Copper Pans France
Feb0
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 238.24, +0.78, +0.33%)
declined 0.3% to 236.91, marking the fourth day of losses for the index.
European equity strategists at Deutsche Bank said: “We expect the equity market will be prone to weakness as speculators presumably attack the peripherals.”
Last week, the index fell 3.9% in its worst week since early March, with shares dropping to three-month lows amid concerns about how the so-called peripheral European countries of Greece, Spain and Portugal are going to bring their budget deficits under control.
Finance leaders of the Group of 7 countries discussed Greece’s situation at a meeting in Canada over the weekend but didn’t announce any action. “The G7 was a non-event,” said Heino Ruland, strategist at consultancy Ruland Research.
Credit default swaps for countries such as Greece are expected to continue to widen “as long as the European Union is not presenting a detailed plan on how to avoid a default,” he added.
Since the start of the year, the Stoxx 600 banking sector has dropped 13.4%, including a 1.5% drop on Monday, with Credit Suisse (CH:CSGN 43.19, -0.41, -0.94%)
(CS 40.51, -0.95, -2.29%) shares down 2% and ING Group
(NL:INGA 6.12, -0.15, -2.34%)
shares down 2.9%.
Greek banks were notably lower, with Piraeus Bank shares falling 6.5% and National Bank of Greece (NBG 3.48, -0.46, -11.61%) shares down 7.7%, weighing on the broader
Greek market, which dropped 3.8% to 1,807.06.
Of major regional equity markets, the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,083, +21.64, +0.43%) traded down 0.1% to 5,056.50, while the German DAX
index (DX:DAX 5,483, +48.67, +0.90%) climbed 0.4% to 5,453.48 and the French CAC-40
index (FR:PX1 3,595, +31.17, +0.87%) advanced 0.3% to 3,573.92.
Asian shares ended mixed while U.S. stocks traded with mild losses on Wall Street.
In the currency markets, the euro traded down 0.1% at $1.3664 against the dollar while gold futures advanced $12.40 to $1,065.20 an ounce in the commodity markets.
Shares of gold miner Randgold Resources (UK:RRS 4,467, +255.00, +6.06%)
(GOLD 69.33, -0.35, -0.50%) climbed 5.5% on Monday after its fourth-quarter net
attributable profit jumped to $32.1 million, from $9.1 million at the same point a year ago, boosted by higher gold production. Read story on Randgold.
Dexia (BE:DEXB 4.20, +0.18, +4.45%) shares rose 3.7% after the European Union agreed
to the financial services group’s restructuring plan late last week.
Other advancers included telecoms and drug makers — regarded as less sensitive to economic trends than cyclical firms such as construction stocks — with France Telecom (FR:FTE 16.48, +0.25, +1.51%) up 1.4% and Nestle
(CH:NESN 48.50, -0.10, -0.21%) up 2%.
On the downside, shares of business-software firm SAP (DE:SAP 32.61, -0.69, -2.07%)
(SAP 44.68, -1.28, -2.79%) lost 2.2% after the firm’s chief executive, Leo Apotheker,
resigned over the weekend. Read more on SAP.
BG Group (UK:BG. 1,081, -31.00, -2.79%) shares were down 3.2% after Barclays Capital
downgraded the natural-gas producer to equalweight from overweight.
“Given the de-risking theme in global markets, investors may choose to focus on the short-term returns offered by higher-yielding plays in the sector,” the broker said, noting that BG has outperformed its sector by 10% since December.
I lived in France for many years, and swore by my French copper pans and Godin gas stove. On arrival in Switzerland, where many homes (at least ours) were long ago converted to convection cookers, I longed for my Godin and shiny copper pans, all shaped to meet the special purpose they were made for.
But since my philosophy in life is to “go local”, whether I’m in the Sahara or Geneva, Switzerland, I immediately started doing my research, and was more than pleasantly surprised at Swiss engineering and design skills when it comes to modern cookware. Their cookware is not only made to last a lifetime; it is made to conserve vitamins and is ecological.
So to get to the end of this long-winded tale, I would suggest the following gifts for any cook, whether gourmet or amateur. They will thank you every time they use it, and they will most likely use it every day for just about the rest of their lives.
Swiss Diamond cookware
I already gave Swiss Diamond a rave review in my post of 12 June 2009, The perfect non-stick frying pan: Swiss Diamond. I haven’t changed my mind. Because they are made of thick, cast aluminium, they sear meat and fish like an old-fashioned iron skillet, but using less fat. The non-stick finish is unbeatable, practically unscratchable, because it really is made with minuscule diamond chips!
Kuhn Rikon Durotherm pans
Kuhn Rikon Durotherm heavy-duty, double-walled pans allow you to steam vegetables, meat or fish with no fat and little water. The water turns to steam and recirculates inside the pan, thus allowing you to maintain the vitamins and eat fat-free. Thanks to the double wall, the pans maintain the heat for 2 hours after cooking, so it’s great for cooking up dishes before guests arrive.
Durotherm pans are good for one-dish meals and cooking vegetables on an everyday basis. They also cook vegetables more quickly than boiling in a normal saucepan, and vegetables are never water-logged. The steam recirculation method prevents the vitamins from “leaking out” into the water.
I often steam my vegetables in a Durotherm, and then at the end carefully lay a piece of fish on top of the vegetables, making sure no water touches it, and put the lid on and let it steam-cook. It takes about 5 minutes for an average-size piece of cod, for example.
The glories of Swiss engineering
Ads
