FTSE still fragile
09.10 The FTSE 100 has drifted down 14 points to 6,608 and, after yesterday's global sell-off, market sentiment remains fragile, according to Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at broker Interactive Investor:
As investors hit the panic button ahead of US earnings whilst tension in the Ukraine goes back on the boil there appears to be little information presently to warrant a move back in to equities. Whilst there may be relative calm this morning after yesterday's bloodbath investors are hanging out on the side-lines in the hope for some justification for a move back to higher ground. Japan holds stimulus steady, posts first surplus in five months
09.00 Japan has posted its first surplus in five months, a welcome boost for the government as it grapples with the huge debt the world's third-largest economy has amassed and rising energy imports following the end of its nuclear power industry.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan has held firm on its stimulus plan despite calls for more quantitative easing. It plans to increase the money supply by 60-70 trillion yen this year. IMF to upgrade UK economy
08.30 The International Monetary Fund will release its biannual World Economic Outlook later today, and is expected to upgrade global growth forecasts on the back of stronger performances from the world's developed economies.
A year after the IMF urged Osborne to abandon austerity, it is expected to upgrade its forecast for the British economy this year from 2.4pc predicted in January.
Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, may repeat last week's call for quantitative easing to fend off eurozone deflation. Jeremy Warner warns against this in today's column.
Ms Lagarde's clear implication, also apparent in pre-released papers from the IMF's World Economic Outlook, due to be published on Tuesday, is that the world, and particularly Europe, needs a bit more inflation.
I don't necessarily disagree with this, but I would be very wary about doing it in the manner Ms Lagarde suggests - through further central bank money printing.
The big fear about quantitative easing when the US and Britain first started doing it was that it would be inflationary. Images of Weimar Germany's hyperinflation were quickly brought to mind. Yet so far it has proved nothing of the sort. One thing it has done, however, is put a rocket under asset prices.
There is a huge and very varied volume of academic research on the causes of this phenomenon, which I don't intend to rehearse here. Suffice it to say that the effect of QE has been to prevent the sort of adjustment that would normally take place after such a prolonged period of asset price growth. The concern about QE has therefore shifted from initial fears of an inflationary meltdown, which proved groundless, to that of its long-term consequences for financial stability and wealth distribution. FTSE halts losses
08.15 Traders in London have had their fill of corrections this morning, however: After yesterday's 1.1pc decline, the FTSE 100 is trading flat at 6,620.
It's a mixed picture for the technology stocks that dragged the market down yesterday. While Asos and Ocado have lost more ground this morning, ARM Holdings and Imagination Technologies, the microchip designers, have gained a little ground.
Here are some of the stocks that were under pressure yesterday. As you can see, it's a mixed picture.
Image: Reuters Tech sell-off continues
07.55 A sell-off of technology and internet companies in the UK continued into the US yesterday and Asia this morning.
In the States, LinkedIn, Yahoo! and Google all saw declines, and the Nikkei has closed down 1.4pc this morning.
In Korea, Samsung has fallen 0.2pc after estimating operating profits in the first quarter would fall by 4pc to £4.8bn. The company is pinning its hopes on the new Galaxy S5 to return to profit growth.
Today's business stories
07.30 Here's what's leading our business pages this morning
* Barclays has avoided an embarrassing High Court trial over claims its senior executives were aware of attempts to rig Libor, reports Harry Wilson
* Fears that a second dotcom bubble is about to burst triggered a global sell-off of technology shares yesterday, write James Titcomb and Ben Martin
* And Jeremy Warner argues that the IMF has failed to spot the dangers of quantitative easing
Here's the front page of today's Business section:
Good morning
07.30 Good morning and welcome to our daily business and markets live blog, your one stop shop for all the breaking business stories of the day.
Original Post By: http://ift.tt/1qjei9o
Source : http://ift.tt/1qjei9o
09.10 The FTSE 100 has drifted down 14 points to 6,608 and, after yesterday's global sell-off, market sentiment remains fragile, according to Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at broker Interactive Investor:
As investors hit the panic button ahead of US earnings whilst tension in the Ukraine goes back on the boil there appears to be little information presently to warrant a move back in to equities. Whilst there may be relative calm this morning after yesterday's bloodbath investors are hanging out on the side-lines in the hope for some justification for a move back to higher ground. Japan holds stimulus steady, posts first surplus in five months
09.00 Japan has posted its first surplus in five months, a welcome boost for the government as it grapples with the huge debt the world's third-largest economy has amassed and rising energy imports following the end of its nuclear power industry.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan has held firm on its stimulus plan despite calls for more quantitative easing. It plans to increase the money supply by 60-70 trillion yen this year. IMF to upgrade UK economy
08.30 The International Monetary Fund will release its biannual World Economic Outlook later today, and is expected to upgrade global growth forecasts on the back of stronger performances from the world's developed economies.
A year after the IMF urged Osborne to abandon austerity, it is expected to upgrade its forecast for the British economy this year from 2.4pc predicted in January.
Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, may repeat last week's call for quantitative easing to fend off eurozone deflation. Jeremy Warner warns against this in today's column.
Ms Lagarde's clear implication, also apparent in pre-released papers from the IMF's World Economic Outlook, due to be published on Tuesday, is that the world, and particularly Europe, needs a bit more inflation.
I don't necessarily disagree with this, but I would be very wary about doing it in the manner Ms Lagarde suggests - through further central bank money printing.
The big fear about quantitative easing when the US and Britain first started doing it was that it would be inflationary. Images of Weimar Germany's hyperinflation were quickly brought to mind. Yet so far it has proved nothing of the sort. One thing it has done, however, is put a rocket under asset prices.
There is a huge and very varied volume of academic research on the causes of this phenomenon, which I don't intend to rehearse here. Suffice it to say that the effect of QE has been to prevent the sort of adjustment that would normally take place after such a prolonged period of asset price growth. The concern about QE has therefore shifted from initial fears of an inflationary meltdown, which proved groundless, to that of its long-term consequences for financial stability and wealth distribution. FTSE halts losses
08.15 Traders in London have had their fill of corrections this morning, however: After yesterday's 1.1pc decline, the FTSE 100 is trading flat at 6,620.
It's a mixed picture for the technology stocks that dragged the market down yesterday. While Asos and Ocado have lost more ground this morning, ARM Holdings and Imagination Technologies, the microchip designers, have gained a little ground.
Here are some of the stocks that were under pressure yesterday. As you can see, it's a mixed picture.
Image: Reuters Tech sell-off continues
07.55 A sell-off of technology and internet companies in the UK continued into the US yesterday and Asia this morning.
In the States, LinkedIn, Yahoo! and Google all saw declines, and the Nikkei has closed down 1.4pc this morning.
In Korea, Samsung has fallen 0.2pc after estimating operating profits in the first quarter would fall by 4pc to £4.8bn. The company is pinning its hopes on the new Galaxy S5 to return to profit growth.
Today's business stories
07.30 Here's what's leading our business pages this morning
* Barclays has avoided an embarrassing High Court trial over claims its senior executives were aware of attempts to rig Libor, reports Harry Wilson
* Fears that a second dotcom bubble is about to burst triggered a global sell-off of technology shares yesterday, write James Titcomb and Ben Martin
* And Jeremy Warner argues that the IMF has failed to spot the dangers of quantitative easing
Here's the front page of today's Business section:
Good morning
07.30 Good morning and welcome to our daily business and markets live blog, your one stop shop for all the breaking business stories of the day.
Original Post By: http://ift.tt/1qjei9o
Source : http://ift.tt/1qjei9o