Gold and Oil get significantly more press coverage than the rest of the commodity stable. Unfairly so in our opinion. The former is the safehaven of choice for most, scarcity ensuring its value holds up well during times of economic and market stress and investor uncertainty. It is also sensitive to interest rate policy with higher…
This week, the US Federal Reserve, despite all of its wildly varying hawkish and dovish rhetoric in the build up to its highly anticipated rate policy decision, chose not to take the plunge and raise the base US interest rate from the current 0.5% to 0.75%. For the third time this year. Furthermore, expectations for…
Yesterday saw the news emerge of a potential takeover bid of loss-making British supercar brand McLaren by Apple, the world’s most valuable company. If the acquisition rumours are true (reports of failed partnership bids with BMW and Daimler lending weight to Wednesday’s news) it appears as though Apple is struggling to make inroads into the…
Shares in precious metals miners Randgold Resources (RRS), Fresnillo (FRES) and Polymetal (POLY) are among the major UK 100 beneficiaries of the US Federal reserve holding off from rising rates last night, at least for another few months. The Fed’s message was clearly designed to be a hawkish hold (“be prepared, it’s coming”) with talk…
The UK’s banks are putting in highly divergent performances on the UK 100 this morning. Why is this? Interest rate inaction from BoJ Governor Kuroda has been met with a rubbing of hands and a lick of the lips from globally present Barclays, the best performer on the index this morning up over 3%. Asian…
The upcoming OPEC-led meeting of the world’s leading oil producers in Algiers throws up the possibility of seeing a production freeze for the long-suffering crude oil market. With prices in the midst of a $45.5 to $50 price range this September, the potential for a reaction from Saudi Arabia et al. during the September 26-28…