The huge rise in the GCM Resources share price caught my attention yesterday. The company used to be called Asia Energy and its main focus is the Phulbari open pit Coal Project in Bangladesh.

Twitter (TWTR) shares had their IPO on the NYSE on November 2013, with an IPO (Initial Public Offering) price of $26, valuing the company at $14.2 billion. On the first day of trading they closed at $44.90, up more than 72% on the day. Today they trade at $66 valuing the company at $36 billion.

After suffering numerous production problems and a share price that has fallen over 30% in the last year, Premier Oil today announced the departure of CEO, Simon Lockett, after 9 years as head of the company. He said “We can be proud of what we as a team have achieved but, after 9 years, I believe now is an appropriate time for a change in leadership as the business moves into its next phase. I am also looking forward  [read more →]

Another month on in 2014 and another battering for equity investors with Japan’s Nikkei Average ending down 4.2% this morning at 14,008 after US S&P 500 lost 2.3% last night in its worst trading day since June and hitting an October 2013 low.

An interesting announcement this morning from North Sea focused Xcite Energy with the appointment of Andrew Fairclough as Chief Financial Officer, moving from his previous position as Corporate Affairs Director. He joined the company in August 2012.

A reality check for the stock markets of the world in January with heavy losses and a major bull back in the major indices after the over-exuberance of 2013. The U.S. market finished with its largest monthly fall since May 2012.

It was a case of a tale of two techs last night after Amazon and Google both reported Q4 2013 earnings, with the former dropping heavily and the latter initially subdued and then rising sharply during the analyst Q&A.

At the December meeting, the committee began tapering down its quantitative easing (QE) program, cutting back on monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury and mortgage backed securities (MBS) by $10 billion to $75 billion as the American economy continues to grow.

After a rough 2013, times haven’t been any easier for emerging markets investors lately. The Argentinian Peso and Turkish Lira crisis as well as a risk of a liquidity short fall in China have all taken their toll since mid last week.

Apple results are just out with the shares down around 6% to $517 in after hours trading due to lower than expected guidance for the second fiscal quarter between $42-44 billion versus analysts expecting of $46 billion.