London?s FTSE 100 edged slightly lower going into Thursday afternoon, but trade in Paris and Frankfurt was more positive, ahead of a slew of US data.The FTSE 100 index fell just 3.77 points to 7,768.40. The FTSE 250 climbed 58.38 points, 0.3%, to 19,622.30, and the AIM All-Share was flat at 738.82.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.1% at 777.94, the Cboe UK 250 added 0.4% at 17,001.13, and the Cboe Small

The FTSE 100 was 0.5% lower at 6,093 on the last trading day of April, dragged down by weak energy and financial stocks, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index was flat at 16,850.Asian trading was generally positive with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 2% and China's Hang Seng index up 0.2%.In the commodities space, Brent oil prices were 8% higher at $17.20 per barrel and Gold was 0.4% up at $1,720 per ounc

The FTSE 100 starts the week on the front foot up 0.6% to 7,228 points with Miners making the biggest contribution after Asian markets rally on hopes of a positive outcome to US-Chinese trade talks.There is little company news but sportswear retailer JD Sports (JD.) makes the headlines with an agreed cash offer for Footasylum (FOOT) at 82.5p per share or a 77% premium to Friday's closing price of

The FTSE 100 recovers from Thursday's decline, up 30 points to 7,532.21. This move was aided by a rally in Wall Street as Treasury yields retreated following some strong US economic data regarding trade and factory orders.Bank HSBC (HSBA) retreats 1.7% to 708.85p as it reveals first quarter pre-tax profits are down 4% to $4.8bn due to higher operating costs. The bank did report a revenue increase

The FTSE 100 recovered its opening losses to be in positive territory after some good news by supermarket giant Tesco (TSCO). However, the market remains on tender hooks awaiting prime minister Theresa May's speech at Conservative Party conferenceCorporate news is led by Tesco gaining 1.8% to 193.83p as it reports its turnaround is 'firmly on track'. The company's group sales are up 3.3% to £25.2

One of the areas worst affected by the EU referendum was the UK property sector whose performance is dependent on the health of the economy. Many of the real-estate investment trusts (REITs) suffered sharp falls in their share prices, but confidence has improved due to the resilience of the economic data.Neil Woodford thinks that people are too downbeat about the UK economy and has included the Ne

Steel-to-mining giant Evraz (EVR), the largest coking coal producer in Russia, rises 5% to 241.9p on strong full year results, reflecting a surge in the coking coal price as well as cost-cutting initiatives. CEO Alexander Frolov remains 'cautiously optimistic about the market environment' and believes Evraz will generate resilient free cash flow and further decrease leverage during 2017.Cyber secu

Pawnbroker H&T (HAT:AIM) is up 71% since we flagged the stock in late 2014 - and the rally could have further to run.A contrarian call at the time, H&T was struggling in the aftermath of a gold price collapse and stricter consumer lending rules.Investors remain wary of consumer lending stocks: FTSE 100 giant Provident (PFG) has shed 12% of its value in the last 12 months while Non-Standard Finance

Investors are concerned about home credit company International Personal Finance's (IPF) eye-watering £20m appeal against a local tax authority in Poland.If the appeal fails, IPF may be in hot water with its shareholders who have cautiously sold stock, causing the business to trade 7.9% lower at 162p.The company says its Polish operations, Provident Polska, is appealing a decision by the Polish T

London's FTSE 100 nudges 2.3 points higher to 7,197.6 on Friday, its subdued start following on from a run of record closing highs as investors look to eurozone retail sales numbers, German factory orders and the French trade balance this morning and US trade balance and jobless data out this afternoon.Conveyor belt specialist Fenner (FENR) tops the FTSE All-Share board, bouncing 13% higher to 267

London's FTSE 100 opens 11.8 points lower at 7,010 despite gains on Wall Street and in Asia, with investors skittish over Brexit jitters and awaiting the European Central Bank's rate call soon after midday.A trio of profit warnings rock investor sentiment early on, with components and systems maker Senior (SNR) crashing 21% lower to 161.9p on another earnings alert. The engineer warns its aerospac

Stockbroker Liberum expects small and mid cap banks to bear the brunt of the sell-off when London markets open at 8am.Under assumptions of a 12.5% decline in the FTSE 250 today, specialist lenders Shawbrook (SHAW) could fall 38.4%, Aldermore (ALD) could retreat 31.5% and consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) could dip 29.1%.Stock futures for the FTSE 100 point to an 8% drop in the b

Consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) sinks 8.4% to 239p as poor performance in Mexico and higher impairments add to regulatory woes in Poland and Slovakia.IPF is closing its Slovakian business and 'actively monitoring' developments in Poland, one of its largest markets, says chief executive Gerard Ryan in a first quarter trading statement.And Mexico, a key growth market for IPF, de

Investors should not be too critical of Warren Buffett after the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A:NYSE) moved the goal posts on measuring performance at the sprawling insurance and industrial conglomerate.Buffett watcher Keith Ashworth-Lord, who runs the ConBrio Sanford Deland UK Buffettology Income (GB00B3QQFJ66) fund, says the changes make sense as Berkshire's business model changes.Return

Consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) is the biggest loser on the FTSE 350 index (24 Feb) as regulatory pressures weigh on its key central and eastern European markets.The lender is being forced to adjust its business model. This is a result of regulatory change in Poland, which is implementing a banking tax and capping the fees IPF charges to customers; and Slovakia banning the sal

Running with the theme of declining mining stocks that dogged the previous session, the FTSE 100 opens on the downside as markets across Europe continue to decline on the back of falling copper and crude prices.Mining giants BHP Billiton (BHP) and Anglo-American (AAL) lead the fallers on the the FTSE 100, shedding 7% and 6% respectively. Commodity trader Glencore (GLEN) is also among the benchmark

UK stocks are on the up in early trade on Monday after better-than-expected Chinese data on retail sales and industrial production over the weekend. Retail sales in the world's second largest economy jumped 11.2% in November, beating the 11.1% forecast and following a 11% rise in October.The benchmark FTSE 100 index rallies more than 40 points, or close to 0.7%, although just fails to break back o

UK stocks decline in early trade on Friday as crude prices continue to slide, sending oil producers into the red. Industry giants Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) and BP (BP.) are among the major drags on the blue chip fallers as Brent crude drops 0.1% to $39.68 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate loses 0.2% to $36.68 per barrel. The carnage also sparks a 7.7% slump at Premier Oil (PMO), among the wors

Non executive director Tony Hales' contrarian £95,000 share purchase at international consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) could signal negative investor sentiment towards the stock is overdone.Adverse legislation in Poland through the introduction of a fee cap on loans in the country has hit IPF's stock price hard because it earns 40% of its revenue in the country.Shares in IPF a

Getting a drug or medicine from under a microscope in a science lab and onto a doctor's prescription pad is not for investors with a low appetite for risk or those looking to get rich quick. The rewards for companies developing the next wonder drug could be high. Their work may create products generating $1 billion of revenue a year, but these development phase companies also carry huge risks.It t