| | Tuesday 7 August 2012 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY  Hello Share gang,
Shares are gradually up, as I write. I've added the last bit because Footsie rises have been so plentiful of late that the end of the run has to come some time.
This is the trouble with trading shares at the mo. As soon as we get a few hundred points added to the big index, it goes into reverse again. And we have to admit, chums, that the reverses have been faster and deeper than the recoveries.
The Footsie dips on some dire news - usually from Europe - and it takes a good few weeks to get back to where we were again. I have been buying the Footsie. This is because I was buying it when there was an almighty drop a few months ago, and I've been trying to get my money back ever since.
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Paper round European banks, Tariffs, Falklands
Refunds of mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) are doing more to boost Britain's stuttering economy than government initiatives to stimulate growth, official and bank data show. The UK's five biggest banks have set aside almost 9bn pounds to cover claims for selling their customers loan insurance that was either not needed or could not be used, in one of the most costly consumer scandals on record. About 4.8bn pounds had already been paid out by the end of May - effectively acting as "helicopter money" dropped into the hands of those people who may be among the most likely to spend it, The Financial Times reports.
Some of the UK's biggest listed companies are pulling money out of European banks and drawing up contingency plans for the break-up of the euro, amid growing fears over the future of the single currency. British Airways, pharmaceuticals giants AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, as well as Royal Dutch Shell, are among those making emergency preparations as the Eurozone debt crisis escalates. The news comes as two influential studies show confidence in the Eurozone has hit a three year low, with UK business leaders losing faith in the single market. The Sentix research group said its index measuring investor sentiment had fallen for the fifth straight month. The spotlight has moved to Italy after 15 of its biggest lenders saw their credit ratings slashed on Friday night and prime minister Mario Monti warned of the 'psychological break-up of the euro,' The Daily Mail says.
German politicians from across the spectrum have reacted furiously to warnings by Italy's Mario Monti that Bundestag control over EU debt policies threatens to bring about the "disintegration" of the European project. "We must make it clear to Mr Monti that we Germans will not shut down our democracy to pay Italian debts," said Alexander Dobrindt, secretary-general of Bavaria's Social Christians (CSU). Bundestag president Norbert Lammert said parliament's integrity cannot be subordinated to the ups and downs of the markets. Free Democrat (FDP) leaders said Italy's unelected prime minister is playing with political fire by trying to circumvent democratic legitimacy. The dispute comes as relations between Germany and Italy touch the lowest ebb since the Second World War, with Il Libero publishing a front-page picture of Chancellor Angela Merkel under the headline "Fourth Reich," according to The Telegraph.
Companies advertising on Facebook will be forced to vet comments posted by members of the public, following a landmark ruling by an advertising watchdog in Australia. The Advertising Standards Board ruled that posts on Smirnoff's Facebook page are effectively advertising, regardless of whether they were made by the company or a member of the public, and should therefore comply with advertising laws. The judgment has already caused widespread concern in Australia and threatens to undermine Facebook's advertising on a worldwide basis, as posts made by users in any country can appear on companies' Facebook pages. Advertisers will have to factor the cost of vetting user comments into their plans for advertising on Facebook, whilst constant policing could also undermine the power of Facebook as an advertising platform, experts said, according to The Telegraph.
The European Union is examining a request by France to require South Korea to give advanced warning of planned car exports to the EU, the first step towards the possible re-introduction of duties a year after a free-trade deal came into effect. Sales of South Korean cars to the European Union surged 24% last year, even though the EU market is contracting, putting pressure on French carmakers who have lost domestic market share to the likes of Korea's Hyundai and affiliate Kia. "The European Commission (EC) confirms it has received a note from the French authorities requesting ... prior surveillance measures for South Korean car imports," EU Trade Spokesman John Clancy said in a statement. "The Commission is reviewing carefully the request." The comments from the EC came after France formally asked the European Union to begin monitoring car imports from South Korea in the first step towards a possible re-introduction of tariffs, The Telegraph writes.
It was supposed to be the marketeer's dream, a land of a billion consumers with rising spending power, a penchant for exotic Western products and little-developed local competition. But a quarter of a century after they entered the country, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and the other leading consumer goods groups appear to be failing in China as people shun their brands for locally made products. The top 50 multinationals had only 17% of the EURO110bn (GBP87bn) market at the end of 2010, compared with about a third of the market in Brazil, Russia and India, according to a report by the OC&C management consultancy. Sales are still growing but foreign brands are losing market share, shedding one percentage point in 2009-10 — almost GBP1bn of business — as the top domestic brands gained two percentage points, The China Failure report says. The mighty multinationals are struggling to compete amid a vast, complex terrain, nimble local players and customers who find their products too strange or simply too expensive, The Times reports.
Argentina has set itself on another collision course with Britain by planning to use seized energy company YPF to search for oil around the Falkland Islands, according to reports. State-controlled YPF, formerly owned by Spain's Repsol, is teaming up with Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA to explore the area. "We discussed the need for oil and gas exploration in the territory and offshore areas, adjacent to the Falklands, but we have to analyze the costs and time," PDVSA president Rafael Ramirez Carreno told Argentine newspaper Pagina12. The executive said he spoke with the president of YPF, Miguel Galuccio, in Buenos Aires last Wednesday. Argentina's move threatens to further antagonise the UK government on the 30th anniversary of the war the two fought over the Falkland Islands. Earlier this year the Argentine government sent a letter to 15 British and American banks threatening them with legal action for advising companies exploring for oil around the islands, The Telegraph says.
THE LATEST ON THE CRAZY BOARD The top 5 hot company threads on the Bulletin Board: Falkland Oil & Gas Zoltav Resources RBS Halfords Running trading thread
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BOOK OF THE WEEK  By Richard Rumelt
A book review by Aaron Padgham of t1ps.com Richard Rumelt's book, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy explains the very definition of a strategy - a coherent response to one's obstacles in order to progress, and whether you're a high-flying CEO, head of a charity or the coach of a local sports team, you will know, or are soon to learn that the creation and implementation of a focused 'good' strategy is a key requirement to success.
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