UK high street enduringLow ticket leisure a winnerValue retail showing resilienceMany have sounded the death knell for the UK high street, notably during the Covid crisis as retail trends shifted towards online shopping. Yet, the high street has endured amid the consumer's persistent demand for physical retail.And despite many high street stocks successfully adapting to this evolving retail market

The UK stock market has performed robustly over the past year, with several companies standing out significantly. In this article, we will examine the top-performing large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks of 2024, dissected across four different market valuation categories.£5 BILLION+ MARKET CAPAfter a stellar 2023, aeronautical engineer Rolls-Royce (RR.) has once again rallied hard during 2024

Stocks in Europe were mostly lower on Wednesday morning, ahead of the UK budget announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, while Standard Chartered rose after it said it delivered a strong performance.Ahead of the budget, the pound was quoted at $1.3020 early Wednesday, rising from $1.2991 at the London equities close on Tuesday.Brown Brothers Harriman analysts believe the pound faces 'downside ris

HarbourVest Global Private Equity(HVPE) £23.10Market cap: £1.75 billion The markets haven't been kind to private equity and other 'long-duration' investments over the last couple of years as high interest rates hammered their valuations, but with the global rate cycle now turning we believe money is poised to flow back into these assets.HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) is a $4.3 billion

Stock prices in London opened mixed on Tuesday morning, with the FTSE 100 higher but other indices down on a data-heavy day dominated by purchasing managers' indices.The FTSE 100 index opened up 15.28 points, or 0.2%, at 8,252.14. The FTSE 250 was down 20.05 points, or 0.1%, at 21,033.14, and the AIM All-Share was down slightly at 740.33.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 826.21, the Cboe UK 250 was d

Advanced breast cancer drug trial disappointsDrug unlikely to receive US approvalSeveral trials could yet revive hopesAnglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN) was on the back foot on Monday after reporting disappointing late-stage trial results for Dato-DXd, its precision advanced breast cancer experimental drug.The news sent the shares down 1.4% to £116.10, a new three month low and

Equities in London opened in the red on Monday morning, as AstraZeneca released disappointing trial results while REA upped the ante with a sweetened takeover bid for fellow property portal Rightmove.Monday's economic diary has several flash composite purchasing managers' index releases including from the US and UK.The FTSE 100 index traded down 6.78 points, 0.1%, at 8,223.21. The FTSE 250 was dow

Another year of above-average returns58th consecutive year of dividend growthLower annual feesThe popular City of London (CTY) investment trust delivered another year of outperformance and dividend growth, marking 58 consecutive years of increases, the longest record in the AIC's (Association of Investment Companies) list of Dividend Heroes.The shares traded down 1.65p or 0.37% to 439.9p, but are

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

Sales and earnings top expectationsDisappointing vaccine salesRaised full year outlookDespite delivering better-than-expected second-quarter sales and earnings growth and raising its full-year guidance, pharmaceutical giant GSK (GSK) saw its shares slip 2% to £15.19 as investors focused on disappointing vaccine sales.GSK has now delivered forecast-beating earnings in three of the last four quarte

Stocks in Europe traded higher on Wednesday morning amid a slew of corporate earnings and a rise in oil prices, after the Bank of Japan raised its main interest rate and before the Federal Reserve's decision later.The FTSE 100 index shot up 93.67 points, or 1.1%, at 8,368.08 on Wednesday morning. But the FTSE 250 rose 194.53 points, 0.9%, at 21,627.04, while the AIM All-Share added 3.72 points, 0.

Investment trusts beat stocksTech trusts lead the gainersSeraphim Space in first placeIn an interesting turn of events, after a couple of years 'in the wilderness', investments trusts seem to have come back into favour as an asset class this year according to data from the AIC (Association of Investment Companies).In the six months to the end of June, the average trust returned 8% compared with 5.

'Quality investing' is the style pursued by the world's most famous investor Warren Buffett and Terry Smith, arguably the best-known British fund manager who runs the five-star Morningstar-rated Fundsmith Equity (B41YBW7) and consistently favours quality firms. Quality investing has generated strong long-run returns for its practitioners, including Buffett, but how do the leading fund managers off

Discounts and premiums to NAV (net asset value), which is the value of all the investments an investment trust holds minus any debt or loans, are among the trust universe's unique quirks and can confuse novice investors. At the moment the vast majority of trusts trade at a discount.Annabel Brodie-Smith, the AIC's (Association of Investment Companies) communications director, says: 'Only around 20

If we took a straw poll of readers and asked which country has the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, the chances are Saudi Arabia and Singapore would come high up the list if not at the top.In fact, the largest is Norway's Government Pension Fund Global which has a value of more than $1.6 trillion.When the country discovered large offshore oil fields at the end of the 1960s, the government de

Annual return of 23%Action the main driverShares up over 50%The UK?s largest private equity trust, 3i Group (III), delivered another outstanding return for investors in the year to the end of March despite adverse foreign exchange movements which trimmed NAV (net asset value) growth.However, with the stock price having risen more than 50% over the past 12 months there was an element of profit-taki

Stock prices in London edged down at the open on Thursday, while investors expect the Bank of England to keep its benchmark bank rate unchanged.The FTSE 100 index opened down just 2.68 points at 8,351.37. The FTSE 250 was down 10.32 points, 0.1%, at 20,481.67, while the AIM All-Share was up 1.41 points, 0.2%, at 781.24.The Cboe UK 100 was marginally up at 833.97, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 17,

Postive cancer trial resultsPotentially increases patient poolNew standard of careShares in AstraZeneca (AZN) got a further boost today, rising 2% after posting positive late-stage trial results for breast cancer treatment Enhertu which demonstrated clinically-meaningful progression-free survival improvements.This follows strong market-beating first-quarter results last week (25 April) which sent

First quarter sales and profit beat expectationsStrategy update scheduled for 21 MayFull year outlook confirmedShares in AstraZeneca (AZN) surged 5% to £119.3 closing in on a new 52-week high after first quarter revenue and earnings eclipsed market expectations and the pharmaceutical company reiterated full year guidance.After a few months of consolidation, the shares are back to winning ways and

After almost closing at a new high in early April, the UK?s blue-chip FTSE 100 has finally made it into the ranks of indices hitting new all-time highs thanks to a 4.5% gain since the start of January.On 22 April the index reached its highest ever close and on 23 April it moved through its previous intra-day high.The UK clearly isn?t in the same league as the US, where the S&P 500 has notched up n