Mark Deans, Moneycorp

Daily brief: Moneycorp

Mark Deans, Dealing Manager at Moneycorp

Governor says ‘don’t despair’

25 January 2012
Whilst Vince Cable, the coalition government's Business Secretary, is scathing over top bankers' pay he evidently has a soft spot for footballers.

Still no deal on Greek debt

23 January 2012
A referendum in Croatia yesterday asked "Do you support the Republic of Croatia's membership of the European Union?"

20 January 2012
A film clip from a passenger's cell phone perpetuates the spooky parallels between the Costa Concordia and the euro. The film captures a crew member's reassuring words that "everything will be fine".

IMF fund boost proposal helps euro

19 January 2012
Spending cuts imposed on Britain's police forces are, quite properly, subject to local interpretation and application. But there seems to be unanimous reluctance to economise on premium phone numbers. London's Metropolitan Police made more than 100,000 calls to the speaking clock, spending £250k of taxpayers' money.

UK inflation down again

18 January 2012
Austerity is not limited to the benighted citizens of Greece and Italy. It has spread to Hollywood. Producers of "The Artist" decided to save money on the dialogue and make it a silent film.

Euro shrugs off credit rating downgrades

17 January 2012
If you buy shares in BP and sell them at a higher price, nobody cares. Paintings, houses, frozen orange juice, copper, classic cars, baseball cards, vintage wine, Krugerrands and virtually every commodity and good on earth enjoy an uncontroversial secondary market.

Whoops!

16 January 2012
The danger should been obvious yet it was ignored, apparently because of a serious error of judgment. Only days earlier the man in charge of plotting the course had offered reassurance that nothing on the horizon could sink it but, as darkness fell, it went down.

We all love the euro

13 January 2012
Stockbrokers took to the streets yesterday. About 1000 of them turned out in a mass protest, not about smaller bonuses but about the curtailment of their lunch break.

UK trade deficit triggers sterling sell-off

12 January 2012
UK bookseller Waterstone's is going to ditch its apostrophe to reflect "an altogether truer picture of our business today" and to offer, "in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, a more versatile and practical spelling".

FX market lacks inspiration

11 January 2012
A bloke walked into the HBOS branch in Cheapside, London, with a bag and a gun. He demanded that the cashier fill the bag with money. Then his carefully-rehearsed strategy fell apart. Instead of handing the cashier the bag, he gave him the gun.

Summit effect supports euro

10 January 2012
Detractors of economics dismiss it as no more than an art camouflaged by mathematics. Scientific method, they argue, should provide repeatable results.

Dollar higher on US employment data

9 January 2012
Good morning. Prime Minister David Cameron monopolises the headlines this morning. He doesn't like shadow chancellor Ed Balls. He doesn't like the "crony capitalism" that rewards company directors irrespective of performance. He doesn't like Nicolas Sarkozy's financial transaction tax. Nor does he like the idea of Alex Salmond setting the agenda for Scotland's independence referendum; the PM insists it must happen within 18 months. If it does, Scotland could have its own currency even before Greece or Italy. As for what that currency would be, there are no clues as yet.

Euro jitters take hold

6 January 2012
In the Italian ski resort of Cortina it is not the eponymous 1960s Fords that fill the hotel car parks. Instead, there are "Lamborghinis, Ferraris, SUVs and other top end cars".

Slow start to the new FX year

4 January 2012
Travel agents specialising in Korea are reporting a spate of bookings following the state funeral of Kim Jong Il. One firm has a tour arranged for next month, to coincide with the deceased dictator's 70th birthday. His absence will apparently not detract from the merrymaking.