UK water firms had their gains pulled back by Friday's close following yesterday's Ofwat induced bump, as Trump threatened the EU with tariff's if it failed to address its trading deficit.The FTSE 100 index closed down 12.67 points, 0.2%, at 8,092.65. The FTSE 250 ended up 31.24 points, 0.2%, at 20,430.62, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.1, or 0.73 of a point, at 711.05.The Cboe UK 100 ended d

Next-generation drug falls shortOver £70 billion wiped off market valueRace is on for launch of oral drugDanish diabetes and obesity drug specialist Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B:CPH) gave investors a nasty surprise on Friday (20 Dec) after revealing its next generation obesity treatment CagriSema fell short of inducing significantly more weight loss than rival Mounjaro made by Eli Lilly (LLY:NYSE), sendi

UK stocks were down at midday in London on Friday as concerns about the state of the economy persisted off the back of sluggish retail sales figures.In Europe, pharmaceuticals heavyweight Novo Nordisk plummeted 18% in Copenhagen after disappointing data for its weight loss drug CagriSema.The product is seen as a rival to Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound obesity treatments. In premarket trading in

Ocado still the number one shortRetailers in general unlovedEnergy services stocks drilledShort-selling, or borrowing shares to sell in the hope of buying them back at a lower price, is not something most retail investors have the nerve or the skill-set to pull off as it requires a certain mindset and a willingness to tolerate heavy losses on occasion until your bets come right.For the pros, howev

UK equities suffered on US exposure as they closed lower on Thursday amid the Bank of England holding interest rates, but warning of 'heightened uncertainty'.UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer pleaded for patience over his drive to improve living standards, warning it 'will take some time' for people to feel the benefits.Starmer hopes changes to planning rules, reforms to regulations and the use of te

UK indices remained in the red at midday on Thursday but with water companies bucking the trend following UK regulator Ofwat green lighting a substantial industry investment package.Interest rate calls on either side of the Atlantic dominated events with the Bank of England leaving rates unchanged, after a 'hawkish' cut by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday.The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee vot

17% premium to undisturbed share priceIntelligent Ultrasound has struggled to growSimulation Business is 'particularly attractive'Yet another unloved UK company has agreed to a takeover by an overseas buyer, further deleting the ranks of firms listed on the London stock market.The latest name to throw in the towel is Intelligent Ultrasound (IUG:AIM), an ultrasound AI software and simulation minnow

2024 targets confirmedCash-flow forecast raised2025 outlook 'resilient'On an off-day for markets, with the FTSE 100 and the All-Share down 1%, facilities management group Serco (SRP) was a rare bright spot following its year-end trading update.The shares gained 8p or 6% to 147p, erasing much of their losses over the last month and indeed year-to-date. SOLID 2024 PERFORMANCEThe group, which

UK takeovers moved up a gear in 2024 as predators targeted bigger companies. The average value of deals was £1.07 billion, nearly three times higher than the £390 million average in 2023. In total, there were £49 billion worth of recommended bids versus £17.2 billion last year.A bounty of unloved or underappreciated companies were swept off their feet, signalling the UK market as being 'on sal

Specialist business services firm FRP Advisory (FRP:AIM) is one of those businesses which many investors may have heard of but few are sure exactly what it does.Put simply, FRP helps companies through each stage of their development, giving advice on raising capital, managing debt, acquisitions, corporate finance and forensic accounting. It is probably best-known for 'crisis management' where it h

Let's not beat around the bush, January is an awful month. You've just spent a packet on Christmas, your favourite clothes are inexplicably tight, and your efforts to work off a little holiday weight in the gym are hampered by everyone else trying to do exactly the same thing.It's against this backdrop of seasonal wretchedness that HMRC stations its deadline for filling in a tax return, just in ca

Few doubt that 2025 will be another huge year for AI, but when looking for interesting investment opportunities, investors can sometimes allow details to obscure the bigger picture. In our view, Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) remains an outstanding growth business with strong AI levers to pull, currently trading a large discount to other 'Magnificent Seven' stocks.This valuation gap will, we believe, narr

Ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and calls from incoming US president Donald Trump for NATO members to increase defence spending as a percentage of national income will continue to provide a tailwind for the defence sector.AIM-quoted Cohort (CHRT:AIM) is well positioned to benefit from an increase in defence spending and at the first-half results on 11 December, the group disclosed

In terms of an early Christmas present, the UK market received its very own 'secret Santa' gift last month with the first net inflow into funds invested in UK stocks since April 2021.According to data from consultants Calastone, fund flows turned positive in November after record outflows in October and a negative run lasting 41 consecutive months.Admittedly, the £317 million of net buying was a

Specialty recruitment firm SThree (STEM), which focuses on filling roles in science, technology, engineering and mathematics settings, posted a downbeat trading statement for the 12 months to November and drastically cut its forecast for earnings for the current year.The shares, which were previously down just 11% for the year, slumped as much as 39% intraday before recovering and now stand 34% be

Anyone who has walked past a building site in the UK recently might well have seen Kier (KIE) branding on it. This infrastructure and construction services outfit is actively at work on more than 400 developments across the UK. Having emerged from a difficult period with much stronger foundations, this improvement is not yet reflected in its current valuation, but we think that will change through

After the initial buzz around its June 2024 IPO, Raspberry Pi (RPI) seemed to be getting a few raspberries from the market as the shares drifted from their early highs.However, over the last month the stock has advanced more than 40% to trade at record levels.Founded by chief executive Eben Upton in 2012 with the premise of making computing 'more accessible to young people', Raspberry Pi designs a

Central banks have been the focus of the market's attention for the last few weeks, and by the time Shares is published the Federal Reserve will already have met to decide on interest rate cuts.The consensus is for another 0.25% cut this week to 4.5%, but bets on the extent to which US rates will fall have been pared back sharply in recent months and expectations for Fed policy in 2025 are much le

The Nasdaq Composite index closed at a record high in mid-December as tech continued to drive returns ahead of the last Federal Reserve policy meeting of the year.Having recently smashed through the 20,000 mark, the index closed at 20,173.89 on 16 December, boosted by sharp jumps for Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ) and chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO:NASDAQ).The Nasdaq 100 also closed at an all-time high 22,096.66.B

The last 10 years have been pretty rough for UK stocks but there could be some signs of life emerging as we head towards 2025.Brexit, Covid and other political and economic shocks as well as a tilt towards 'old economy' stocks and a minimal footprint in technology have combined to undermine the relevance and appeal of the UK market.The resulting underperformance has led to people consistently poin