Eight months in, 2024 is already a record year for M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the investment trust sector.Trust boards are increasingly focused on value for money and shareholder returns amid persistently wide discounts to NAV (net asset value) and with activists nosing around. A major trend underway is mergers between sub-scale trusts with similar remits to create funds large and liquid en

The biggest brands often draw in investors who believe these giants of industry are surefire winners on the stock market. Nike (NKE:NYSE) has shown that brand achievements do not always equate to strong earnings and this is a lesson worth remembering if brand strength has ever influenced investment decisions.Nike has taken its eye off the ball in the sporting shoes market. Two sets of rivals have

The long-awaited announcement of Apple's (AAPL:NASDAQ) artificial intelligence (or should that be Apple Intelligence) proved something of a damp squib as far as the market was concerned.By effectively outsourcing the job to OpenAI and ChatGPT it almost feels like the company is admitting it has been left behind in the clamour for AI. But is AI creating a bubble in financial markets?Bank of America

Buybacks are heavily in fashion with UK companies right now. The latest names to declare sizeable share buybacks include Barclays (BARC) and InterContinental Hotels (IHG), which between them plan to repurchase more than £1.5 billion worth of stock this year. Notably, Shell (SHEL), which cut its dividend for the first time since the Second World War in 2020, has shifted towards large buybacks in r

Gold is back in vogue with the spot price making a new all-time high this week after touching $2,147 an ounce, surpassing the prior peak seen in May 2023.Meanwhile, oil is close to entering a new bear market with Brent crude prices dropping nearly 20% in the last month despite war in the Middle East and efforts by OPEC+ to restrict production and prop up the market.There are many reasons which cou

In an environment of political, economic and market turmoil, the gold price is within touching distance of record highs and US precious metals miner Newmont (NEM:NYSE) recently sealed a blockbuster $19 billion takeover of Australian rival Newcrest Mining (NCM:ASX), bringing extra pizzazz to the sector.Gold and its miners are clearly in the spotlight and encouragingly for investors who fear they ma

Have you ever come across a company whose shares are classified as being in one sector, but in reality, should sit in a different one? It matters from a valuation perspective.For years, catering group Compass (CPG) was in the travel and leisure sector, sitting alongside travel agents, airlines and gambling groups. This seemed bizarre as running a canteen in a hospital or school is more of a servic

Noted fund manager Terry Smith says one of his biggest mistakes is not to have invested in Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) and Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) on the day of launching his Fundsmith Equity Fund (B41YBW7) in 2010. While both stocks now feature in his portfolio, he only invested in Apple in late 2022 and Amazon a year earlier.In an exclusive interview, Smith says there was a turning point with Apple that ma

- Q3 revenues rise 56% but still narrowly miss forecasts- Finance chief tapers 50% deliveries growth target in 2022- Up to $10 billion buyback on cards after 44% stock slumpChief executive Elon Musk has hinted that Tesla could buy back up to $10 billion worth of its own stock, but investors remain concerned about growth.Overnight, Tesla shares lost nearly 6% as the markets homed in on a third-quar

- New prime minister set to cut property transaction tax, says report- UK housebuilder stocks rally hard on likely juiced housing market- Plan called 'cynical' by some expertsUK housebuilders rallied on Wednesday (21 Sep) in response to a report that Friday's mini-budget may contain plans to cut stamp duty. According to The Times, prime minister Liz Truss will announce the move to drive economic g

The US second-quarter earnings season is about to reach full throttle. According to research from S&P Global?s Howard Silverblatt, at the time of wrting 31 members of the S&P 500 index have already reported earnings. Of those, 22 beat earnings expectations, while just nine missed and 21 did better at the top line as well as the bottom one.This might help to explain why the S&P 500 has rallied by a

July got off to a positive start, much to investors' relief after the drubbing of the first half, with the S&P 500 index up more than 2% to take it back over the 3,900 mark for the first time in nearly a month.The tech-focused Nasdaq 100 index fared even better, adding more than 4% to take it back over 12,000 points as risk appetite returned to markets.The big driver this week was the economy, spe

- Video games retailer unveils four-for-one stock split- Investors to get three new shares for each one held - Cynical marketing drive could take advantage of novice investorsFallen meme stock GameStop (GME:NYSE) is pulling out the cheap marketing tricks after announcing four-for-one stock split overnight that will do nothing for the investment proposition.It appears to have worked, in the short-t

Rising interest rates since the turn of the year, runaway inflation and Russia's shocking invasion of Ukraine have shaken the investment kaleidoscope in 2022 and forced many investors to reposition portfolios for an increasingly uncertain world.This is reflected in developments in the investment trusts universe, which has thrown up some obvious and more surprising winners in the opening months of

Online greeting cards-to-gifts site Moonpig (MOON) has upgraded revenue guidance for the year ending 30 April 2022 to 'around £300 million' to reflect a temporary boost from the impact of Covid-19 on customer behaviour in late December and January.Trading as Moonpig in the UK and Greetz in Holland, the online cards leader also expressed confidence in a permanent uplift in 'customer cohort frequen

Shares in CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income (CYN) cheapened 2.7% to 184p on Friday, despite the resources focused investment trust reporting a first half net asset value total return of 15.2%, materially ahead of the composite benchmark's 0.2% increase.The share price reverse appears to reflect profit-taking following a recent share price spike against a backdrop of surging raw materials infla

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN) beat forecasts on Thursday after reporting full year revenues and profit around 5% ahead of expectations.Astra shares rose 3% to £86.42 on Thursday (10 February 2022).Product sales grew 38% in constant currencies to $36.54 billion and core earnings per share jumped 37% to $5.29, compared with market expectations of $4.97.The stand-out performance came from t

Many people after a property transaction will be left with a large amount of cash that they may need in the relatively short term but not immediately.If we assume someone has banked proceeds of say £100,000, from a house sale or some other big transaction or windfall, where would be the most appropriate home for that cash for a 12-month period and how could you ensure it was protected?Let's tackl

'(UK income funds) prioritise dividends over any other kind of return from a company and therefore by definition penalise growth.' This powerful statement is from an article by Paul Marshall from asset manager Marshall Wace. Published in the Financial Times, it has stirred a debate on whether investors should look more closely at how funds generate income.A typical income fund will invest in a com

Market observers are questioning the motivation behind Facebook's decision to rebrand as Meta Platforms.The more cynical commentators have suggested that the rebranding exercise is little more than an attempt to distract the market from increasing regulatory criticism.Specific accusations relate to ignoring hate speech, sectarian violence and human trafficking. However there are two other compelli