We are living in a new world in terms of oil and gas prices. Specifically, gone are the days of $100/barrel crude oil. Deal with it. While we factor in lower for longer interest rates (several central banks have gone negative for Pete’s sake) in an effort to engineer economic recovery post-crisis, we must also assume…
Northern powerhouse Provident Financial (PFG) is top of UK 100 after posting a gleaming first set of numbers as a UK blue-chip. It’s a lender specialising in the higher risk end of the market – loans to those with poor credit scores – and the risk seems to have paid off. While a 22% rise…
Mining companies are again leading the UK’s UK 100 as base metals prices get a boost despite a still resilient USD. As at 22 Feb, Copper has been in an uptrend since mid-January and is testing 13-day falling highs 4800, Nickel has followed suit to 8720 and Iron Ore has broken out from a bullish…
Macro observations Brexit the main driver this week, with uncertainty dragging the pound down against all major currencies Key data this week (click here for full rundown) US: Markit manufacturing PMI (Mon); Consumer confidence, Case-Schiller, Existing home sales (Tue); PMI, New home sales, Crude inventories (Weds); Employment data, Durable goods orders, House price index (Thurs); Trade balance,…
With the UK 100 set to end the week 200pts higher (+3.4%), now is a very good time to start thinking about one sector that’s hugely popular with traders and investors alike. Love them or loathe them, the UK’s blue chip banks regularly provide us with some of the juiciest trading opportunities – they’re liquid,…
Next week sees the key banking sector continue to update on how it fared in the last quarter of 2015. We’ve already had US and European majors tell us that things were tough (revenues flat, profits under pressure, regulation a burden) and some potentially overdone sector concerns (Negative interest rates, China slowdown, US recessionary risk,…