CAREERS ADVICE: The Goldman Sachs Guide to Interview Preparation

Preparing for a first round interview at an investment bank can be a daunting and overwhelming experience. For people who may have not experienced an investment banking interview before, it can be difficult to know what subject matter to prepare. It can become a process of stabbing in the dark, which induces stress and in turn poor performance at interview. To alleviate this pressure, Goldman Sachs have prepared an excellent presentation to outline how best to prepare for an investment banking interview. When taking advice on investment banking, who better to take it from than GS...

SPREADSHEET TIPS & TRICKS: The “Trim” Function

Ever had a data series that needed cleaning? This function removes spaces from the front and back of a set of characters in an Excel cell. For example, you may need to perform the Vlookup function on a list of client codes in an Excel spreadsheet.

MARKET UPDATE: Tarnishing the Euro’s Good Name

 Market participants openly wondering whether recent fiscal troubles are the start of the end of the European project
 The EUR reacted positively to news that some form of support package is being considered (from France and Germany) but nothing concrete has appeared yet, leaving markets on edge

FX MARKET UPDATE: What To Watch This Week

 The G7 meeting, held in Iqaluit, Canada, over the weekend, left markets with little to chew on
 G7 officials maintained their commitment to stimulus measures and timely exit strategies
 The current environment remains conducive to more USD and JPY buying and selling of currencies such as the AUD, NZD, CAD, GBP, NOK, SEK, ZAR etc

MARKET COMMENTARY: Currency Tensions Intensify Ahead of G7

 Portugal, Greece and Spain remain firmly in the spotlight but it may not be long before the light broadens to include UK, US and many other countries facing similar difficulties on the fiscal front
 In Portugal, parliament began to vote on a bill on financial transfers to the regions, which could damage the ability of the government to reduce the deficit
 In Greece tax collectors have started a 48-hour strike as social unrest worsens

MARKET COMMENTARY: Selling Risk Trades On Rallies

 A poor outturn for the US service sector (the ISM non-manufacturing index failed to match expectations, coming in at 50.5 in January versus consensus of 51.0) has weighed on markets. Reversed the boost to markets from the positive manufacturing purchasing managers (PMIs) indices earlier in the week
 However, Cisco Systems beat equity analyst expectations Meanwhile US ADP jobs data fell less than expected, resulting in a flat month for January
 Confidence is still shaky, with worries over Greek sovereign debt not abating and spreading to Portugal. Ratings downgrade fears remain

VIDEO: The Deutsche Bank Unofficial Guide to Investment Banking

This video is a light hearted but insightful snapshot of what it is like to work for a global investment bank, in this case Deutsche Bank. None of The Banker's Blog's team have worked for DB but from the IBs we have worked for, and our friends at DB itself, we can testify that this video is certainly indicative of what you would expect from joining a global IB in general.

MARKET UPDATE: Central Banks take centre stage

 Monetary Tightening in China and Greece’s debt woes have caused risk aversion to take a turn for the worse over the past fortnight
 There have been spikes in currency and equity market volatility and risk currencies have remained under pressure, including AUD, NZD, CAD and man emerging market currencies
 Greece’s problems remain a major burden on the EUR, with speculative sentiment for the currency dropping close to all time lows, as recorded by IMM data