The FTSE 100 is flat in early trading at 7,418.37 as investors await the start of the US first quarter earnings season with JP Morgan and Wells Fargo set to report later.Contracts-for-difference broking house Plus500 (PLUS) tumbles 36% as its first quarter revenue plunges 82%, owing to 'extremely subdued' trading in financial markets.Bus and train company National Express (NEX) gains 0.7% as...

London's FTSE 100 firms 37.4 points to 7,272 on Friday, boosted by miners which are up on hopes that the US and China are making progress with trade talks. Continued strength with oil prices is also giving the blue chip benchmark support with both BP (BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) ticking higher.Drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZN) cheapens 4.2% to £62.21, despite inking a $6.9bn agreement with...

On a quiet day for corporate news the mining sector is boosted by positive Chinese data but the FTSE 100 shows muted gains, up 0.2% to 7,374.81, ahead of the hotly anticipated decision on interest rates from the US Federal Reserve this evening.Pharmaceutical giant Astrazeneca (AZN) ticks slightly higher to £48.72 as it notes results from the Phase 3 trial of its ovarian cancer treatment...

This is how far the line would stretch if you laid down head to feet the 130,000 subscribers in India mobile phones apps store Mobile Streams (MOS:AIM) claims to have signed up. That's about 86% of the 150-odd miles between Dehli and Jaipur, also known as India's 'Pink City.' The UK company has high hopes for Indian growth, but don't hold your breath. Efforts to crack US, Mexico, parts of...

The UK telecoms and internet infrastructure industry is dominated by a handful of giants. Look a bit deeper and you'll find some lesser-known but very interesting players.Most people associate this sector with the large companies such as BT (BT.A) and Vodafone (VOD). They tend to be natural homes for income seekers thanks to good dividend yields backed by enormous cash flows, even in the face...

On 1 December mobile apps platform business Mobile Streams (MOS:AIM) launched a fund raising exercise, looking for £1.6m.What it got, as the company confirms today, was £2.2m. That investors are willing to back the business at the 4p per share placing price is not terribly surprising given the massive 50% discount the new stock was offered at.You can see what the cheap stock sale has done to...

The housebuilding sector is once again in focus as Berkeley (BKG) and Redrow (RDW) update on trading. Their mixed fortunes build on the conflicting messages recently coming out of the sector with McCarthy & Stone (MCS) having last week warned on a pullback in trading versus positive messages from other housebuilders.Berkeley says reservations were down 20% in August year-on-year reflecting...

You couldn't ask for a better example of the yawning chasm in the UK mobile space than a pair of announcements last week. On the 30 March mobile customer engagement technology company IMImobile (IMO:AIM) put out a year-end trading update (to 31 March 2016) that drew a stark contrast with interim results from mobile content suppler Mobile Streams (MOS:AIM). Yes, smartphones and tablets are at...

A bit of much needed context. Mobile Streams (MOS:AIM) is NOT going to suddenly start making gazillions of pounds for investors. Mobile Streams has NOT suddenly turned into a listed Unicorn overnight, despite the huge leap in the share price today (up 60%-plus to 8.5p). House broker N+1 Singer isn't even confident enough to put forecasts into the market, its estimates remaining 'under...

TalkTalk goes quietOctober's high profile cyber attack has slammed the brakes on new subscriber growth at broadband and calls supplier TalkTalk (TALK). UBS number crunchers have slashed earnings estimates by between 25% and 40%. The analysts have also deeply cut their target price for the shares, from 330p to 215p, just 8% above the current 199.3p. (SFr)Get selective on housebuildersUpdates...

UK shares are bombed-out in early trade on Thursday after torrid sessions overnight in the US and Asia, which included a second circuit-buster halt to trading in China. Trading was halted in Beijing and Shanghai after declines of more than 7% because of the introduction of 'circuit breakers' designed to calm investor nerves.Further devaluation of China's currency and a sell-off on the...

Analysts muse on WorldpayAnalysts' first take on payments specialist Worldpay (WPG), listed in October, are reasonably positive with price targets ranging from 269p to 340p. Cannacord Genuity's 269p price target, against a current share price of 293p, is derived after tweaking results from its proprietary cash flow analysis tool Quest, which valued the stock at 266p. Key forecast risks include...

London shares rally sharply in early trading on Tuesday as gains among supermarkets and resources stocks provide strong direction for a string of UK companies. The fact that both Wall Street and Asian markets also rose adds to the run higher. The FTSE 100 index jumps more than 100 points, or 1.7%, to 6,252, while midcaps leap back over the 17,000 mark, the FTSE 250 hitting 17,056.A deluge of...

Cigarettes and alcohol are one of the bigger drags on UK shares as early Monday trading starts with a whimper. The benchmark FTSE 100 index slips around 25 points, or 0.4%, lower to 6,390 as mega caps British American Tobacco (BATS), Imperial Tobacco (IMT), Diageo (DGE) and SAB Miller (SAB) each fall between 0.5% and 1%.Infrastructure contractor Carillion (CLLN), the market's most shorted...

Markets are moving back into panic mode with investors continuing to capitulate on long positions. The current rout began on the 11 August 2015 following a decision from China to begin de-valuing its currency. Since then we have seen steady selling pressure throughout global markets, which hit a crescendo on Monday 24 August 2015, now widely being called 'Black Monday.'As Shares goes to press...

UK shares take another battering in early trade on Wednesday with the benchmark FTSE 100 index plunging back below the 6,000 mark before staging the most modest of rallies. The FTSE 100 had rebounded on Tuesday after 10 days of declines as the People's Bank of China cut interest rates for the fifth time since November. But the effect was limited.In the US overnight, the Dow opened ahead but...

It never rains but it pours for Mobile Streams (MOS:AIM). Years of depreciation in the Argentinian peso have taken a heavy toll on this little app store platform provider. This is important since Argentina is the company's bedrock market, so another 12% decline for the currency is squeezing sterling revenues badly, cutting pound denominated income by a third to £24.5 million at the nine-month...

The bullish bubble that has swept UK market higher over the past few trading sessions gets well and truly popped on Thursday as investors react to more hefty falls in crude prices and the US Federal Reserve's outlook for interest rates.In early trade London's FTSE 100 is down 58 points, or 0.9%, at 6,767, tracking late declines on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 falling 1.3% overnight to...

Peso penaltyConsumer applications platform operator Mobile Streams (MOS:AIM) is gunning for Africa and India expansion. Smartphone penetration is relatively low in these markets, according to broker N+1 Singer, and mobile streams hopes to capture new customers as this grows. But the weak Argentinian Peso remains a near-term threat and investors should tread carefully. (SF)Go with the flow at...

Oil sector debt fearsAnalysis from Liberum Capital suggests Faroe Petroleum (FPM), Enquest (ENQ), Petroceltic (PCI), Premier Oil (PMO) and Tullow Oil (TLW) could all have net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratios above 3.0 times if Brent crude oil falls to $80 per barrel. (TS)Coffee too strong for WhitbreadCoffee bean prices have nearly doubled...