London midday: Markets drop over two per cent in Fed aftermath
20th Jun 2013 11:38
The Federal Reserve may have painted a better picture of the US economy last night, but the concept of a life without quantitative easing (QE) prompted a heavy sell-off on equity markets on Thursday morning, with indices across Europe hit hard following steep losses on Wall Street. The Federal Open
Read moreLondon open: 'Tapering' concerns hit markets hard as Fed signals end to QE
20th Jun 2013 08:26
Markets across Europe dropped sharply in early trading on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last night signalled that the central bank could soon start to scale back its quantitative easing (QE) programme. Fed confirms QE taper Stocks on Wall Street last night were trading sligh
Read moreBank regulator identifies 27bn-pound capital shortfall at five UK banks
20th Jun 2013 07:49
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said that five of the major eight banks in the UK fell short of their capital requirements at the end of 2012 with a combined shortfall of 27.1bn pounds. This is larger than the £25bn deficit calculated back in March by the Financial Policy Committee. Reg
Read moreWednesday broker round-up UPDATE
19th Jun 2013 08:27
Aggreko: UBS cuts target price from 1975p to 1850p downgrading from buy to neutral. JP Morgan revises target price from 1870p to 1800p and retains a neutral rating. Alliance Pharma: Investec shifts target price from 35.20p to 35.80p, while downgrading from add to hold. Associated British Food: UBS
Read moreLondon close: Markets move higher with Fed decision in focus
18th Jun 2013 17:04
After a subdued start, the FTSE 100 finished with impressive gains on Tuesday as investors put aside worries ahead of the key 'risk event' of the week, the monetary policy meeting at the Federal Reserve. Banking stocks in London were performing well today after the China Securities Journal suggeste
Read moreSector movers: Banks gain on China rate-cut speculation
18th Jun 2013 15:14
Banking stocks were in demand on Tuesday on the back of reports that China could move to cut interest rates in an effort to combat a slowdown. An article in the China Securities Journal suggested that the People's Bank of China could reduce interest rates to reduce the debt burden on companies. M
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Whitbread jumps as Costa drives strong first-quarter growth
18th Jun 2013 14:34
Whitbread was performing well on Tuesday after the company reported a decent first quarter with group sales up 13.8 per cent, boosted by growth at Premier Inn and another strong performance from Costa which saw sales jump by an impressive 24.8 per cent. Whitbread said that while sales in its resta
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks rise as markets await Fed policy decision
18th Jun 2013 11:20
Markets were issuing decent gains on Tuesday morning with investors choosing to be optimistic ahead of the all-important monetary policy meeting in the States which concludes tomorrow. Helping sentiment this morning was Germany's closely-watched ZEW survey which showed that the economic sentiment i
Read moreLondon open: Stocks gain but traders nervous ahead of Fed meeting
17th Jun 2013 08:23
Stocks registered decent gains in early trading on Monday though upside is expected to be limited throughout the day as traders nervously await a policy meeting at the Federal Reserve in a few days' time. Both the economic and corporate earnings schedules for today are looking pretty light, so the
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Mining, property stocks gain as traders 'buy on the dip'
14th Jun 2013 14:25
A calmer session on financial markets prompted decent gains in the mining and property sectors on Friday, as bargain-hunters moved in to 'buy on the dip' after the recent volatility hit both sectors hard. Anglo American, Glencore, Antofagasta, Vedanta and Randgold led the resources sector higher to
Read moreRBS, Barclays and StanChart hit with Singapore rate censure
14th Jun 2013 13:31
UK banks have been reprimanded and ordered to make one billion pounds of new provisions due to suspected interbank rate manipulation in Singapore. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Barclays and Standard Chartered were three of the 20 banks to have been upbraided by the Singapore central bank. Eschewi
Read moreLondon midday: Financials pull markets lower after Hester exit from RBS
13th Jun 2013 11:38
Uncertainty regarding central-bank stimulus, reductions in global growth forecasts and the surprise departure of the head of one of the UK's biggest domestic banks prompted a sell-off on the FTSE 100 on Thursday, as volatility continued on markets across the globe. London's benchmark index slumped
Read moreLondon open: RBS leads market sell-off early on after Hester exit
13th Jun 2013 08:33
Markets sunk sharply from the off on Thursday morning as the FTSE 100's losing streak was extended into its fourth day, with RBS in focus after shocking the City with the surprise resignation of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stephen Hester. Following the impressive rise seen at the start of the ye
Read moreSector movers: Barclays leads banks lower as risk appetite sours
6th Jun 2013 15:01
Ongoing market volatility and policy decisions from central banks saw risk appetite diminish on Thursday, with the banking sector in London the worst affected. Policy announcements from the Bank of England and European Central Bank - as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the Federal Reserve's po
Read moreLondon midday: Markets rangebound with focus on central banks
6th Jun 2013 11:39
Markets were rangebound on Thursday morning as traders awaited announcements from the Bank of England (BoE) and European Central Bank (ECB) on monetary policy. There were just 16 points separating the index's intraday low (6,416) and high (6,432), as markets paused for breath following a heavy sell
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