FTSE 100 little changed ahead of central bank decisions

Halifax reports strongest annual UK house price rise since 2010

LONDON | Thu Jun 6, 2013 8:17am BST
(Reuters) - British house prices grew by an annual 2.6 percent in the three months to May, the biggest rise since September 2010, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday.

House prices rose by 0.4 percent in May alone, faster than the 0.2 percent increase forecast by economists polled by Reuters, though down from the 1.1 percent rise recorded in April.

Halifax economist Martin Ellis said that property prices still faced significant headwinds.

"Despite these recent signs of improvement in the housing market, the subdued economic background and the accompanying weak income growth continue to be a significant constraint on housing demand and activity," he said.

Halifax is part of Lloyds Banking Group.

Non-Farm Payroll No's out tomorrow are they not?

Yes - 1:30pm.

Excellent, I always like to get that one out of the way.

Spanish 10-y Bond Auction 4.52|2.5 4.61|2.6

French 10-y Bond Auction 2.04|1.6 1.81|2.0

German Factory Orders m/m -2.3% -1.0% 2.3%

GBP Asset Purchase Facility 375B 375B 375B

GBP Official Bank Rate 0.50% 0.50% 0.50%

FTSE 100 little changed in midday trade

EUR Minimum Bid Rate 0.50% 0.50% 0.50%

USD Unemployment Claims 346K 345K 354K

Hi all. JPSS are subscription shares, the ordinary shares for the investment trust are JPS. They have rights to be converted to ordinary shares up to 31 March 2014. You can read more here - http://am.jpmorgan.co.uk/investment-trusts/trusts/japanese-smaller-companies-jpm-it-subscription-shares.aspx

I'm not totally on top of why the subscription shares should fall so much quicker, but they are very illiquid (expect to pay a huge bid-offer spread) and I guess there's an element of the subs being worth less when the price of the ordinary shares dips under the exercise price (174p). The ordinary shares have gone to a significantly larger discount to NAV in the last couple of weeks because of the increase in volatility.



I've taken a bit of a hammering on BGFD recently :( But it's a highly speculative area and therefore I didn't put much in fortunately..

As posted earlier, my Japanese trust is taking a bashing.

Wish my builders did,nt keep giving me a bashing this week.The good news flow does,nt seem help any either.

Good old Mario!

US STOCKS-Wall St climbs after two-day drop, but Draghi caps gains

NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced Thursday as investors bought shares offering value after a two-day drop, though gains were limited by comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.

Stock index futures had erased earlier gains to turn negative before the market's opening as Draghi spoke at an ECB news conference, saying ECB policy would remain accommodative for as long as needed, but that the Governing Council ruled out lowering the bank's deposit rate into negative territory.

"It is troubling when you get a nine-, ten-point reversal in futures prior to the opening, but it is certainly central banker-driven, whether it is the ECB, Bank of Japan, the Fed, that is what dictates the market direction," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

"Sooner or later these central bankers have to cut the cord and when they do, then the market will stand on its own."

Dow stabaliisers a little and our markets get shafted again no fairness here today.

FTSE 100 tumbles to another day of heavy losses

Going Down!

Jonuk76,

Many thanks for the info above. There is usually a reason why something that appears too cheap is so. As JPS are below the conversion price it makes no sense to buy JPSS except for a short term gamble which wasn't what i was looking for. I will keep JPS on my watchlist for the time being.

Alex