Spreads to liven Gordon’s day
March 19, 2006admin No Comments »As all those across the Square Mile and beyond turn to their television sets on Wednesday at 12.30pm, there are some serious matters that need to be addressed.
Indeed, as Chancellor Gordon Brown stands up to present his 10th Budget to the nation, many will be hoping he provides answers to a number of key questions. Has he met his so-called golden rule? Has he got anything up his sleeve to help his push to take the top job from Tony Blair?
And, more importantly for the City, will he finally abolish stamp duty on share purchases, and what will the level of the conversion tax charge for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) be?
But each year the betting fraternity try to make the process more lighthearted by offering a number of “fun” bets on more entertaining matters.
The question on most people’s lips – particularly given this week’s revelations about undisclosed loans from private donors – is will this be Gordon’s swan song Budget? If Mr Blair does name his day for departure, and Gordon moves into No 10, that could be the case. The current spread pricing on this particularly punt is evens.
More fun would be to take a look at how long his Budget speech will be? A spread of 42-46 minutes is being offered, while the spread for how many sips of water he takes is 0.5-1.5 sips. Another is how many times Mr Brown will use the word “Budget” – 22-25 times is the current spread, followed by 17-20 times for the word “million”.
More important for the City is what the FTSE 100 index will be doing during Mr Brown’s speech? Spread betting group Finspreads, which is providing all of these fun Budget spreads, is offering a movement of 15 to 18 points in the FTSE while the Chancellor is on his feet.
Whatever the contents of his red box on Wednesday, investors taking a punt on the Budget will certainly liven up the day.
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