Over the long haul, small-caps have historically outperformed large caps, fuelling the research highlighting the so-called 'small-cap effect' ? the idea that smaller companies offer higher risk-adjusted returns than larger ones. Unfortunately, the higher interest rate environment of recent years has proved tough for the stock market's small fry, who've spent more than a decade lagging more sizeabl

Given the depressed valuation of the UK stock market ? and the even more depressed valuation of UK commercial property ? it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a fund to seize on the opportunities on offer.Enter Special Opportunities REIT, a new internally-managed real estate investment trust aimed at capitalising on the abundance of value in the UK commercial property sector 'at

Office market has upside potentialPrime rents set to keep risingHelical and Shaftesbury rated BuyThe London REIT (real estate investment trust) sector may be ?under attack?, according to analysts at Berenberg, but there are reasons to be cheerful.While the companies ?may have issues?, London property still has a place in the market, but in a different format, meaning firms will need to innovate if

Jefferies cuts stocks to 'hold' or 'sell'Analysts see 'recession' in officesMorgan Stanley takes a more positive viewShares in four of the UK's biggest property companies fell after analysts at investment bank Jefferies cut their recommendations on the basis office rents in the capital are headed for recession.British Land (BLND) shares eased 1.9% to 320p, Derwent London (DLN) shares were 1.6% low

The FTSE 100 was slightly higher on Wednesday morning but investors remained cautious amid an uncertain economic backdrop.The FTSE 100 index opened up 7.01 points, or 0.1%, at 7,632.73. The FTSE 250 was virtually flat, down just 6.59 points at 18,330.06, and the AIM All-Share was marginally higher, up just 0.36 of a point at 730.51.The Cboe UK 100 was flat at 761.32, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2%

Inflation rises at slowest pace this yearBonds and interest-rate sensitive stocks chased higherBank rates still set to go up next monthShares in downtrodden housebuilders and property companies were chased higher after the latest inflation data for June came in below expectations, raising hopes the Bank of England might slow the pace of interest rate increases.Leading the FTSE 100 higher were Pers

Energy services giant John Wood (WG.) has bagged a contract to support one of the world's biggest offshore oil and gas projects in Russia.Sadly it doesn't seem enough to win over the market as the shares trade 4.5p easier at 774.5p, given the wider oil services industry remains problematic amid volatile commodity prices.From Russia with loveSakhalin Energy, which runs the Sakhalin-2 project, has a

London West End real estate investor Great Portland Estates (GPOR) is selling its Rathbone Square development for £435m. The site encompasses Facebook's (FB:NDQ) new London HQ. The shares slip 0.2% to 657.5p on the news.The sale price, on the company's largest ever development, represents a discount of 4% to its most recent valuation and an exit yield of 4.25% (the return on offer to the bidders

The top 10 best-performing investment trusts have delivered an average 12.1% compound annual return* over the past 25 years, illustrating the power of investing in the stock market. This is according to new data from the Association of Investment Trusts (AIC).This article looks at the leaders over this period, and the best performers on a 10-year basis. This list of winners can give you a good sta

Fashion-to-furnishings firm Laura Ashley (ALY) falls 14.3% to 22.5p on poor figures for the first half to 27 July. Blaming the impact of changeable weather on fashion and home furnishing sales, the small cap reports a £500,000 drop in taxable profits to £7.8 million on total sales down 5.6% to £137.3 million. Alarmingly, both like-for-like retail sales and e-commerce revenues went backwards. On