Markets tumbled on Thursday as investors digested the full force of sweeping US tariffs, with London-listed equities dragged sharply lower in a global rout that also hit Wall Street and European stocks.Panmure Liberum's Simon French said: 'Make no mistake, what was unveiled overnight by the US president was a huge deal for the global economy.'The FTSE 100 index ended down 133.74 points, 1.6%,...

At 4.36pm on 10 August, industrial thread manufacturer Coats (COA) announced its second acquisition in as many months. Not only was this unusual behaviour in that Coats rarely buys companies, but it also asked retail investors for financial help.Historically Coats has relied upon bank debt for financing and used that money, along with internally generated cash, for deals.The fact retail...

Mid-cap companies have always attracted investors. Seen as large enough to compete on a global scale, but not so big that their capacity for growth is capped, like many FTSE 100 stocks, an increasing number of investors spend time researching stocks on the FTSE 250 index, or simply buy the index through the handful of inexpensive targeted ETF tracker funds that are available.While many...

UK stocks closed marginally higher on Tuesday despite most European markets sinking deep into the red and a weak opening on Wall Street.Investors seemed to put their faith in the UK's booster vaccination programme, while European Covid cases rise sharply leading to the re-imposition of government measures to curb the virus's spread.In the US, the re-appointment of Fed chairman Jerome Powell...

UK stocks traded marginally higher at lunchtime despite European markets sinking deep into the red and US futures pointing to a weak opening on Wall Street.Investors seemed to shrug off sharply rising European virus cases and the re-appointment of Fed chairman Jerome Powell, which stoked concerns the withdrawal of monetary stimulus would be accelerated to counter inflationary pressures.Brent...

UK stocks opened weaker on Tuesday after markets digested the re-appointment of Fed chairman Jerome Powell amid concerns that the rate of reduction in monetary stimulus would be accelerated to counter inflationary pressures.Brent crude futures were almost 1% lower at $79.2 a barrel while Gold was flat at $1,804 an ounce. Trading in Asia was quite with China's SE Composite and Japan's Nikkei...

Support services firm Essentra (ESNT) is on the cusp of a transformation which could address the discounted valuation associated with its current conglomerate structure. This should also address longstanding environmental, social and governance concerns and free up management to focus on its most profitable division.Investors should buy now to benefit from these potential catalysts, with the...

UK stocks went into reverse on Wednesday as consumer price inflation more than doubled in April to 1.5% compared with a 0.7% rise in March.Higher prices for clothing and footwear helped lift the CPI, along with rising petrol costs due to higher oil prices and higher household energy bills.That overshadowed a generally positive day for company reports with several firms raising their full-year...

The FTSE 100 fell 0.73% to 6,626 in early trade on Thursday as another selloff in the bond market ignited concerns over inflation and the impact on equity markets.It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the first hike in corporation tax in nearly half a century in the Budget yesterday, as the Government looks to repair the public finances amid the pandemic.The midcap FTSE 250 index...

London's FTSE 100 extended yesterday's gains on Tuesday morning, continuing to recover from last week's sell-off. Investors braced themselves for the contentious US Presidential Election in which Democrat Joe Biden remains the betting favourite to win.Anticipation is high that he will have a more favourable trade policy with China and the EU, while the market is also counting on more stimulus...

It is crunch time once again for UK equities as investors try to make sense of how Brexit will play out. As we write, trade negotiations between the UK and EU have seen both sides engage in a game of bluff.Reaching a deal could be a momentous occasion for UK stocks as it would remove a lot of the uncertainty that has hung over the market for the past four years since the Brexit referendum. In...

The 100 FTSE fell 0.9% to 6,222.52 in early trading on Thursday as investors weighed up the impact of weak economic data seen yesterday and today's corporate updates.A number of stocks going ex-dividend, as always happens on a Thursday, was also a big contributor to the fall, with the likes of pharma giants AstraZeneca (AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and oil majors BP (BP.) and Royal Dutch...

London's FTSE 100 fell 41 points to 6,774.6 early on Thursday, dragged down by ongoing coronavirus fears, a confidence knock from Flybe's collapse into administration, and losses for the likes of miners Rio Tinto (RIO) and BHP (BHP) as well as a share price slide from Standard Chartered (STAN).Also weighing down the blue chip benchmark was free-to-air broadcaster ITV (ITV), which plunged 9.1%...

After a difficult 2018, our latest annual portfolio of 10 stocks has delivered far superior rewards. Last year we outperformed the market, albeit still making a loss. This year we've smashed the returns from the FTSE All-Share and generated significant profits.Our portfolio has delivered a 23% total return (capital gains and dividends) versus 16.7% from the market. That's one of our best...

World leading industrial thread company Coats (COA) highlighted challenging market conditions after reporting flat revenues for the four months ended 31 October, pushing the shares down 10% to 66.5p.Coats struggled against the strong comparative growth in 2018 reflecting lower activity in both Apparel and Footwear (A&F), where the company is the market leader, and Performance Materials.Within...

The FTSE 100 enjoyed strong gains on Friday morning, up 0.9% to 7,307.15 in early trading as hopes of a US-China trade deal were revived somewhat overnight.A quiet day for corporate news is dominated by boardroom appointments at two FTSE 100 firms. Developer and regeneration group St Modwen Properties (SMP) says that chief executive Mark Allan was leaving to take up the same role at Land...

At the halfway point of the year our key selections for 2019 are doing superbly. Our average gain of 18.3% compares with an 11.2% gain for the FTSE All-Share over the same time period.Pleasingly not a single selection is in negative territory and four names are up by more than a quarter on our starting point. More than half the portfolio has enjoyed double-digit gains.WHICH IS THE BEST...

Our top picks of the year have got off to a great start with the portfolio up 14.1% versus 7.9% from the wider market. We've only suffered one profit warning and only two of the 10 stocks are in negative territory. Six of the stocks have delivered double-digit gains, so hopefully you are sharing our success with your own portfolio.The best performer is Fevertree Drinks (FEVR:AIM), up 36.9%...

Shares in industrial thread business Coats (COA) were beaten up after issuing full year results on 1 March in what we can only describe as a complete over-reaction by the market. Use this opportunity to buy more shares at 86.3p.The underlying business is thriving with adjusted operating profit up 21% in 2018 to $195m. Operating margins increased from 11.8% to 13.8% and the dividend was raised...

Coats (COA) 84.4pGain to date: 9.2%Original entry point: Buy at 77.3p, 20 December 2018Sometimes price isn't everything when selling assets. That is certainly the case with threads expert Coats (COA) whose disposal of its North America Crafts business for a mere $37m (or 0.2 times revenue) may initially look a poor deal.In reality selling the business for any price is strategically sound. It...