Fat Prophets

China’s and the world’s largest mobile carrier China Mobile (NYSE: CHL, initial buy at $53.22), has aggressively sought to grab 4G subscribers over the past 18 months and been very successful in its efforts. Judging from some numbers the company released late last week for its nine months year to date, it is beginning to […]

Global Opportunities Fund constituent Google, now called Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG, initial buy $219.65) reported a strong set of third quarter numbers that resonated well with investors, sending the (C class) shares surging 7% to over the $700 mark in Friday’s trading. The third quarter marks the last time that the company will report numbers under the […]

US and European markets rallied strongly on Thursday as European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, appeared to suggest that further monetary easing is on the way. In a press conference he stated that the ECB is “open to a whole menu of measures.” As result the STOXX50 jumped 2.5%, while the euro fell by 1.5% […]

Sophos has been described as “London’s biggest ever tech float” by the media with the valuation at £1bn.  However, this depends on how you define technology as JustEast has a value at over £2bn. Sophos is a software company focused on providing IT security to the mid-sized companies.  The solutions are cloud-enabled and as such […]

Global equity markets were almost weaker universally on Wednesday with Europe, Asia and the US all closing around 1% lower. The standout event was the US dollar losing ground sharply against all the major currencies as weaker US retail sales and a decline in producer prices were reported. Precious metal prices jumped by around 1% […]

Markets were quiet on Tuesday with the Dow and S&P500 closing down with mild losses as the market digests the reporting season. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite didn’t see much of a reaction to the latest export data, where opinion was polarised and divided. The index still managed to close up 0.17% to 3,293.  Commodity […]

Clearly the highest profile IPO is Ferrari which is being spun out from its Italian owner Fiat.  This could take place in the next few weeks but the company is being listed in New York rather than Europe. As a premium carmaker Ferrari is attractive given that it is less exposed to price competition.  Only 10% of […]

Sony (NYSE: SNE, initial buy $13.64) President Kazuo Hirai is not finished with his revamp of the Sony business and the company announced last week that it will restructure its Devices segment, splitting it into three. Under the new operational structure, the semiconductor, battery and storage media businesses will be separated. The aim of the […]

Monetary policy was in focus in the UK on Thursday with the Bank of England leaving interest rates on hold.  The vote came in at 8 to 1 with MPC member Ian McCafferty voting for a quarter point rise for the third month in a row.  UK interest rates have remained unchanged for over six […]

20th Century Fox (NYSE: FOX, initial buy $11.69) couldn’t have written a better script for how they would release their new sci-fi adventure movie The Martian, if they had tried. NASA’s recent real life announcement that they had found signs of flowing water on the surface of Mars at some stage in the past has […]