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Finance

£ Pound Up!

Pound goes up through $1.30. Pressure on the $ dollar as US inflation data could reduce the prospects of a 3rd interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve this year. US consumer prices were unchanged and US retail sales fell in June for the second month in-a-row. All having an …

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Finance

US Inflation & US Retail Sales for June

US inflation (Consumer Price Index) for June remains unchanged at 1.5% – data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows and US retail sales for June fell unexpectedly for a second month in a row – data from the US Commerce Department.

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Finance

Tokyo Stock Exchange Closed

Just a reminder that the Tokyo Stock Exchange will be closed on Monday 17th July 2017 for national holiday – Japan Marine Day. And for your information – Marine day is a holiday time used by Japan to reflect on the importance of the ocean as an island nation. So …

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Finance

US company reporting season kicks-off!

The US reporting season gets underway today with banks: Citigroup, J P Morgan Chase & Wells Fargo reporting first . The DOW Jones is hovering at record high – let’s see what effect these results have over the next week or so… DOW 30 to go through 21600 or drop …

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Finance

EasyJet Post BREXIT plan

EasyJet is making contingency plans for post-BREXIT. The company is to establish a new airline, EasyJetEurope. Regardless of the outcome of UK-EU BREXIT negotiations – this plan will permit EasyJet to continue to operate flights across Europe unaffected when the UK leaves the EU. EasyJet PLC (EZJ) share price as …

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Finance

Carillion

Very tough week for Carillion – share price down 70% after a performance warning – (although I notice this morning it has picked up a little). I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t know much about this FTSE250 company, I still don’t – but I intend to do some …

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Finance

UK Productivity and low interest rates

I have a question… We have low interest rates and therefore access to cheap money – businesses have enjoyed this benefit for years. We see reports suggesting businesses are doing well – look at the recent market highs – yet productivity is still very low, much lower than it should …

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Finance

Indian Markets

Intra-day record highs were reached in Indian markets. The SENSEX went above 32000 and the NIFTY 9900 for the first time – both retreated. Most Asian markets made gains following Wall Street. The Federal Reserve indicated that interest rate rises would be gradual – the markets generally reacted positively to …

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Finance

Brexit: UK’s Repeal Bill Published

The repeal bill will ensure that EU laws adopted by the UK will be converted into British law. Parliament will then have the power to change them later. If the bill is not passed then there will be no laws after BREXIT. This bill is going to have a difficult …

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Finance

Bank lending to be cut back?

A Credit Conditions Survey report published by the Bank of England seems to suggest that lenders may introduce a reduction in mortgage availability to house buyers – especially for buyers with smaller deposits – making low deposit mortgages more difficult to obtain. Cheap credit card deals may also be more …

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Markets
FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week

FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week on 28th September 2017… Worldpay Group PLC (WPG) Intertek Group PLC (ITRK) Smurfit Kappa Group PLC (SKG) Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets PLC Hargreaves Lansdown PLC  

Markets
Federal Reserve meeting update

Federal Reserve meeting update. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday (20/09/17) announced it will start reducing the size of its balance sheet. At something like $4.5 trillion it will now, after nine years finally start reducing the balance in October 2017 on a monthly basis. US interest rates were held at …

Markets
Dow Jones Industrial Average up again

Dow Jones Industrial Average up again I don’t know how many more times I will report on the rise of the Dow but it did it yet again yesterday (19/09/17). A new high was reached and at close the DJIA was: 22370 The outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting …

Markets
Record breakers

Record breakers. The record breaking highs just keep on coming as the Dow Jones Industrial Average yet again sets another record high on 18/09/17. The Dow Jones closed up at: 22331 The S&P 500 closed up at: 2503 The NASDAQ closed up at: 6454 For how much longer can these …

Markets
Dow Jones flying high again

Dow Jones flying high again New record high set by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The DJIA closed up at: 22268 – yet another new record high!

Markets
FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week

FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week on Thursday 21st September 2017 Old Mutual PLC (OML) Taylor Wimpey PLC (TW.    

Markets
Sterling continues upward march

Sterling continues upward march. The pound bashed through $1.36 against the dollar on Friday (am 15/09/17) as the FTSE 100 falls back. Will it hold on to these gains?  

Investing
J D Wetherspoon reports

J D Wetherspoon reports. End of year accounts from J D Wetherspoon report sales and profits up! Profit before tax is reported at: £102.8 million (up from £80.60 million in 2016). Sales up by: 4% (like-for-like). Where else can you get such good value? J D Wetherspoon PLC (JDW) is …

Markets
Asian stock markets end the week subdued

Asian stock markets end the week subdued Investors appear to largely shrug off the latest provocation from North Korea as another missile is fired over Japan. Japan’s NIKKEI index closed up to end the week at: 19909 and South Korea’s KOSPI index closed up at: 2386. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng …