Despite a sell-off on Wednesday (27 November) on the back of stubbornly strong inflation, US markets still put in a strong performance over five days with the S&P 500 index closing above 6,000 (26 November) before easing back. October's PCE (personal consumption and expenditure) data showed a steeper-than-expected rise in prices, while the economy and employment remain robust, raising concerns the

The market gave a largely positive response to Labour's first Budget with the domestic-facing FTSE 250 index and AIM market both enjoying strong gains following the unveiling of chancellor Rachel Reeves' plans.While the inheritance tax exemption on AIM shares was halved it wasn't abolished as had been feared. Rachel Winter, partner at Killik & Co: 'AIM shares have suffered from a perfect storm in

MJ Gleeson director sellsJudges Scientific director sells 25,791 sharesBalfour Beatty CFO sells after strong annual share gainsChristopher Mills, non-executive director of affordable house builder MJ Gleeson (GLE) has sold 300,000 shares at 610p for a total value of £1.83 million on 4 October.The sale was made by the North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust (NAS) where Mills is the large

Second quarter sales and earnings beatRaised full year profit guidanceGreen shoots of recoveryElectronics retailer Best Buy (BBY:NYSE) grew second quarter adjusted EPS (earnings per share) by around 10% to $1.34 compared with Wall Street estimates calling for a drop of around 5%, sending its shares up 14% to a fresh two year high of around $100.Better than expected trading chimes with data out yes

Stock prices in the UK, France and Germany were higher at midday Wednesday as investors await a US consumer price inflation print, after UK CPI inflation was reported higher.The FTSE 100 index was up 28.63 points, or 0.4%, at 8,263.86. The FTSE 250 was up 114.24 points, or 0.6%, at 20,858.32, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.10 points, or 0.1%, at 769.08.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.5% at 826.01, the Cb

New £185 million contract win9% rise in half-year dividend to 3.8p per shareSelected by Rolls Royce as a construction partnerShares in Balfour Beatty (BBY) fell more than 3% to 394p in morning trading as the infrastructure group reported a widely expected rise in revenue for the first half of the year.However this news failed to excite investors who took the opportunity to cash in on a recent 52-

Although shares in leading infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY) haven't been immune to the recent pull-back in markets, they were recently sitting at their best level in more than a decade so investors will be keen to hear how the business has been performing when it reports half-year earnings on 14 August.In its last trading update in May, the firm said trading was in line with its full-year

Aviva director buys £484,000 sharesBalfour Beatty CEO buys £129,696 sharesCakebox CEO Sukh Chamdal ups stakeT Neil Morrison, non-executive director at life insurer Aviva (AV.) has bought 100,000 shares at 484p for a total value of £484,000 on 25 June.Over the past year Aviva shares have gained 23%.Morrison's move comes after the life insurer reported a strong set of results for the first quarte

Balfour Beatty CEO sells sharesCarr's director snaps up stockVictrex CFO buys after first-half resultsLeo Quinn, chief executive of construction group Balfour Beatty (BBY), sold 189,921 shares at 384p for a total value of £730,423 on 16 May.Quinn's move could be seen as 'cashing in' on good news after Balfour Beatty shares have gained over 9% year-to-date. The FTSE 250 company recently said it co

Shares jump to three-month highEarnings per share fall over 20%Dividend raised and new buybackInvestors gave the latest results from infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty (BBY) a fairly rapturous reception considering it reported a 20% drop in earnings for the year to December.The shares surged as much as 9% to a three-month high of 370p on a dull day for the rest of the FTSE 250 which traded just 0.

Even today?s market giants started out small. Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) may now be the world?s largest company with a $3 trillion valuation which rivals the GDP of some major global economies but it began life as a start-up founded by Harvard College drop-out Bill Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen. Few then would have predicted its global domination today.While we are not expecting the names

London?s FTSE 100 made a tepid start to 2024, with underwhelming manufacturing data from the UK and eurozone doing little to lift sentiment.Equities in New York are called to open lower ahead of a key week for the US interest rate outlook. The latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes are released on Wednesday, before the official US jobs report on Friday.The FTSE 100 index was down 29.34 points, 0.4

While the present-day incarnation of Currys (CURY) is a technology products specialist selling everything from whizzy gadgets to white goods, the retailer's origins can be traced back to 1884 when one Henry Curry founded the Curry Cycle Co bicycle-building business.In 1984, Dixons Retail acquired Currys and thirty years later, 'Dixons Carphone' was formed through a complex merger between Dixons an

Third quarter results beat forecastsPositive start to Christmas seasonTepid Q4 outlook weighs on sentimentOne of the athleisure industry?s star turns, yoga lifestyle giant Lululemon (LULU:NASDAQ), delivered forecast-beating results (7 December) for the third quarter to 31 October and flagged a pleasing start to the Christmas shopping season.Why then, did shares in the yoga-pants-to-belt-bags selle

If you buy Warren Buffett lore that you should only invest in companies that you're happy to own forever, you want to make sure they're up to it. One of the key things that Fundsmith Equity (B41YBW7) founder Terry Smith, and many other top investors, use to evaluate companies is a measure called return on capital employed, or ROCE for short. This looks at a company's profitability compared to how

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has floated and announced big policy changes recently from delaying a ban of the sales of new petrol and diesel cares, pulling back on phasing out gas boilers and introducing a New Zealand-style anti-smoking policy.There has also been the public discussion of abandoning or at least curtailing the zero-carbon high-speed railway to the north of England - better known as HS

The apparent resilience of the US economy has led market commentators to believe the Federal Reserve has little reason to stop raising interest rates to combat inflation. This tide might be turning, judging by the news flow from US companies.Big name businesses are saying that life is getting tougher, while economists are worried that US consumer spending levels are unsustainable.We saw a wobble o

It has been a mixed and up and down week for US stocks as AI-related excitement linked to Nvidia's (NVDA:NASDAQ) shoot the lights out performance has gradually been outweighed by concern about interest rates.It's probably not the healthiest situation for the entire market's fortunes to be so heavily tied to one stock and US stocks looked increasingly sickly as the week went on. There was real trep

Balfour Beatty CEO snaps up sharesOn The Beach chief buys on weaknessMarks & Spencer director adds to holdingLeo Quinn, chief executive of construction and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY), has bought a total of 57,269 shares in two separate tranches this week - 32,269 at 308p and 25,000 at 310p for £198,992 on the 16 and 17 August 2023 respectively.The purchases come after the company r

While there is much handwringing over the outlook for the new-build housing sector, it seems the rest of the UK construction industry is in rude health. That has helped construction to be one of the best performing sectors in the FTSE 350 index year-to-date, up 20%.The latest S&P Global/CIPS UK Construction PMI survey - which tracks changes in the total volume of construction activity in the UK by