With just over a month to go until the US presidential elections, Shares takes stock of where the two candidates stand in the polls and what the implications of a Democrat or Republican victory would mean for investors.There is no question the televised debate earlier this month was negative for Donald Trump, to the extent he refused to schedule a re-match.Yet, despite his poor performance, voting

With rate cuts now in the rear-view mirror, and with the US market trading at an all-time price high at the end of last week, attention is likely to turn to corporate earnings to make sure we aren't overpaying for stocks at this point.Forecasts for S&P 500 earnings have been gently drifting down all year, which is perfectly normal as analysts routinely start the year on too optimistic a note and e

1. Chinese e-commerce: Recent data has confirmed that China is experiencing prolonged softer demand. This has resulted in rising competition. This is especially noticeable in China's e-commerce firms, which have reported mixed earnings for the most recent quarter. Despite this, our China e-commerce research analyst is keeping a positive view on selected e-commerce companies. In his view, some of t

If you pick up a newspaper this month, you are almost guaranteed to read about the taxes the new chancellor is planning to hike, or the tax reliefs she is looking to axe. But one set of tax reliefs we know is here to stay are those supporting venture capital trusts.The Treasury has just confirmed the VCT scheme will now run until at least 2035 in order to support small British businesses. Many inv

Ulta Beauty (ULTA:NASDAQ) $391.70Market cap: $18.5 billionA 20% year-to-date share price drop at Ulta Beauty (ULTA:NASDAQ), America's biggest specialist beauty retailer, presents an attractive buying opportunity for growth and value seekers alike. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK:B:NYSE) evidently sees value in the name, having recently snapped up a stake in the Illinois-headquartered make

Adjusted profits down 65.7%Final dividend passedMarket growth 'could soon return'Indebted sofa seller DFS Furniture (DFS) lurched into loss for the year to June 2024 and passed the final dividend following a year marred by weak spending on big ticket items and Red Sea supply disruption.Yet shares in the clear UK living room furniture leader ticked up 2.5% to 117.8p in early dealings on Wednesday t

First half profits plungeFirst interim dividend in five yearsFull year guidance unchangedFollowing a stunning run into the numbers, shares in Card Factory (CARD) cheapened 16% to 121p after the value-focused greeting cards-to-party supplies retailer delivered a drop in first half earnings and warned full year profits will be second half weighted.While some investors took profits on the unnerving n

Once peerless, there's an argument that Alphabet (GOOGL:NASDAQ) is now facing its own 'Hobson's choice'. On the one hand, it is being threatened by enormous potential disruption as competitors like OpenAI and its SearchGPT chase share of its valuable search market, forcing it to throw billions of dollars at AI (artificial intelligence) infrastructure to stay ahead.On the other, there's a nightmari

AJ Bell's Money Matters campaign was launched three years ago with the aim of helping women navigate the massive gender investment gap.This is the first in a series of articles looking at the particular challenges women face at different stages in their financial lives.You might think that by the time you reach your 70s most of your life's financial decisions are behind you, but actually this deca

Anniversaries are often an opportunity to take stock so the Shares team has had a look at the best performing shares, funds and investment trusts since the magazine's first issue in September 1999.Read on to discover the identity of the top performers and find out names we think will continue to impress in the years to come and those where we think the good times might be over. But first, Ian Conw

This column is no adherent to 'efficient market hypothesis', not least because there would not be equity booms and busts, or even marked day-to-day volatility, if investors really knew what was coming around the corner ? it simply would not be possible to make a profit if everything was perfectly priced.However, it does have a lot of sympathy with the argument that a security's price is a very fai

Stocks opened higher in Europe on Friday, as investors shift their attention to rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England next week, after a cut by the European Central Bank on Thursday.The FTSE 100 index added 16.61 points, 0.2%, at 8,257.58. The FTSE 250 was up 83.91 points, 0.4%, at 20,779.68, and the AIM All-Share rose 2.33 points, 0.3%, at 743.69.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2%

Group revenue up 16% to £229 millionNet ticket sales increased year-on-year by 13%Shares up 36% over the past yearShares in Trainline (TRN) were up 10% this morning to 332p as the rail booking site and app had a better-than-expected first half.Group revenue increased by 16% to £229 million for the six months ending 31 August despite ongoing UK rail strikes.Net ticket sales increased year-on-year

Stock prices in European were firmly in the green on Thursday morning, as investors await an interest rate decision by the European Central Bank early in the afternoon.Though the FTSE 100 struggled on Wednesday, a US consumer price inflation reading was eventually well-received in New York. Tech shares soared, helping to turn sentiment in global equities positive on Thursday morning.The FTSE 100 i

If you've been tuned out of the political narrative over the summer, you might not have heard the government is facing a £22 billion black hole in its finances and a 'painful' Budget lies ahead. Then again, if you've got a smart phone, you're probably up to speed.There is plenty of speculation flying around about the taxes Labour are going to hike, especially after Keir Starmer said the heaviest

Recent years have been dire for shareholders in long-duration assets, with rising interest rates driving a de-rating of high-yielding alternatives trusts including infrastructure and real estate-focused funds to deep NAV (net asset value) discounts.But there is now potential for significant re-ratings across this space as central bank rates decline and the competition from cash and government bond

Tech giant Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) saw the launch of its latest iPhone 16 eclipsed by a looming €13 billion Irish back taxes bill and Huawei's own new smartphone launch.Apple has been a long-run target of the European Union's crackdown on Big Tech firms, and the EU's Court of Justice' decision to back a landmark 2016 decision that Ireland broke state-aid law by giving Apple an unfair advantage co

Stocks in London made steady progress in early exchanges on Wednesday, although Rentokil slumped, ahead of key US inflation figures later.The data is released at 1330 BST. Data is expected to show the rate of annual US consumer price inflation faded to 2.6% in August, from 2.9% in July.The first US presidential debate between candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump took place late Tuesday. Dutch

Apple's iPhone 16 launch fails to excite investorsShares modestly lower in pre-market trading at $218Huawei launch shows increasingly stiff competition in ChinaLaunching a new iPhone used to be a very big deal for Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) and have customers queuing round the block. We'll have to wait until later this month (20 Sep) to see if those queues appear since it won't be available until then, b

Kainos (KNOS) 967.5pLoss to date: 4.8%Talking down growth is never a good sign and Kainos (KNOS) shares show the scars of that mood change. When we flagged the company in May (16 May) it was on the premise that slowing digital workloads bolstered by AI (artificial intelligence) scope to take out costs and provide growth for corporate clients was a theme ready to turn, but that improvement has thu