How long for low interest rates……? Earlier in the week, one of the leading forecasters predicted that the current low level of interest rates is here to stay until at least 2016, and that the economy has pretty much ground to a halt. That might prove to be optimistic if the euro zone goes through [...]
The first six months of last year saw markets coping with a range of unforeseen problems including political uprisings in the Middle East, and the Japanese earthquake. In the background, there was increasing belief that the long awaited recovery in the American economy was finally underway. It was, however, politics that came to the fore, [...]
Snow report……. Those of you who follow this blog on a regular basis will know that it includes some observations on where our “children”might be at a particular point, both career wise, and geographically. Two of them came back from Courcheval, last Sunday, where no snow has turned in to an abundance. In fact, worse. [...]
The US market ended the year just above positive, whilst all other equity markets sank. I am not going to go back over the reasons, which have been well explained here. I think. Sovereign bond markets, of those countries thought stable, did exceptionally well, even though buyers were condemning themselves to certain long term losses. [...]
Should auld acquaintance be forgot….. Resolutions, resolutions… Feedback is always good, even from a follower at 2.30 a.m. on New Years Day, but I take it on board, and will try to make these things more understandable. It is not that the audience, (who do not have to follow), are stupid. Indeed, many are experts [...]
Anger of ordinary men at the end of a difficult year Rage against the headlines… I was walking along a street in central London yesterday morning when I came across a newsagent, with all the various titles on display outside. It is something of a curiosity that these places survive at all given the inexorable [...]
Markets have started to wind down this week, ahead of the seasonal break, which we used to call Christmas, but is now happy holidays, or some such. There is also a noticeable dearth of Christmas cards, so either we have far fewer friends than last year, (which would be no great surprise, given market volatility), [...]
UK……a better rating than Germany? This week has been all about the euro, and efforts to rescue it from debts accumulated by most member states, some of which are technically bankrupt. Pending the result of yet another summit, markets were prepared to hold off judgement, although not the ratings agencies, who are warning of downgrades, [...]
Thanks to you for reading….. I was going to start the blog, this week; by telling you that there is now a shortage of jelly beans, following my comments last week, but I don’t know if that is true. What I do know is that there are 700 of you out there, who follow my [...]
‘Risk’ assets…..all encompassing! It has been yet another grim week for what are termed “risk”, assets; a description normally applied to equities, but now, almost, all encompassing. We have debated before the performance of gold, and the Swiss franc, at times of high stress; they didn’t work. Agreeing to stop disagreeing…… Now, we are looking [...]
| Ftse All-share | 2958.86 | |||||||
| Ftse 100 | 5733.45 | |||||||
| Ftse Mid 250 | 10854.72 | |||||||
| Indu | 0.00 | |||||||
| NASDAQ | 2816.55 | |||||||
| S&P 500 | 1316.33 | |||||||
| Cac 40 | 3318.76 | |||||||
| Dax | 6511.98 | |||||||
| Hang Seng Index | 20501.67 | |||||||
| Nikkei 225 | 8841.22 | |||||||
| Ftse Apcims Balan | 2972.39 | |||||||
| Ftse Apcims Growt | 3336.92 | |||||||
| Ftse Apcims Incom | 2357.33 | |||||||
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