionss for Barclays after the banking giant's trading update on Tuesday. "We view consensus for fiscal year 2010 and 2011 as too optimistic", says analyst Robert Law. "We estimate £5.35bn for 2010, against a consensus of £5
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie climbs high as results impress
9th Nov 2010 12:21
Footsie has been hitting new highs in line with its pre-financial crisis levels as well-received company results drive the leading share index higher. Barclays is in demand after eked out a small increase in nine-month profit as a doubling of profit at the investment banking arm offset huge impair
Read moreLondon open: Results give Footsie a lift
9th Nov 2010 08:48
London has opened stronger than expected after the dip on Wall Street overnight, largely due to some well received trading updates from index heavyweights on a very busy company announcement day. Barclays eked out a small increase in nine-month profit as a doubling of profit at the investment banki
Read moreLondon pre-open: Small slip in store
9th Nov 2010 07:39
Last night's dip on Wall Street looks set to trip London in early deals, although there's plenty of corporate news to digest. Futures prices point to a 9-point decline at the start of play. The Dow Jones was down 37 points last night. Barclays eked out a small increase in nine-month profit as a d
Read moreBarclays shrugs off BarCap slowdown
9th Nov 2010 06:40
Barclays eked out a small increase in nine-month profit following an 8.5% rise during the third quarter, though the investment banking arm made 14% less than it did the quarter before. Profit for the three months to 30 September rose to £1.27bn from £1.17bn, but dropped to £327m from £2.1bn includi
Read moreTuesday preview: Barclays, M&S, Vodafone
8th Nov 2010 15:29
Barclays is the last of the big four banks this month to give a trading update on Tuesday when it issues an interim management statement. Deutsche Bank is predicting the stalwart of the UK high street will announce third quarter revenues of £2.7bn. All eyes will be on write-downs and other excepti
Read moreLondon close: Bad day ends badly
27th Oct 2010 16:12
London ended the day heavily in the red as a triple-digit fall on Wall Street knocked an attempted rally by Footsie firmly on the head. Reports suggesting that any new stimulus in the US will be smaller than expected hit the miners with Kazakhmys, Xstrata and Rio Tinto the worst performers. Britis
Read moreLondon close: Footsie struggles
26th Oct 2010 16:24
Investors pocketed gains after an impressive autumn rally, though the decision was made easier by some disappointing corporate news, weak miners and negative broker comment on the insurance sector. The top 100 index fell back sharply from six-month highs, dropping below 5,680 at one point although
Read moreLondon afternoon: Bleak mid-winter for Cairn
26th Oct 2010 14:27
With Wall Street tipped to open lower London's leading shares fell back further over the lunch time period, resulting in the Footsie subsiding below 5700. Cairn Energy tops the list of fallers after it failed to find a commercial discovery at either the T8-1 or T4-1 wells offshore Greenland. The c
Read moreLondon midday: UK growth cuts little ice
26th Oct 2010 12:08
Better than expected UK third quarter growth has cut little ice with investors this morning, who are firmly focused on weak miners, negative corporate news and broker downgrades. Britain's economy grew twice as fast as expected in the three months to September, according to preliminary estimates by
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