At the end of last year the market was pricing in 1.7% worth of US rate cuts for 2024 but here we are in late August and the Federal Reserve is yet to pull the trigger, largely due to stickier-than-expected inflation.However, after a series of false dawns, we may finally be approaching the point where the Fed acts, with a rate cut widely expected on 18 September. The debate largely centres on whet

The FTSE 100 is not the best-performing major stock index in the world this year ? that honour lies with Japan?s Nikkei 225, which is up by 12% in local currency terms ? but the UK?s premier benchmark is (finally) setting new all-time highs, at least when measured in sterling. The picture does not look quite so rosy in US dollars and while this can be used as a pretext to cavil it can also be a fu

We begin this article with the cautionary tale of former high-flying cloud telephony and conferencing firm LoopUp (LOOP:AIM).At the beginning of March, the firm dropped a bombshell on investors by announcing the board had unanimously decided that canceling its listing on AIM and raising money from a handful of private backers was ?in the best interests of the group and our shareholders?.The stock

Former YouGov chairman sells upArbuthnot chairman increases stakeNational World COO sells up to cover tax costsStephan Shakespeare, the former chief executive of YouGov (YOU:AIM), the international online research and data analytics group has sold 350,000 shares at £11.80 for a total value of £4.13 million on 5 February.The sale was made by his wife Rosamund Shakespeare for the purposes of ?pers

Tribal (TRN:AIM) 51.2pLoss to date: 20% Trading a seeming arbitrage opportunity is always risky and this has blown up in our faces. Education software supplier Tribal (TRB:AIM) had a takeover offer from US peer Ellucian on the table worth £172 million on an enterprise value basis, or 74p per share. The deal had been recommended by the board and had a lot of early shareholder backing.That the comp

Stocks in London ended the day in mixed fashion with blue-chips nursing modest losses and mid-caps ending in the green.A solid start to the day in the US helped, with the S&P hitting a 12-month high, as investors look ahead to CPI figures and the Federal Reserve?s interest rate decision on Wednesday.The FTSE 100 index closed down 9.58 points, 0.1%, at 7,544.89. The FTSE 250 ended up 48.40 points,

Johnson Matthey CEO buys 15,000 sharesBarclays chairman snaps up 200,000 sharesArbuthnot CEO increases stakeLiam Condon, CEO of Johnson Matthey (JMAT) has bought 15,000 shares at £15.45 for a total value of £231,701 on 6 December.Condon?s purchase signals that he has faith in the chemicals company. Several weeks ago, the chemicals company raised its full year operating performance despite report

My husband is aged 69 and does not plan to retire until he is 75. He has had a 'with-profits' personal pension plan since 2004. The current plan value (excluding the final bonus) is £127,116, the final bonus (which they say they can't guarantee) is £72,319 and the market value reduction is £5,657.Last year, he paid £3,000 in personal pension contributions to the plan. Total charges and costs

Stock prices in London were down on Monday at midday after underwhelming manufacturing data compounded the misery for equity markets, amid a backdrop of broader concern that US interest rates will be higher for longer.Stocks had initially got out the fourth-quarter starting block strongly on Monday morning, but fell at the first hurdle after less-than-stellar purchasing managers' index readings.Th

Having only been promoted to the FTSE 100 index last December, fund management firm Abrdn (ABDN) is looking to be a leading candidate for demotion from the large-cap benchmark at the next quarterly review. Confirmation of the changes to the index were due as this edition of Shares was being finalised.Since 27 July, the shares have fallen by more than 30% despite the group posting 4% growth in firs

EMIS (EMIS:AIM) £19.08Gain to date: 39%Readers who backed our recent arbitrage call on EMIS (EMIS:AIM) should be feeling pretty chuffed having banked a rough 39% in five weeks, and we called it spot on.We said at the time (6 Jul) that this investment pitch was 'a little different to the sort of investment ideas Shares typically presents to readers,' but having paid-off much like we said it might,

Stocks in London fell at Wednesday's market open, as risk sentiment across the globe took a knock after Fitch downgraded the US debt rating.The FTSE 100 index opened down 62.05 points, 0.8%, at 7,604.22. The FTSE 250 was down 124.34 points, 0.7%, at 18,941.32, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.65 points, 0.2%, at 762.98.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.8% at 758.24, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 16,61

The US version of pizza delivery outfit Domino's Pizza (DPZ:NYSE) spooked investors in April when it warned of pressure on sales as hard-pressed consumers were cooking at home rather than splashing out on takeaways.Investors will be looking to see if that trend has continued when the company reports its second quarter results on 24 July or if the relative resilience of the US economy has helped ma

This a little different to the sort of investment ideas Shares typically presents to readers. It is something of an arbitrage play.We see NHS technology platform supplier EMIS (EMIS:AIM) as an attractive risk/reward option, where completion of the company's takeover by $444 billion US peer UnitedHealth (UNH:NYSE) implies roughly 40% upside for the share price to the £19.25 offer level.Yet beyond

It has been a tough few weeks for investors in Ecofin US Renewables (RNEW), with its share price taking a hit from unwelcome news.A tornado damaged one of its wind farms which accounts for more than a third of its net asset value. Mice eating through cables at one of its solar farms caused further interruptions, and the dividend has been cut in half temporarily.The problems in this space are not l

The obesity drugs market could be worth over $100 billion annually by the end of the decade according to industry experts as pharmaceutical companies race to find treatments for one of the fastest growing world health problems.On 23 June, family-owned German company Boehringer Ingelheim said participants in a second phase study of one of its treatments, developed with Danish biotech group Zealand

The co-manager of Templeton Emerging Markets Trust (TEM), Andrew Ness, has a nice line when questioned on how these markets have changed since he started following them professionally nearly three decades ago. 'These aren't your grannies' emerging markets,' he says.He has seen three substantive changes over that time. Emerging market institutions and policy makers have made deliberate changes to t

Stock prices in Europe were lower during subdued trade on Monday, with a US holiday keeping a lid on trading volumes, and a downgraded outlook for China souring the mood.Financial markets in New York are closed on Monday for the Juneteenth holiday, likely suppressing trading volumes across the globe.The FTSE 100 index was down 30.96 points, 0.4%, at 7,611.76. The FTSE 250 was down 138.17 points, 0

- Private equity firm made five offers- Withdrawal follows snub by THG last week- Investors see bid premium evaporateFor the second time in as many weeks, global private equity investor Apollo Asset Management has ended talks with a UK target, this time Scottish-based oil and gas engineering and services firm John Wood Group (WG.).Shares in Wood Group fell as much as 40% from their previous close

Share prices opened mostly lower in London on Thursday, as investors monitored a steady stream of earnings reports in the UK and US, as well as a series of addresses by central bankers.The FTSE 100 index opened down 18.10 points, 0.2%, at 7,880.67. The FTSE 250 was down 30.17 points, 0.2%, at 19,170.68. The AIM All-Share index was flat at 829.24.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.2% at 788.54, the C