After nearly 25 years of ups and downs on the stock market, compound semiconductor wafer supplier IQE (IQE:AIM) is at a real low point.The shares are trading at their lowest level in more than 15 years, after the company announced it would look to raise £15 million from its largest shareholder Lombard Odier as it carries out a strategic review from which one of the options is putting its Taiwan o

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

Regular readers of this column will be well aware of its faith in the Philadelphia Semiconductor index, or SOX, as a valuable indicator to follow and after the summer stock market stumble the 30-stock benchmark is well and truly in the headlines. At its early-August low, the SOX had lost 25% of its value in just a month. It has since rebounded by a sixth. Given the SOX's importance as both a guide

Hot on the heels of updates from Walmart (WMT:NYSE) and Home Depot (HD:NYSE), hard-pressed Target Corporation (TGT:NYSE) is the next major retailer to give a read on the health of a US consumer struggling with the rapid rise in inflation and interest rates of the past few years. The discounter's second-quarter earnings are slated for 21 August, when Target will need to assure investors it is on tr

Stock prices in London were in the green at midday, as investors awaited the next interest rate call from the European Central Bank, while UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted leaders from across Europe at a summit.The FTSE 100 index was up 59.33 points, or 0.7%, at 8,246.78. The FTSE 250 was up 151.37 points, or 0.7%, at 21,244.71, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.77 points, or 0.4%, at 789.57.The

Now the ballots have been cast at the general election, the UK could become the 'reassuringly boring' market, both politically and fiscally, when compared to the more extreme politics on the other side of the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean.So suggests Jean Roche, manager of the Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund (SCP), who notes capital allocators know more or less what to expect, which could explain th

Multi-billion dollar subsidised investment agreed in ArizonaNew plant will make world?s most advanced AI chipsNvidia believed to be TSMC?s biggest customerShares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (2330:TPE) surged to a record high on 9 April 2024 after the world?s largest contract chipmaker unveiled plans for a new chip fabrication plant in the US state of Arizona as part of the Biden

Stocks in London slumped as increased geopolitical tensions and interest rate uncertainty added to investor nerves ahead of the US jobs report.The FTSE 100 index was down 77.03 points, 1.0%, at 7,898.86. The FTSE 250 was down 202.97 points, 1.0%, at 19,670.22, and the AIM All-Share was down 3.61 points, 0.5%, at 738.97.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.9% at 789.74, the Cboe UK 250 was down 1.0% at 17,12

Stock prices in London closed higher on Thursday following higher-than-expected US initial jobless claims.The FTSE 100 index closed up 38.45 points, 0.5%, at 7,975.89. The FTSE 250 ended up 119.55 points, 0.6%, at 19,873.19, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.50 of a point at 742.58.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.5% at 796.99, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.7% at 17,294.15, and the Cboe Small Companies en

Semiconductors are the bedrock of the digital economy, core enablers of the data revolution and at the forefront of technological innovation. The semiconductor industry could be set for exponential growth driven by the mega forces of AI (artificial intelligence) and digitalisation, as well as those of geopolitics and economic competition.Investors looking to gain semiconductor exposure have the op

Unilever (ULVR) Price: £39.93Gain to date: 4.6%We suggested investors buy fast-moving consumer goods goliath Unilever (ULVR) at £38.19 in January 2024 on the grounds the Marmite-to-Hellmann?s maker?s intrinsic strengths were underappreciated by the market. Poor sentiment reflected market share losses for some key brands amid cost-of-living squeeze-induced consumer downtrading, and there had been

Stock prices in London were mixed at the start of Monday afternoon, with the FTSE 100 down, as shares in some of its larger constituents struggled at the start of the week.The FTSE 100 index fell 11.34 points, 0.2%, at 7,561.24. The FTSE 250 is up 74.94 points, 0.4%, at 19,137.26, and the AIM All-Share added 1.39 points, 0.2%, at 748.80.The Cboe UK 100 fell 0.1% to 755.81, the Cboe UK 250 climbed

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

Unilever(ULVR) £38.19Market cap: £95.1 billionWe believe bargain-hunters looking for a high-quality business should consider Unilever (ULVR), the consumer products group whose intrinsic strengths appear underappreciated by the market. Shares in the FTSE 100?s fourth-biggest company by market cap are down around 10% over one year due to inflationary pressures and market share losses for some key

Just a couple of months back investors had been in gloomy mood over chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM:NYSE), or TSMC as it is usually known. Yet the stock has now rallied about 20% after third quarter results at the back end of October as financial markets price an end to the prolonged chip slump.TSMC chief executive CC Wei has been saying he anticipated that the chip indu

EasyJet holidays profits grew 221%Shares up 25% year-to-dateDividend 4.5p per share payable in early 2024Shares in EasyJet (EZJ) were up over 2% in morning trading to 413p as the budget airline said it had achieved ?record? pre-tax profit for the full year ending 30 September 2023.The budget airline reported a full year 2023 headline pre-tax profit of £455 million ? a £633 million year-on-year i

A wall of money is going into building out the green infrastructure required to facilitate the global energy transition. This starts with electrifying power generation all the way through to transmitting and storing this energy before it is eventually consumed.At the same time, indebted governments are increasingly looking to private companies to help solve the global water challenge.Water is an e

It has been a positive week for Wall Street with the US Federal Reserve's decision to hold rates given the thumbs-up by the market and solid third quarter updates continuing to tumble in.This helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to close the week 4.2% and 4.7% higher respectively. Investors had feared that recent strong economic data and above target inflation could push Fed chairman Jerome Po

World's biggest chipmaker talked down demand for monthsQ3 earnings/revenue lower but better than expectedStock up 25.5% in 2023 but down 13.5% since June peakThe chip industry slump has been taking few prisoners and Taiwanese firm TSMC (TSM:NYSE) has found itself caught between Scylla and Charybdis in recent months.But perhaps not for much longer. TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Compan

Stocks in London closed firmly in the red on Wednesday, as investors continue to nervously digest fresh tensions in the Middle East.Also hurting sentiment was some hotter-than-expected UK inflation data, which supports a higher for longer narrative around interest rates.The FTSE 100 index closed down 87.21 points, 1.1%, at 7,588.00. The FTSE 250 slumped 286.00 points, 1.6%, at 17,403.46, and the A