London's stocks were mostly higher at Friday midday amid gloomy economic data which could boost expectations for interest rate cuts.The FTSE 100 index rose 52.48 points, 0.6%, at 8,201.52. The FTSE 250 climbed 170.72 points, 0.8%, at 20,520.41, and the AIM All-Share gained 4.33 points, 0.6%, at 730.07.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 824.79, the Cboe UK 250 was up 1.1% at 17,998.02, and the Cboe Sma

Trading ahead of expectationsBig jump in royalty incomeAmazon tie-up news imminentIn an unscheduled update, fantasy miniatures maker Games Workshop (GAW) said trading since 8 September is tracking ahead of expectations and provided new financial estimates for the half year to 1 December.The news was well received with the shares jumping as much as 15% to a new all-time high of £136.5, taking gain

To date, a small, exclusive club of UK retailers have exceeded £1 billion in annual profits, a high street elite that includes Tesco (TSCO), Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Kingfisher (KGF). Some may view this £1 billion figure as merely symbolic, but breaching this barrier is no mean feat and demonstrates a retailer has a lasting place in consumers' affections and the scale to win in a competitive ma

Fans of Gene Roddenberry's long running Star Trek television and film franchise will know that any would-be captain of a Starfleet vessel had to complete the so-called Kobayashi Maru test, a simulation from which there was no way out, to see how they responded to extreme pressure. The first captain of the USS Enterprise, James T. Kirk, earned his place at Starfleet Academy by reprogramming the com

Q3 sales and profit beatFull year profit guidance raisedNew $5 billion share buybackLeading gaming and betting firm Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) jumped 4% to an all-time high of £201 after revealing third quarter earnings ahead of analysts' expectations, raising guidance and announcing a $5 billion share buyback.The shares have surged 46% this year, trouncing Ladbrokes owner Entain (ENT) and Will

Games Workshop (GAW) £119.40Market Cap: £3.9 billionWe flagged fantasy miniatures maker Games Workshop (GAW) in June 2022 at around £63 after the shares had halved in the prior nine months, arguing they rarely traded as cheaply.The shares have since retraced the lost ground but still sit just below all-time highs of around £120 and effectively have gone sideways over the last year. Meanwhile t

Investors in fantasy and fiction publisher Bloomsbury (BMY) are living in a dream world at the moment as the group continues to book double-digit annual growth in both sales and earnings and raise its outlook, sending its shares to a record high of 758p.For the first half to the end of August, revenue grew 32% to a record £180 million and profit leapt 50% to £26.6 million, partly due to the incl

Funds inevitably have their up and downs in performance. When a fund has gone through a particularly poor spell, does this represent a buying opportunity for investors in the expectation it will bounce back to form?Likewise for existing investors, should they stick or twist? Fortunately, there are lots of studies from the institutional fund management world which provide answers to that question a

A dividend is quite simply a portion of a company's earnings distributed to its investors.In the UK most companies pay two ordinary dividends per year, one at the half-way stage (the interim or first-half dividend) and one at the end of the year (the final dividend). Some UK firms pay quarterly dividends.Sometimes, companies will decide to pay a special dividend on a one-off basis if their earning

One of the most important things in investing is risk management. Howard Marks, co-founder of high-yield bond firm Oaktree Capital Management, believes managing risk is the ultimate test of an investor's skill.In this feature we explore the nature of risk, which may surprise you, and reveal how professional money managers like Marks manage it.It may be comforting to believe your fund manager is ac

Luxury watch enthusiast site acquiredDeal to drive online and US growth'Undisputed destination' for luxury watch enthusiastsWatches of Switzerland's (WOSG) shares ticked up 2% to 466p on news it has acquired publishing firm-to-luxury watch platform Hodinkee as the Patek Philippe-to-Audemars Piguet seller seeks to accelerate online growth and grab a greater share of America's expanding high-end tim

Stocks in Europe returned some of the prior day's gains on Friday, as sentiment took a knock from gloomy updates from FedEx and Mercedes.The FTSE 100 index was down 40.78 points, 0.5%, at 8,287.94, above early lows. The FTSE 250 slid 199.96 points, 0.9%, at 20,962.75, and the AIM All-Share eased 1.27 points, 0.2%, at 746.81.The Cboe UK 100 fell 0.5% to 829.89, the Cboe UK 250 dipped 1.0% to 18,479

Stock prices in Europe were in the red on Friday morning, despite the upbeat mood in New York after the Federal Reserve's 50 basis point rate cut earlier this week.The FTSE 100 index fell 36.33 points, 0.4%, at 8,292.39. The index is up around 0.2% so far this week. The FTSE 250 shed 86.37 points, 0.4%, at 21,076.34, and the AIM All-Share slipped 1.29 points, 0.2%, at 746.79.The Cboe UK 100 fell 0

With little fanfare, shares in British Airways and Iberia owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) have climbed 25% over the last two months to hit a new 12-month high of 200p. In a surprise turn of events, the firm announced at the beginning of August it had terminated its agreement to buy the remaining 80% of Air Europa on the basis 'it would not be in the best interests of sharehol

'Magnificent Seven' earnings are behind us and Oracle (ORCL:NASDAQ) is one of just a handful of S&P 500 stocks still to report. There could be fireworks when it does on 9 September.While AI (artificial intelligence) excitement dominates the headlines Oracle has been quietly going about its own AI transformation, with vigorous expansion into cloud services a strategic move that provides customers w

It's said there are only two certainties in life ? death and taxes ? and as it stands the world is steadily getting older, with not enough births or young people coming through to offset the increasing ranks of the middle-aged and old-aged.Moreover, according to the United Nations' latest World Populations Prospects study which came out earlier this year, the global population is likely to peak th

Entain (ENT) 630.4pMarket Cap: £4.13 billionInvesting in the gambling sector may not be everybody's cup of tea but we believe embattled sports betting and gambling firm Entain (ENT) has become so unloved and neglected that the upside potential now comfortably outweighs the downside risks. With several activist investors on the share register pushing for change, rumours of private equity interes

Lululemon Athletica (LULU:NASDAQ) $260.3Market cap: $31.2 billionA 50% year-to-date drawdown at Canadian athleisure company Lululemon Athletica (LULU:NASDAQ) presents a buying opportunity for investors who love to snap up quality merchandise at a discount.Until recently, Lululemon, which sells clothing and footwear for yoga, running and training, was a stock market darling admired for its record

On 1 August the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee made a 5-4 decision to kickstart its rate-cutting cycle. A 25 basis point reduction in the base rate to 5% marking The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street's first cut since March 2020.This means cash savings rates are heading in one direction, down. And the lower-than-expected jump in UK inflation reported on 14 August only boosted market exp

Gaming Realms(GMR:AIM) 39.93pGain to date: 26.4%We flagged AIM-listed games distributor Gaming Realms (GMR:AIM) as an underappreciated growth story on 25 April with the company projected to more than double pre-tax profit over the next three years. Pleasingly, the market appears to be recognising that potential.WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE WE SAID TO BUY?The company delivered a robust first-half tra