Voters are set to turn out on 23 February for a general election in Germany which so far seems to have largely slipped under the market's radar.Despite being Europe's most populous nation and its largest economy, US investment bank Morgan Stanley notes that, of investors who participated in a recent webcast on the election, just 52% had positioned themselves in any way for its outcome.Meanwhile, t

Shares in specialist software and consultancy outfit FD Technologies (FDP:AIM) have already surged in 2024 and got a further boost on confirmation of the sale of its First Derivative business to US software giant EPAM Systems (EPAM:NYSE) for £230 million.Proceeds of the sale will be used to repay £20 million net debt, the company said, and excess cash will be returned to shareholders.The divestm

Full year sales to fall short of estimatesBreak-up of three businesses following reviewMerger of marketing and content businessesShares in FD Technologies (FDP:AIM) sank by a third to 881p after the data analytics company warned full year revenue is expected to be below market forecasts.The AIM-listed seller of software and consulting services, largely to the financial services industry, said toug

There is no question the dominant theme in stock markets last year was AI (artificial intelligence), in particular generative AI.In an interview with Time magazine last June, Sam Altman ? the former chief executive of OpenAI, whose ChatGPT product has been at the forefront of the AI trend ? said he believes the technology will ?transform the way people work and the way people learn. It?s going to

In this third part of our investor survey, we asked some of the UK?s leading fund managers which sectors or stocks they thought were the most promising for 2024.The responses were as varied as they were thought-provoking, with only a couple of managers singling out technology stocks.As before we would like to thank all those who took part for sharing their views, and we hope readers enjoy them. WH

You have almost certainly never heard of RC365 (RCGH). The payments business joined London's Main Market in March 2022, raising £2 million at 6.2p per share for a £6.7 million market cap. Fifteen months on, the share price has surged more than 2,000% to 154p. The stock is up more than 600% since the start of June this year.Why? Because last month it jumped into the AI (artificial intelligence) s

There is a well-worn phrase that 'a week is a long time in politics'. In market terms, a week can feel even longer and can sometimes signal a shift from one trend to another.A fortnight ago when we introduced the idea of watching the number of stocks making new highs as a barometer of the health of the market, the FTSE All-Share was just below its all-time high and everything seemed to be going sw

London's FTSE 100 finished Tuesday's session in negative territory, giving back earlier modest gains as investors fretted over a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and the economic impact of fresh restrictions, not to mention waning hopes of a pre-election stimulus package in the US.By the close of play, the blue chip benchmark was 1.1% lower at 5,728.99, while the FTSE 250 ended down 1.5% at 17,587.70.

Big data analytics business First Derivatives (FDP:AIM) has scrapped its half year dividend after reporting a fall in first half profit as rising R&D costs, project delays and longer sales cycles because of the coronavirus ate into modestly higher revenue.The AIM-listed IT company reported a 2.3% decline in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to £21.5 mi

London's FTSE 100 traded slightly lower on Wednesday, down 0.03% at 6,187.94 early on, as climbing COVID-19 cases in countries including the US and Australia cooled optimism that the global economy is turning a corner.Bus and rail company FirstGroup (FGP) fell 10.6% to 44p after reporting wider annual losses owing, in part, to write-downs at its Greyhound coach division and restructuring costs.Inv

Controversial Brexiteer hedge fund manager Crispin Odey is fond of saying that cycles never die, or what goes up inevitably comes back down. What this means is that investors can sometimes mistake structural growth for cyclical growth.This can be applied to a company's valuation too, which expands and contracts in 'cycles' depending how a company's earnings are progressing compared to expectations

UK technology stocks have soared in 2019, matching or beating the performance of much better-known benchmarks for leading technology companies such as the Thomson Reuters Global Technology index or the US-based NASDAQ.While recent technology headlines have been captured by Uber's IPO, Apple's iPhone sales, intensifying competition for Netflix or a tightening regulatory screw on social media compan

It is important to take a balanced view when doing your research either for new investment ideas or to justify keeping current holdings in your portfolio.You should consider the positive investment case and also the challenges and headwinds facing a business, as well as any flaws in its decision making, structure or corporate culture, for example.Many investors find it easier to work out why a com

Data analytics technology supplier First Derivatives (FDP:AIM) has come under fire from short-sellers, people betting that the share price will fall. The stock is down 15% in trading on Friday (5 October) at £29.90 with the attackers raising concerns over the company's growth, profits, cash flows and accounting.That compounds a big sell-off yesterday, meaning that the stock has slumped 27% in two

London's FTSE 100 takes another tumble on Friday, off 39 points at 7,379.2 as reports of an imminent breakthrough on Brexit helped lift sterling ahead of the key US non-farm payrolls release out later today.Consumer goods colossus Unilever (ULVR) weakens 1% to £40.38 39.8p as the board capitulates to shareholder pressure and scraps the plan to shift its headquarters to the Netherlands. Drawing th

Many investors are fascinated by how certain investors got to be so famous, searching for the special formula that made the likes of Warren Buffett and Philip Fisher so rich. Well now's your chance to mimic their approach and apply their proven methodology to today's market.We show you two ways to deploy their process. The first uses stock screeners built using Stockopedia's interpretation of how

Mining companies act as a drag on early deals on London's stock market on Tuesday capping gains for a record-setting FTSE 100. The UK's blue-chip index closed at 7,853.17 on Monday. In early trades on Tuesday the index is limited to single-digit progress, nudging the FTSE 100 to 7,860.62.There's also shock news that energy watchdog Ofgem has opened an investigation into National Grid's (NG.) UK tr

German chancellor Angela Merkel is still in charge following federal elections (24 Sep) but now faces a difficult task in building a government. So what does this mean for investors with exposure to Europe?The surge in support for the anti-immigrant AfD party and an underwhelming performance for mainstream parties, including Merkel's own CDU party and its partner CSU, means cobbling a coalition to

WHAT IS A GROWTH STOCK?Growth, or the perception of it, is arguably the biggest driver of share prices.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines a growth business as a company of 10 or more employees that grows revenues by an average of more than 20% per year for three consecutive years.'That sounds like a good enough definition,' says Lorne Daniel, an analyst at br

On 23 June EnQuest (ENQ) achieved first oil from the Kraken field off Shetland more than 30 years after crude was first discovered back in 1985. Its shares are up 9.3% at 32.25p.The story of how this project has developed to become a £4bn project and one of largest fields to come on stream in the North Sea in recent years helps shine a light on the way the sector operates.NOT COMMERCIALThe initia