Topic: Futures

Earlier this month, I asked the leaders of a group of U.S-based companies what – if anything – they were doing to prepare for “Grexit”, or a possible exit of Greece from the euro zone. The responses from the manufacturers were rather vague. The FT reports.

Some of Europe’s biggest fund managers have confirmed they are dumping euro assets amid rising fears over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone and single currency turmoil, the Financial Times reports.

Market correlations have once again been rising - with stocks, bonds and even gold dropping in recent weeks on worries about Greece. That's making it harder for investors to use traditional forms of portfolio diversification. Instead, according to one fund manager, investors should be looking at technical price patterns.

When Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September 2008, investors rushed to buy gold. When the eurozone crisis erupted in 2010, they bought more.' But this year the buying has fizzled out, reports the Financial Times.

I sympathize with the Germans. This is not because I agree with their prevailing view of how the crisis occurred or what to do about it. I sympathize because the German elite were the ones who understood what creating the euro implied. They realized that a currency union could not work without a political union. The FT reports.

Banks are braced for a fresh attack on their profit margins, if Moody’s presses ahead shortly with plans to downgrade short-term funding ratings sectorwide. The FT reports.

The majority of the world’s art that is not on display, either in museums or private residences, is stored in a small number of tax-free ports across the globe, mainly in Switzerland.

The Institute of Directors has endorsed a radical proposal that recommends replacing part of the UK tax system with a single income tax rate of 30 percent and reducing the government’s share of the national economy to one-third, the Financial Times reports.

Vince Cable, business secretary, has vowed to resist “bonkers” proposals to allow bosses to fire underperforming staff at will, as coalition tensions flared over a Number 10-inspired report on cutting jobs red tape. The FT reports.

Imagine for a minute that you are sitting on a $360 billion-odd pot of cash. Somehow you have to stash that money in an incredibly safe place, but also produce some returns. So where do you put it? The FT reports.

If Greece goes: An exit is likely to shatter faith in the eurozone’s integrity for ever. The Financial Times reports.

Despite the prevalence of algorithmic trading, some traders are making a tidy profit getting the better of those systems, which can make costly mistakes if they are not set up correctly or if their trading patterns can be understood, the FT reports.

David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister, will on Thursday warn that the single European currency could unravel in a way that “carries huge risks for everyone” unless the eurozone’s 17 members move rapidly towards full fiscal and political union.

The European Central Bank has reacted to uncertainty over Greece’s future in the eurozone by excluding four of the country’s banks from its regular liquidity providing operations.

Shareholders in Europe’s listed companies will be given a binding vote on pay while those who invest in banks will gain powers to set a cap on bonus levels, under plans being drawn up by senior EU officials. The FT reports.