Simon Denham, Capital Spreads

Morning commentary: Capital Spreads

Simon Denham is Chief Executive Officer of Capital Spreads’ AIM-listed parent company, London Capital Group. He founded Capital Spreads in 2003 having previously run the options and derivatives desk at another large spread betting firm. During his 25 years in the City he has held senior positions in a number of banks, including Christiania Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia and the Union Bank of Finland, and has built-up in depth experience of the financial markets.

Read more of Simon’s commentary at www.capitalspreads.com

Are we seeing the commencement of a year-end bull run or not?

9 November 2011
The optimism shown by Asian markets overnight has only followed through to this morning’s European session to a certain degree as we were calling the FTSE to open up as much as 50-60 points, but we only got a 30 or so point jump on the open.

Gloom for the UK customer and high street continues with no signs of improvement

8 November 2011
The gloom for the UK consumer and high street continues with no signs of improvement. The concern for many retailers is that they face an uphill battle in the run up to this Christmas with consumers tightening their belts significantly.

A Greece calms, focus shifts back to Italy

7 November 2011
The markets commence this week with what would seem like a political deal in Greece which now looks likely to receive its next bailout payment and the focus shifts back to Italy which was one of the hotly discussed topics of the G20 at the end of last week.

As the Greek PM digs his own political grave the eurozone saga continues to overshadow the G20 meeting

4 November 2011
As the Greek Prime Minister digs his own political grave the eurozone saga continues to overshadow the G20 meeting in France. As the story continues it becomes more and more interesting with the prospect of the drama intensifying with crucial votes ahead, one of the major ones being Italy.

Political games costing the eurozone dear

3 November 2011
The drama continues as now the Greek Prime Minister is being pressured to turn his referendum into a yes or no vote on membership of the euro as opposed to just the latest bailout.

Will last week’s EU summit plans go ahead regardless of what happens in Greece?

2 November 2011
The blood bath from yesterday seems to have come to a halt as investors feel that regardless of what happens in Greece, last week’s EU summit plans will continue to go ahead in order to avoid a default.

November off to a poor start

1 November 2011
A poor end to what was a stellar month of October for equity markets which at one point looked like it would be the second best month of gains on record and in the end it has ranked at thirteenth.

FTSE seems to have given up the ghost on trying to record its second best monthly gain on record

31 October 2011
The FTSE seems to have given up the ghost on trying to record its second best monthly gain on record as the euphoria from last week’s EU summit rubs off.

Addressing the elephant in the room

28 October 2011
There’s been something of a buying frenzy in recent days and it hasn’t been only because of optimism in the run up to the EU summit and the continuation of that following Wednesday’s negotiations, but corporate earnings have been on the whole relatively strong.

Arguably the most important day in the history of the European Union?

26 October 2011
As we reach the climax of arguably the most important day in the history of the European Union, doubts remain that a lasting and meaningful solution can be found to the biggest threat to the world’s economy.

Will the plans be enough to prevent contagion and an EU catastrophe?

25 October 2011
We had expected to see the FTSE have a bit of profit taking this morning, and whilst the index did open slightly lower is has been quick to bounce back to where it left off last night.

Italy has its wrists slapped by France and Germany

24 October 2011
The wrangling continues in Europe as few details emerged from the week end over the deal to save the eurozone from collapse. We managed to glean a few bits of information from the discussions with Italy having the wrists slapped by France and Germany and Germany winning the battle over France to not turn the EFSF into a bank.

You often wonder whether politicians read the papers or not

21 October 2011
Often you wonder whether politicians read the papers or not and if they do they probably flick through the financial section. It seems incomprehensible that they can still be at logger heads about how to deal with the European sovereign debt crisis when the situation is escalating and becoming increasingly worrying.

European leaders running against the clock

20 October 2011
European leaders continue to try frantically to agree on a resolution for the EU and are running against the clock. It has even come to the French President missing the birth of his first baby with his new wife in order to try and quell the growing concerns.

Economic and corporate data isn’t exactly excelling

19 October 2011
The markets are finding it difficult to make gains and the focus remains on the overall European picture which is getting in the way of any good economic or corporate data. The problem is that the economic and corporate data isn’t exactly excelling either so investors remain fixated with what’s happening on the continent.