Markets

Investors should be wary of Japan following a 7 per cent plunge in the value of the Nikkei 225 index to 14,484 on Thursday, according to industry insiders.

A survey of companies that have been funded by venture capital trusts (VCTs) has found that they have created 14,000 new jobs since receiving the investment.

John Greenwood, chief economist at Invesco Perpetual, has argued that a Eurozone crisis is the most likely factor to curtail rallying markets.

The price of copper could be about to reverse its downward trend due to a new dearth of supply and increased Chinese demand, according to ETF Securities.

Governor of the Bank of England (BoE) Mervyn King delivered some rare good news in his final inflation report on Wednesday.

Newton’s Nick Clay has accused governments of trying to ease their debt burdens through inflation rather than dealing with the fundamental problems.

Stefan Isaacs, manager of the £1.4 billion M&G High Yield Corporate Bond fund, has acknowledged that the high-yield party cannot last forever but argued that the music can keep playing for a while yet.

Nearly 60 per cent of UK investors think Asia Pacific offers strong growth prospects, but just 15 per cent say they will actually invest their money in the region, according to a report by Schroders.

A reversal of the stockmarket rally is less of a risk than huge losses in bonds, according to a senior analyst.

Strategic Equity Capital, a specialist UK small-cap fund, has forecast a pick-up in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) over the next few months.

Edward Lam, manager of the consistently top-decile Somerset Emerging Markets Dividend Growth fund, has argued that a dangerous bubble is forming in supposedly safer emerging-market stocks.

The US stock market reached fresh all-time highs yesterday in a rally driven by defensive sectors and dividend-paying stocks.

The confirmation that Turkey is to proceed with its nuclear power programme has been highlighted by an analyst as evidence that uranium prices could begin to recover from their long depression.

The European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to cut its base interest rate to 0.5 per cent will make little difference on the ground, according to a number of analysts.

Tom Bartlam, chairman of the Miton Income Opportunities Trust, has argued that the small-cap FTSE Fledgling index is fated to lag both the All Share and SmallCap indices.