CFD Traders Diary
Big selloff hits the UK market again
8/7/2008
We have been wondering whether or not there might be a major selloff before this market decline is over, and today has seen a huge fall on the FTSE 100 index as another slew of bad news comes in. There has been talk of another wedge of major writedowns in the banks sector both here and in the US, and talk of imminent UK recession has been rife.
Persimmon is down again even though it said it did not expect to announce any significant write down of its land values with its next interim results. It has now cut 1,100 jobs to save £20m per year, but with H1sales down a hefty 34% on the comparative period last year, the outlook is bleak and the shares look set for more new lows. Estate agent Savills has added to those sentiments as trading conditions for its UK and US Commercial Capital Markets businesses and its UK Residential and Mortgage Broking businesses have continued to deteriorate, with volumes down significantly on the comparable period in 2007. It said that predictions for the full year outcome were very difficult and this is a sector also deep in trouble.
Another big faller today is PartyGaming, which says gross revenues have fallen since April due to seasonality and competition from Euro 2008. Although Casino performed strongly, this was offset by a weaker than expected performance in poker and sports betting. With overall revenues slightly lower than expected, the recent rally in the shares has been reversed and this is another one for the bears right now.
