A brief look at last week and the week ahead, the Weekly Review from IG Index.
Weekly Trading Report 26 April 2010 - Last Week's Trading Highlights
The Icelandic volcano eruption cast a long shadow over western Europe for the first half of the week, and the resulting severe disruption to air travel promised a longer-lasting gloom for the markets.
TUI Travel, Europe’s biggest travel operator, said on Monday that the flight ban was costing them £5-6 million a day, and on Tuesday UK airport operator BAA announced similar costs.
On Wednesday the International Air Transport Association put estimates of overall global airline losses at £1.1 billion.
Losses weren’t restricted to the travel companies, however, as retailers struggled to arrange alternative transport for their imported goods, particularly fresh produce.
On Thursday the Greek debt crisis again reared its head and, along with UK borrowing reaching a record high of £163.4 billion and poor UK retail sales growth for March, weakened UK markets. In fact the news sent the FTSE down to 5665.33, its worst level for more than a month.
Friday’s weaker-than-expected GDP data, showing first-quarter growth at just 0.2%, did little to boost optimism.
The BoE, meanwhile, expressed inflation concerns on Wednesday after prices rose at a faster rate of 3.4% in March, well above the 2% target. The committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates and quantitative easing unchanged.
Meanwhile also on Wednesday, the IMF announced faster-than-expected global growth prospects of 4.2% for the year.
Goldman Sachs also grabbed headlines, after reports of massive bonus payouts and Tuesday’s announcement of an inquiry by the UK’s FSA.
Goldman’s difficulties, coupled with reduced fuel consumption provoked by flight disruptions, triggered a sharp fall in oil prices on Monday, with US light crude slipping by $1.79 to $81.45 a barrel.
Despite the controversy, the bank’s Q1 report on Tuesday showed profit up to $3.46 billion from $1.8 billion a year ago, outstripping analysts’ expectations.
Morgan Stanley showed similarly strong results on Wednesday, and financial stocks overall have been surprisingly upbeat considering investors’ uncertainty.
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Weekly Trading Report 26 April 2010 - The Week Ahead
Indicators
US Q1 reports make up the bulk of the coming week's activity. A raft of big name firms report through the week, including Coca Cola and Ford on Tuesday.
Also keep an eye out for oil giant ExxonMobil, and Time Warner on Thursday.
In the UK its a big week for retailers, with Home Retail Group announcing half-year numbers midweek, followed by HMV and annual figures from Whitbread on Thursday.
Company Results and Reports
It's a quieter week for economic data, though a number of European consumer confidence surveys are released throughout the week.
On Wednesday, the Fed releases their latest interest-rate decision and Thursday sees the release of Germany's unemployment figures. On Friday the EU will announce its unemployment figures for March.
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For previous weeks see below.
Note - Spread Betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and you can lose more than your initial investment, it may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you only speculate with money that you can afford to lose and that you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.
'Financial Spread Betting 26 April 2010', Review by D. Jones, last update: 26-Apr-10
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