Latest articles by Harry Stourton
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Is the art bubble set to burst this year?
Features If you were a dealer or collector of contemporary art in 2005, the chances are you had a very good year. But prices have now pushed past historic highs set in the early 1990s. Is the market heading for a collapse?
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Why Brazilian stocks look cheap
Features More good news from Brazil. The country says it is to pay back $15.5bn to the IMF, marking the “end of a long history of financial turbulence”, says Reuters.
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This year’s commodities story: pork bellies and cattle
Features If you had invested in commodities at the start of 2005, you’d be sitting on some handsome gains. The energy sector has had a buoyant year, with oil and natural gas prices up 45% and 135% respectively.
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Conoco acquisition fails to impress
Features News of ConocoPhillips’ $36bn acquisition of Burlington Resources has met with a chorus of dismay from investors and analysts alike.
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What to expect from the pre-Budget report
Features Chancellor Gordon Brown gives his pre-Budget report on 5 December. With widespread speculation that taxes need to rise, here we take a look at his options.
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Tide turns for Taiwan
Features Emerging markets have been all the rage this year, but, unusually, the rising tide has not lifted all boats.
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E.on walks away from Scottish Power deal
Features On the face of it, E.on’s decision to walk away from bid talks with Scottish Power after it turned down their modest offer of 570p a share “looks curious”, says Simon Nixon on Breakingviews.com.
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P&O bid: a cautionary tale
Features The fall of P&O into foreign hands is bound to cause regret in some quarters, says The Daily Telegraph.
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HBOS: a good bank for hard times
Features Over the past few years, HBOS has been one of the most aggressive banks on the UK high street, says Lex in the FT. But today it “is among the most cautious”, having switched its focus from growing assets to protecting returns.
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Latin American sizzle is far from over
Features Investors in Latin America’s markets have good reason to feel pleased with themselves: the MSCI Latin American Index has risen 86% since 2003 and is up 38% so far in 2005.
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Japan’s doing well – so why is the yen plummeting?
Features What’s wrong with the yen? With the Japan’s economy finally showing signs of life, the stockmarket up over 30% year-to-date, and the bank of Japan hinting it may soon tighten its famously loose monetary policy, you’d think the currency would be soaring.
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A return to form for lead?
Features Lead has quite a past. It was used to build the legendary water systems of ancient Rome (one of the many theories about the decline of Rome is that the middle and upper classes all ended up sick with lead poisoning).
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