Key UK indices were broadly flat at Thursday's close as the ECB decided to 'play it safe' with interest rate cuts.Also, the UK prime minister has said providing homes for people must be the 'top priority' over nature and the environment as government reforms are set to allow more building on the green belt.A shake-up of planning rules means councils have been given mandatory targets to deliver a t

European equities started Tuesday in a muted fashion, following unconvincing trade from Asia.The FTSE 100 index opened down 29.22 points, 0.4%, at 8,394.98. The FTSE 250 was down 86.45 points, 0.4%, at 20,786.88. The AIM All-Share fell 2.67 points, 0.3%, at 807.27.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 837.69, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3%, trading at 18,205.44, and the Cboe Small Companies was largely

Stocks in London soared on Wednesday, outperforming European peers, after a sharp drop in the annual rate of UK inflation fuelled hopes for interest rate cuts next year.The FTSE 100 index closed up 77.65 points, 1.0%, at 7,715.68. The FTSE 250 ended up 313.11 points, 1.6%, at 19,629,09, and the AIM All-Share closed up 6.05 points, or 0.8%, at 751.44.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.1% at 771.19, the Cbo

After two consecutive years of losses (prices move in the opposite direction to yields) bond investors were relatively optimistic at the start of 2023. Sadly, that optimism was misplaced with the real prospect of an historic third consecutive year of losses in the cards.Since the US 10-year treasury yield bottomed in August 2020 at 0.5% prices have fallen 31% while the yield is now above 5% for th

The FTSE 100 dipped into the red at midday on Thursday, as a slew of its heavyweights going ex-dividend weighed.Equities in mainland Europe, meanwhile, were higher, showing no signs of angst ahead of the latest US inflation print, out at 1330 BST.The FTSE 100 index went into Thursday afternoon just 3.58 points lower at 7,583.72. The FTSE 250 was down just 4.05 points at 18,933.15, and the AIM All-

The rise of artificial intelligence or AI has got everyone talking about the big tech companies, but it looks like cloud computing revenue and profit will remain the key drivers of growth for some time.The latest quarterly results from Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ), Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) and Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) mainly beat analyst expectations, painting a rosier picture after months of layoffs and sla

Most investors will remember 2022 as being one of the toughest years for stock markets around the world in a long time. However, plenty of stocks have delivered positive returns.In this feature we look at the best performing London-listed stocks spread across four different parts of the market, covering small, medium and large sized companies.£5 billion+ market capIreland has been one of the stan

As investors debate whether the next move in markets is up or down, it's worth noting that there are a group of stocks which are quietly making new 52-week and multi-year highs and even a few making new all-time highs.While some are involved in special situations, such as bid talks, and some are related to the unprecedented surge in energy prices, the most interesting from our point of view are th

With the end of the year approaching there has been a renewed wave of angst amongst investors as they ponder the 2022 outlook for social media leviathan Meta Platforms - or Facebook as it was known until recently.There are four reasons why investors are increasingly concerned. First the rise of social media network TikTok has the potential to disrupt Meta's business model. Second, Apple's recent d

It may seem churlish to worry, given the enthusiastic response the markets are giving to news of the Phase III Covid-19 vaccine trial by Pfizer and BioNTech, but investors need to keep an eye on Turkey once more.The Turkish lira is on the slide and Ankara is facing what could yet become its second economic crisis in just three years.Thankfully the situation is not yet comparable with 2018 when the

The only investment trust on the FTSE 100, Scottish Mortgage (SMT), is up 2.8% to 693.7p. The move pushed it back above a £10bn valuation, overtaking 3i (III) as the largest fund on the index, as its portfolio recovered quickly from the coronavirus-inspired correction.For the 12 months to 31 March 2020, the company upped its total dividend for the year by 4% to 3.25p per share.Its net asset value

Begbies Traynor (BEG:AIM) 91pGain to date: 3.4%Original entry point: Buy at 88p, 19 Dec 2020Shares in insolvency and advisory firm Begbies Traynor (BEG:AIM) surged late last week after the firm released its latest red flag alert report.It revealed that a record 509,000 UK businesses were in 'significant financial distress' at the end of last quarter, although it also cautioned that the figure coul

China's second quarter GDP growth figure of 6.2% year-on-year appears to be the source of some market angst, not least because it represents the slowest rate of increase since 1992, which is as far back as Beijing's records go.It is possible to argue that such a rate of advance is remarkable for what is the world's second largest economy. If China were to maintain that growth rate for all of 2019,

Global equity markets appear to be regathering a little of their poise. Hopes are gathering that fresh talks between the US and China will avoid a nasty trade war.There is similar optimism that the marked absence of a Russian response to Western intervention in a war with the shooting in Syria means this conflict will not spiral into a wider conflagration either.This can be seen in how stock marke

A measure of calm appears to have returned to UK stocks despite the second 1,000 point fall of the week for the US Dow Jones index overnight. In early trading the index of leading UK shares is around 30 points lower at 7,138.12.Amid all the market volatility it's actually a pretty quiet day for corporate announcements. Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror (TNI) finally clinches a £126.7m deal to ac

The UK stock market is experiencing a small rally following a stressful past few days. In mid-morning trade the FTSE 100 was trading 0.7% higher at 7,193.The FTSE 250 index was 1.2% higher at 19,502; and the FTSE AIM All-Share index was up by the same percentage at 1,025.More brave investors are now looking for opportunities to buy on the market dip.Let's now take a look at the best performing sto

Buy low and sell high. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Investors following this advice have over the years become either extremely rich or flat broke.So when should investors buy after a big market fall?The challenge is deciding whether or not to top up on an existing holding without risking too much money on one stock or fund. You may need to make a tough decision and exit the investment, potentially

The FTSE 100 is flat at just below 7,000 at the start of the new trading week. The corporate agenda is dominated by activity in the oil and gas sector.BP (BP.) has made several interesting moves. It has taken 10% stakes in Abu Dhabi's ADCO onshore oil concession and the operating company. BP will issue $2.3bn in shares to the Abu Dhabi government.BP will also buy a 62% stake in exploration project

Michael Savage and Peter Bate run c. £40 million of segregated discretionary money under a Special Situations mandate.Whilst recent stock market weakness against a backdrop of renewed market volatility has caused understandable angst amongst readers of Shares and beyond, we welcome the necessary focus this brings to stock picking.Clients of the Killik Special Situations service have benefited fro

Ceramics and carbon manufacturer Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) is suffering the effects of weak trading conditions in North America and China, warning its reported revenue in the second half will be around 7% lower than the first half.Full year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are expected to be at the lower end of analyst expectations at around £110 millio