With just over a month to go until the US presidential elections, Shares takes stock of where the two candidates stand in the polls and what the implications of a Democrat or Republican victory would mean for investors.There is no question the televised debate earlier this month was negative for Donald Trump, to the extent he refused to schedule a re-match.Yet, despite his poor performance, voting

There are two political events in the remainder of 2024 on either side of the Atlantic to which investors need to pay full attention.The first of these is Labour's first Budget for 14 years on 30 October, with chancellor Rachel Reeves giving few clues to the details in her speech to the party conference on 23 September.Previous references to 'hard decisions' and those with the 'broadest shoulders'

London's FTSE 100 went into the afternoon on decent footing, but limped over the line on Wednesday, as a weaker oil price hit BP and Shell.Hawkish words from a UK central banker did little to stir up enthusiasm for equities, though the OECD set out an encouraging outlook for the domestic economy.'With a lack of major economic news on the schedule for Wednesday and only a few big-name corporates re

Equities in Europe powered higher on Tuesday morning, with some stimulus measures out of China supporting stocks, before focus shifts to US data as the week progresses.The FTSE 100 index opened up 35.02 points, 0.4%, at 8,294.73. The FTSE 250 was up 11.61 points, 0.1%, at 20,856.73, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.96 points, 0.3%, at 746.28.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 829.49, the Cboe UK 250 was

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

First quarter sales and earnings miss2025 profit guidance reducedCustomers trading down to cheaper servicesInvestors often look to logistics giant FedEx (FDX:NYSE) for clues on the state of the US and global economy and the latest health check is not encouraging.The company missed first quarter Wall Street earnings by a wide margin and lowered fiscal 2025 profit guidance, sending its shares down 1

My wife and I are both pensioners receiving state pensions. We are both self-employed earning between £5,000 and £10,000 a year each, plus we both receive income from renting a commercial property (total around £20,000 per year).My wife receives a pension from the NHS of around £7,500 a year.We both have personal SIPPs in drawdown (after taking out our 25% tax free), which we sometimes draw in

This feature marks two new beginnings. The first is a three-part-series exploring portfolio construction, management and how to adapt for major life milestones. It is also the start of a brand-new section in the magazine. We want to find out how readers approach their own investment portfolios and the methods they use to construct and manage them. You can read more about how to get involved at the

Once peerless, there's an argument that Alphabet (GOOGL:NASDAQ) is now facing its own 'Hobson's choice'. On the one hand, it is being threatened by enormous potential disruption as competitors like OpenAI and its SearchGPT chase share of its valuable search market, forcing it to throw billions of dollars at AI (artificial intelligence) infrastructure to stay ahead.On the other, there's a nightmari

Anniversaries are often an opportunity to take stock so the Shares team has had a look at the best performing shares, funds and investment trusts since the magazine's first issue in September 1999.Read on to discover the identity of the top performers and find out names we think will continue to impress in the years to come and those where we think the good times might be over. But first, Ian Conw

The mood music coming out of China hasn't improved over the summer, with the latest figures showing factory output, consumption and investment all fell more than forecast in August.At the same time, the decline in residential property prices seems to be accelerating with new-home prices in 70 cities dropping by 0.7% on a monthly basis in August after a 0.65% fall the month before and existing-home

With little fanfare, shares in British Airways and Iberia owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) have climbed 25% over the last two months to hit a new 12-month high of 200p. In a surprise turn of events, the firm announced at the beginning of August it had terminated its agreement to buy the remaining 80% of Air Europa on the basis 'it would not be in the best interests of sharehol

POLAR CAPITAL TECHNOLOGY TRUST (PCT) £27.71Trust size: £3.32 billionIt's a simple fact of modern investing that tech stocks need to be part of a broadly-based portfolio, but as the recent spell of volatility shows it can be a minefield.What you want is a broad selection of high-quality, innovative companies exposed to long-run profitable technological change while avoiding the hype and bluster m

A study by think tank New Financial has revealed UK funds have a significantly lower absolute and relative allocation to domestic listed and unlisted stocks than almost any of their global peers.The report, by William Wright and James Thornhill, concludes UK pension funds could increase their allocation to the UK market by 50% to 100% and still be comfortably in line with both their international

I am a director of my own limited company. Currently I take a salary up to my personal allowance, and receive the rest of my remuneration as dividends.I have heard that through carry forward I can pay in an employer's pension contribution up to £180,000 gross. But that this may be limited by the company's anticipated profits in the tax year, if they are going to be less than £180,000.Could you c

£5.6 billion cash and stock offer rebuffedBoard calls approach 'opportunistic'Rightmove shares up 21% year-to-dateShares in Rightmove (RMV) were little changed at 673p in morning trading after the online property portal rejected an initial £5.6 billion takeover offer from Australian property listing company REA Group (REA:ASX), controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.The Rightmove board said in

Stocks in London made steady progress in early exchanges on Wednesday, although Rentokil slumped, ahead of key US inflation figures later.The data is released at 1330 BST. Data is expected to show the rate of annual US consumer price inflation faded to 2.6% in August, from 2.9% in July.The first US presidential debate between candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump took place late Tuesday. Dutch

London's FTSE 100 fell in early trading on Tuesday, underperforming European peers, pegged back by a sharp fall in AstraZeneca shares.The FTSE 100 index traded down 27.30 points, 0.3%, at 8,243.54. The FTSE 250 was up 57.16 points, 0.3%, at 20,708.04, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.87 of a point, 0.1%, at 747.60.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 824.77, the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.4% at 18,235.85, and

London's FTSE 100 was higher at midday, although Burberry suffered, ahead of US inflation figures and the latest round of central bank interest rate calls.The FTSE 100 index traded up 49.96 points, or 0.6%, at 8,231.43. The FTSE 250 was 76.94 points higher, 0.4%, at 20,570.94, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.42 points, or 0.3%, at 746.42.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.7% at 823.23, the Cboe UK 250 added

Stocks in London drifted lower by the close on Thursday, as more weak US jobs data tested nerves ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls data.The FTSE 100 index closed down 27.89 points, 0.3%, at 8,241.71. The FTSE 250 ended down 46.11 points, 0.2%, at 20,762.50, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.54 of a point, 0.1%, at 759.12.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.2% at 825.08, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.2%