Following yesterday's apparent terrorist incident in Barcelona, the FTSE 100 opens down 56 points at 7,331.91 following overnight falls in Wall Street and Asia. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% as fears over the 'Trump trade' persist.Specialist distributor Connect (CNCT), formerly WHSmith News, ticks up 1.6% to 103.88p. The largest distributor of newspapers and magazines by market share announces that Mark W

Cloud-based video editing and broadcast platform developer Forbidden Technologies (FBT:AIM) has signed its first customer in the emerging eSports space. The agreement is with eSports competition organiser Gfinity (GFIN:AIM) which will use Forbidden's Forscene platform to allow highlights of its Elite series of events to be screened on social media. Analysts believes the eSports industry could be w

Broadcast technology platform designer Forbidden Technologies' (FBT:AIM) Forscene mobile editing suite will be used on a project researching the history of television production technology.The European Research Council-funded ADAPT programme of the Royal Holloway University of London is behind the project. It will use a combination of archived content and facility reconstructions to piece together

Hotel Chocolat checks inPremium chocolatier Hotel Chocolat's (HOTC:AIM) shares enjoyed a tasty AIM debut (10 May), bid up 29% to 191p from their 148p issue price. Sentiment towards the maker and retailer of innovative and affordable chocolates, co-founded by CEO Angus Thirlwell and Development Director Peter Harris, is clearly positive. It is worth remembering Thorntons struggled for years before

UK stocks continue their shortened week slide in early trade on Wednesday as investors wade through a plethora of corporate announcements, with miners and supermarkets acting as a particular drag on blue-chips. The FTSE 100 index falls nearly 40 points, or about 0.6%, to 6,148, matching declines on Wall Street and Asian markets overnight, and across major European indices.Supermarket Sainsbury's (

UBS puts Halfords in reverse gearIn a wider note puncturing any optimism about the UK retail sector investment bank UBS downgrades bike and car accessories seller Halfords (HFD) from 'neutral' to 'sell'. At 403p the shares are under pressure with analyst Adam Cochrane also cutting his price target by 10% to 330p. (TS)Smiths slips out of FTSE 100Engineering group Smiths (SMIN) has been demoted from

The market is off to a quiet start ahead of George Osborne's Budget announcement at lunchtime. The FTSE nudges ahead 24 points to 6,163.The biggest corporate news is the recommended all-share merger between London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Deutsche Borse. It is called a merger of equals but LSE shareholders will only hold 45.6% of the combined business and the two parties haven't yet agreed a new n

Investors with long memories may recall the name of Forbidden Technologies (FBT:AIM) but those that do are unlikely to hold fond thoughts. This was one of those supposed hyper growth stocks that promised to turn ordinary investors into millionaires at the peak of the dot.com boom thanks to its Forscene cloud-based digital video editing suite.But like so many of the story stocks that at the time we

London shares storm higher in early trade on Thursday snatching back losses made on Wednesday as miners, oilies and financials clock in with gains of 2%-plus. Wall Street and Asia were mixed overnight, and Europe is mildly higher this morning. The Bank of England issues it interest rate call at noon, although nobody really anticipates a change to the status quo.Oil majors trace Royal Dutch Shell (

UK equities are set a drift in early deals on Friday with little corporate news to provide direction despite a solid session of gains on Wall Street overnight. The FTSE 100 index slides around 50 points, or 0.8%, to 5,869, declines closely tracked by main European bourses.Metals diggers are among the big losers led by Anglo American's (AAL) 9%-plus fall to 238.6p, closely followed by FTSE 100 dive

London shares made decent gains in early trade on Wednesday, buoyed by positive economic news from China and a smattering of upbeat corporate statements. The FTSE 100 index rallies 55 points, or about 0.8%, to 6,436, echoing a positive showing for US markets overnight.Heading the Footsie leader board is metal and mining group Glencore (GLEN), its' shares surging 4.7% to 125.1p thanks to 'significa

UK shares make strong running in early trading on Thursday as a string of supermarket and other retail positives, financial issues and resources companies rally. The prices of WTI and Brent crude continues to straddle the $50 a barrel level and the market will be keeping a keen eye on the Bank of England's interest-rate call at midday.Shortly after the opening for business the benchmark FTSE 100 i

A huge profit warningsends FTSE 100 outsourcing group Serco (SRP) down 11.9% to 449p. Analysts have recently been turning bullish on the stock in the belief that its government ban on public sector work would be lifted. That's actually happened but investors are spooked by lost revenue from contract problems including the scaling back of its five-year detention centre deal in Australia. We flagged

On paper Forbidden Technologies' (FBT:AIM) firm contract win with Channel 5 looks excellent news. After six months of trials the broadcaster has signed-up for Forbidden's FORscene cloud-based TV editing suite, exciting investors enough to push the shares more than 8% up today to 33.5p. 'Channel 5 will deploy FORscene from the outset of its next production, The Great Christmas Toy Giveaway and plan

On a quiet day for corporate news, with weak miners offsetting strength in banks, investors raise a glass to Stock Spirits' (STCK) admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) main market. Frothing up 4p to 232p early on, the branded spirits producer boasts the largest market share for spirits in Poland and the Czech Republic. Guided by chief executive Christopher Heath, the ambitious

Our Innovation & Growth Investor (IGI) evenings continue to draw in the crowds, offering private investors a unique chance to hear the growth stories of exciting small British and overseas businesses. It was standing room-only once again at the latest event (26 Sept) held at the Novotel, Tower Hill, London.Among the presenters were hydrogen clean technology developer ACTA (ACTA:AIM) , marketing se

The chart for cloud computing and video-based imagery expert Forbidden Technologies (FBT:AIM) features an upside breakout from a symmetrical triangle pattern that suggests further gains are very possible.The shares seem well underpinned by support close to 18p and a surge through a bear trend line looks to signal the conclusion of a symmetrical triangle pattern with some style. The resulting origi

Global stock markets have slumped on fears that the US central bank will start to scale back its economic stimulus programme this year. This is on the back of comments made yesterday by the Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.The FTSE 100, Dac and Cac 40 all recorded falls in excess of 2%; the Dow Jones yesterday closed down 1.4% and has recorded further declines today.Gold fell more than 3.5% i

Shares in ASOS (ASC: AIM) advanced 6.4% to £33.09 on a strong second quarter trading update ahead of next month's (30 Apr) interims. For the 3 months to 28 February, the global online fashion store reported total retail sales up 37% to almost £186.5 million, ahead of consensus expectations of a 35% rise and meaning first half retail sales rose 34% to £352 million. The £2.6 billion cap's revenu

As the banks' reporting season near conclusion, HSBC (HSBA) takes to the stage with a huge jump in earnings compared with major losses reported by many of its peers. Alas, its shares dipped 2.5% to 709.6p after results were hit by more than $4 billion in fines and compensation payments.The bank made $20.6 billion in the year, 6% less than it reported in 2011. HSBC was fined $1.9 billion for money