A brief look at last week and the week ahead, the Weekly Review from IG Index.
Last Week's Trading Highlights
International Indices
World markets see-sawed this week with the FTSE, in particular, exhibiting pronounced intraday volatility. The Dow closed down near a 12-year low on Monday, losing 250.73 points (-3.40%) to finish at 7114.94. The drop caused a global echo on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 dipping 55 points to 3765 at midday, and the Nikkei falling 1.5% to 7268.5, its lowest level in nearly 26 years.
The markets rebounded on Tuesday, however, following a statement from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke opposing the nationalisation of American banks. Wall Street rallied with the Dow up 235.76 points (3.31%) at 7350.54, largely as the result of Citigroup climbing 21.5% to close at $2.06 and Bank of America up 21.0% to $4.73.
Banking Sector
Back home, the FTSE climbed steadily until Friday, despite the announcement of massive losses in the banking sector. RBS posted the largest annual corporate loss in UK history on Thursday, a total of £24.1 billion in 2008.
On Friday morning, Lloyds TSB stated that HBOS, which it absorbed in January, had made a pre-tax loss of £10.8 billion in 2008. This was compounded by Lloyds' own 80% plunge in pre-tax profits to £807 million.
Further Losses
Losses mounted in other sectors too, with house builder Barratt Developments dropping £600 million in the six months to December 31, 2008 and US carmaker General Motors posting a $9.6 billion (£6.7 billion) loss in the fourth quarter.
Jobs and Outlook
In the UK, nearly 2000 jobs were lost in the insurance sector alone: RSA Insurance, Legal & General, and Standard Life announced cuts of 1200, 450, and 195 jobs respectively.
Vodafone is also cutting 500 jobs in order to reduce its costs by £1 billion, and Nortel is shedding 3200 global jobs. On a more positive note, consumer confidence appears to be on the up, gaining two points to -35 on the index from January in the GfK NOP poll. Mortgage approvals have also risen, up 4% last month to 23,376.
The BoE and ECB’s interest-rate announcements, due Thursday, are sure to be the standouts at home and in the eurozone this week. Both central banks are widely expected to cut rates by 50 basis points to historic lows of 0.5% in the UK and 1.5% in the eurozone this month.
Other significant data includes money lending figures at home on Monday and the Fed Beige Book and Challenger job-cut report in the US on Wednesday.
In the US, the week closes with the all-important non-farm payroll data on Friday.
Company Results and Reports
In earnings, the US roster remains surprisingly thin, but the schedule is particularly robust at home. Financial heavyweights HSBC and Standard Chartered put out full-year figures on Monday and Tuesday, followed by ITV and Aviva later on in the week.
The above content does not constitute investment advice. Neither Online-Spread-Betting.com nor IG Index accepts any responsibility for any use that may be made of the above.
For previous weeks see below.
'Financial Spread Betting 2 Mar', Review by D. Jones, last update: 2-Mar-09
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Spread Betting 23 Jun, 23-Jun-08,
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Spread Betting 16 Jun, 16-Jun-08,
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Spread Betting 2 Jun, 2-Jun-08,
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