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The Smart Trader
Read the latest news, information and analysis about the business world, what´s going on in the markets, and how it is likely to affect the company and affect you and your trades.
The Smart Trader
A City spread betting firm has been named among the top 1000 fastest-growing companies in Europe in a study carried out by the Financial Times.
In Financial Year 2015 IG Group Holdings published in their annual report that they earned a revenue of £388.4m ($513.9m) from global trading. Now, the first question as an investor, would surely be, how does spread betting earn money and make profits for the companies. They don’t charge any brokerage to their customers and trading is effectively commission free.
An important factor when spread betting the forex markets is the types of currency pair you choose to trade. For example, specific pairs may be significantly moved by commodity price changes (JPY and oil being a classic example). At certain times of day some pairs may suffer from low liquidity and wider spreads.
Apple Inc. officially completed its eagerly awaited 7-for-1 stock split on Monday; the tech giant’s first split since 2005. On publicising the split in April, CEO Tim Cook indicated that making Apple shares "more accessible to a larger number of investors” was a key factor in the decision. It means that Apple shareholders will receive an additional 6 shares for every share they currently own. Apple’s stock has gained 23% since the announcement in late April, generating more than $100 billion in shareholder wealth.
The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) will meet this Thursday to discuss subdued euro zone inflation. Inflation in the EU has fallen to just 0.5%, failing to surpass the 1% mark over the course of the past 8 months. Governed by Mario Draghi, the 24-man council is widely expected to implement negative deposit rates in an unprecedented move to stimulate the economy.