Just over five years ago the stock market began to react in earnest to news of the Covid pandemic.The sell-off was short and sharp, with a modest recovery from the lows in the spring followed by sharper gains in November 2020 after AstraZeneca (AZN) made a vaccine breakthrough.However, a large number of UK stocks are still trading below the levels they were at by the close of trading on 21...

Stocks in London were in the green going into Friday afternoon, as investors kept their eyes on US inflation data due out this afternoon.The FTSE 100 index traded up 58.40 points, or 0.7%, at 8,244.06. The FTSE 250 was up 221.33 points, 1.1%, at 21,105.17, while the AIM All-Share rose 3.17 points, 0.4%, at 776.20.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.8% at 823.02, the Cboe UK 250 rose 1.1% to 18,493.38,...

Whenever there is a discussion about ?quality? UK industrial stocks, the name Spectris (SXS) is often thrown into the ring although we suspect many investors, while being familiar with the company in a general sense, have little idea what it actually does.Looking on Stockopedia, the company has a 99th percentile quality ranking, which backs up its reputation, but it is classified as a...

Over the last 15 years the electronics and electronic equipment space, home to some of the UK market's highest-quality engineering and capital goods firms, is the best performing sector in the FTSE 350 with an 11.7% compound annual return.The industrial engineering sector is not too far behind with its own annualised return of 9.7%. For comparison, the FTSE All-Share's annualised return over...

One of the most compelling attributes of exchange-traded funds, also known as ETFs, is they allow investors to create a diversified investment portfolio from scratch rapidly, easily and inexpensively.If you bought a product tracking the MSCI World index you could arguably do this at the click of a single button - and by doing so you would gain exposure to more than 1,500 stocks. But that index...

- Company faces $75 million of 'immediate obligations'- Warnings over financing date back almost a year- Potential rescue offer depends on interim financingShares in oil services group Lamprell (LAM) cratered 80% to 4.6p after it warned it faced 'severe liquidity constraints' and wouldn't meet its short-term obligations without emergency funds.Specifically, the firm has $75 million of...

One of the biggest takeaways from the UK's new 'Energy Security Strategy' announced on 7 April was that nuclear power would be a crucial part of the Government's plan for secure and sustainable energy.The issue has become particularly pressing amid surging energy costs and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In this article we will look at how the UK's plans sit in a global context and...

We might have thought we'd seen it all after 2020 but it's been quite a year in 2021 too with an impressive rebound for the markets from the ravages of the pandemic.But which stocks have done best? Read on to discover the top performers up and down the market cap spectrum and find out why they've done so well. For the purposes of this article we've deliberately excluded investment trusts.£4...

UK stocks recovered from their intraday weakness to close marginally higher, despite a rise in sterling as expectations grow of a rise in official interest rates at next month's Bank of England meeting.At the close on Monday the FTSE 100 index was 4 points to the good at 7,352 points with financial stocks offsetting a sluggish mining sector following the COP26 climate conference.Brent crude...

UK stocks were slightly weaker on Monday as investors eyed Wednesday's inflation report and expectations grew of a rise in official interest rates at next month's Bank of England meeting.At midday the FTSE 100 index was 14 points or 0.2% lower at 7,335 points with mining stocks lagging in the wake of the COP26 climate conference.Overnight trading in Asia was mixed with China's SE Composite up...

The FTSE 100 index was flat in early trading as weakness in mining shares offset gains in oil and bank stocks. At 9am the index of leading shares was up 0.2% to 7,358 points.Overnight trading in Asia was mixed with China's SE Composite up 0.6% after retail sales and industrial output beat expectations, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index was down 0.2%.Brent crude prices were down 0.7% to $91.12 per...

This is the final part of our three-part series on the FTSE 250. Read our introduction here and catch up on the growth versus value debate in part two here.In this last part of our mini-series on the FTSE 250 we take a look at some of the higher quality stocks that inhabit the UK's mid-cap universe. We will discuss some of the companies that demonstrate real financial strength and balance...

We're pleased to welcome back Malcolm from Edinburgh who is sharing his experience as someone in retirement taking charge of their investments for the first time. This is part five of the series click to read parts one, two, three and four. In managing my retirement portfolio of 30 shares, currently divided between 12 in the FTSE 100, 13 in FTSE 250 companies and five from the FTSE AIM 100...

UK stocks finished the month flat despite a strong corporate earnings season as concerns over Chinese regulation of technology stocks and disappointing US results weighed on sentiment.Overnight, Asian stocks sank as fears re-surfaced that Beijing could extend its intervention to more parts of the Chinese economy, while in the US shares in e-commerce giant Amazon.com fell 7% after the company...

UK stocks traded lower at lunchtime on Friday after continued weak trading in Asia and as e-commerce giant Amazon missed quarterly sales forecasts for the first time since 2018, sending its shares down 7% in after-hours trading.Japan's Nikkei 225 index sank 1.8% while China's SE Composite gave up 0.4% as concerns increased over the tighter regulation of Chinese companies.Brent Crude prices...

UK stocks opened lower on Friday after continued weak trading in Asia and as e-commerce giant Amazon missed quarterly sales forecasts for the first time since 2018, sending its shares down 7% in after-hours trading.Japan's Nikkei 225 index sank 1.8% while China's SE Composite gave up 0.4%.Brent Crude prices fell 0.5% to $73.2 per barrel and Gold was flat at $1,829 per ounce.At 9am the FTE 100...

The UK's major shares made a slow start to trading on Monday but news of a second buyout offer for supermarket chain Morrisons (MRW) will dominate investor chatter.Investors will also have a eye on an announcement later today on the easing of lockdown restrictions on July 19, with Boris Johnson set to encouragement Britons that they will have to adapt to life with Covid rather than hiding from...

UK companies are setting the scene to repurchase more than £8 billion of their own shares this year. Barely a year after the outbreak of Covid-19 led to a huge move by companies to protect their balance sheets and conserve cash, share buybacks are again all the rage.Since the start of May consumer products giants Unilever (ULVR) and Diageo (DGE) have unveiled plans to repurchase approximately...

Shares in specialist engineering group IMI (IMI) topped the FTSE 350 leader board at the start of the week with an 8.4% rise to a new 12-month high of £15.15, after the firm raised its full year earnings guidance and long-term margin target, and announced a share buyback programme.After a stronger than expected performance across all three divisions in the first quarter, but especially...

UK shares made a hesitant start to the new week, with a strong pound holding back export-oriented shares and lower oil prices knocking the energy sector.Brent crude fell 1% to $65.4 a barrel and the pound gained 0.3% against the US dollar to $1.39.Overnight trading in Asia was mixed with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.3% and China's Composite index losing 0.95%.At 9am the FTSE 100 index of...