Cable & Wireless Worldwide beat the weak trend on Wednesday as the London market had its sharpest fall in nearly three weeks.The UK-based telecoms group, which was demerged from C&W in March, gained 0.9 per cent to 92p after Credit Suisse started coverage with an “outperform rating and 120p target price.
The net wealth of Asian millionaires has eclipsed that of rich Europeans for the first time, largely because of the relative health of stock markets in Hong Kong, India and China last year, according to a new survey.The annual Merrill Lynch Wealth Management /Capgemini analysis of investors with $1m or more in assets found that as of late last year, there were 3m millionaires in both the Asia-Pac
Investor worries over eurozone banks resurfaced on Tuesday after a warning by a European Central Bank governing council member that some faced funding difficulties.Sector shares were also hit by concern over a credit downgrade for BNP Paribas and a writedown by Credit Agricole of the value of its Greek unit.
Financial institutions which lend securities are backing a pan-European approach to short-selling rules, but say they are opposed to greater public disclosure of short positions.The International Securities Lending Association, which has about 100 members including institutional investors, banks, and securities dealers, said on Wednesday that it supported the drive by Brussels to encourage common
BST 15.55: The general market gloom continued on Wednesday, with weak US housing figures once again setting the global tone.New home sales in the US reported a record drop last month – to a record low of just 300,000 sales, or a 33 per cent drop-off from April to May.
Stanley McChrystal, the American general who was the architect of the massive force build-up in Afghanistan, left the White House on Wednesday after a meeting with Barack Obama, the US president, who was to decide whether to fire him for remarks criticising members of his administration.The general left the White House before a scheduled 11:35 a.m.(1535 GMT) meeting on Afghanistan with top cabine
Equity markets are driven by investor psychology and occasionally shocks over one to three month time horizons.In late April measures of investor exuberance indicated that a wave of risk aversion was likely and imminent.By late May sentiment, risk appetite and other similar indicators had swung to the opposite extreme, signalling a high likelihood of a rally in risk.Immediately before the sell-of
Sales of new homes in the US plunged to a record low in May, dealing a blow to the housing market’s fragile recovery as the withdrawal of government support to the sector stalled purchases.Commerce department figures showed on Wednesday that new home sales dropped by 32.7 per cent from April to May to an annual rate of 300,000.The monthly fall was also a record, and was nearly twice as severe as