European stocks were higher going into Friday afternoon, as investors focused on potential clues about future monetary policy from both sides of the Atlantic.The Jackson Hole meeting will see both Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speak on Friday.In other news, energy bills are set to increase by almost £150 after Ofgem raised its price cap, in bad

Schneider pays price for lacklustre performanceNestle forced to slow price increasesNo quick fix for FreixeShares in Nestle (NESN:SWX) cheapened 2.5% to CHF 87.3 on Friday as investors digested news of the abrupt departure of Mark Schneider, who is being replaced as CEO of the world's biggest packaged food company by Laurent Freixe following eight years in the hot seat.The Swiss multinational enjo

It was a week of ups and downs for the US market as investors awaited Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's address to the Jackson Hole Symposium on 23 August.<img src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/O7wOm/full.png" alt="" data-mce-fragment="1" data-mce-src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/O7wOm/full.png"><span id="mce_marker" data-mce-type="bookmark" data

European stocks were in the green on Friday morning, as regulator Ofgem reported it will increase the energy price cap in Great Britain, pushing up average household bills by 9.5% from October.'Just when temperatures begin to plummet and nights draw in, households will be faced with the exact scenario they'd hoped was behind them,' warned AJ Bell's Danni Hewson.Meanwhile, eyes remained on the Jack

Stock prices were higher in London, Paris and Frankfurt on Thursday, while the UK got a boost in a flash purchasing managers' index reading, ahead of weekly US jobless data.The FTSE 100 index was up 11.79 points, 0.1%, at 8,295.22. The FTSE 250 was down 18.70 points, 0.1%, at 21,168.49, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.54 points, 0.1%, at 776.27.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 829.44, the Cboe UK 2

Q2 like-for-likes up 2.4%Full year profit guide maintainedOutlook caution limits gainsShares in JD Sports Fashion (JD.) jumped 6% to 136p after the trainers-to-tracksuits purveyor reported improved second quarter sales and reiterated full year guidance for 6% to 9% organic growth and adjusted pre-tax profit in the £955 million to £1.035 billion range.This came as a relief to investors given the

Steepest US jobs revisions since 2009Interest rate cut nailed on for SeptemberJackson Hole speech likely to be dovishThe US BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) failed to post revisions to the monthly payroll figures at the allotted 10am New York time yesterday causing confusion among economists, many of whom had to call the department directly to get the number.A spokesperson for the BLS said: 'The i

Stock prices in Europe were mildly higher on Thursday morning, as investors await the start of the Jackson Hole conference on Thursday which could indicate clues on the trajectory of US interest rates.Amongst individual stocks, JD Sports Fashion saw its shares jump, after updating shareholders on its second quarter growth. Eckoh also took some of the spotlight, after receiving a takeover offer fro

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

Alliance Trust(ATST) £12.23Market cap: £3.45 billionPart of the excitement of investing is actively running your own portfolio, or a portion of it, digging around company fundamentals, assessing opportunities and threats, and owning a piece of a business that you think will produce attractive returns.It is why thousands invest in smaller companies and AIM stocks, the ability to test yourself

On the face of it #doomspending might seem fairly harmless, a new incarnation of what used to be called 'retail therapy'.Splashing out on nice stuff to give us a mood a lift when life is getting us down. But if you watch the videos, it's actually pretty bleak, all about a dawning financial hopelessness, a feeling that things previous generations took for granted like home ownership and retirement,

It's that time of year again when Evelyn Partners releases the summer edition of its 'Spot The Dog' report detailing the investment funds which continually deliver poor returns for their investors.As the authors point out, funds don't make the list because their sectors are out of favour but because they have underperformed their benchmark for three consecutive 12-month periods and by 5% or more o

It seems wise to follow what the most successful investors have been buying and selling. US Investment managers are required to file quarterly 13F reports detailing their holdings which gives investors a small insight into what the gurus have been doing.Second-quarter filings for the end of June were released on 14 August and reveal some intriguing moves.Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B:NYSE) chairman Wa

Bakkavor's (BAKK) shares have rebounded more than 80% to 153.5p year-to-date, investors regaining their appetite for the fresh prepared food provider amid evidence CEO Mike Edwards' reset is paying off, an improving outlook with margin-crimping inflation moderating and with debt on the way down.In March Bakkavor, which supplies UK and US grocers and food brands in China with everything from meals,

The active fund management industry has had a tough time of things of late. Trackers, largely exchange-traded funds, which look to match the returns from global stock markets, have attracted substantial inflows as investors prize their low costs and the diversification they offer.Compounding this, because the performance of major indices has been driven by a concentrated number of huge tech names,

The death tax is dubbed Britain's most hated tax, but only around one in 20 estates pay it. Those numbers are rising, along with the amount of money HMRC is raking in each year. If you're concerned that your estate might have to pay inheritance tax (IHT) when you're gone, there are things you can do to reduce (or even eliminate) the amount it will pay. Here's seven tips to cut your bill. Step 1:

Investor expectations are depressed ahead of first quarter results (29 August) from Jack Daniel's distiller Brown-Forman (BF.B:NYSE) given the difficult market conditions facing the Lawson Whiting-led group and peers ranging from Diageo (DGE) and Pernod Ricard (RI:EPA) to Remy Cointreau (RCO:EPA).Growth is slowing in the global spirits industry following the strength seen during and immediately af

It has been a disappointing start to 2024 for luckless investors in specialist instrument and life-science device-maker Gooch & Housego (GHH).The company's share price dropped like a stone in mid-February when the Somerset-based manufacturer warned pre-tax profit for the year to September would be £3 million, missing market expectations.The firm blamed customers in the industrial and medical lase

I am 59 and have a deferred defined benefit pension. I currently work as a consultant and bill my clients through a limited company; the company pays my monthly salary and the company makes contributions to my personal SIPP.If I decided to start drawing my defined benefit pension and continue to work as a consultant as I am doing now, could both me and my limited company continue to make contribut

Regular readers of this column will be well aware of its faith in the Philadelphia Semiconductor index, or SOX, as a valuable indicator to follow and after the summer stock market stumble the 30-stock benchmark is well and truly in the headlines. At its early-August low, the SOX had lost 25% of its value in just a month. It has since rebounded by a sixth. Given the SOX's importance as both a guide