European equities opened higher on Wednesday, after US tech shares, including chipmaker and artificial intelligence titan Nvidia, returned to form overnight.In London, investors had a host of corporate updates to sink into, including bullish earnings from pandemic winners AO World and ProCook. A merger agreement between Witan Investment Trust and Alliance Trust also grabbed some of the spotlight.T

Announcing a new share buyback programme has been one way to trigger a share price boost. The ease at which companies have made such capital allocation decisions has naturally caught the attention of politicians, thus buybacks are increasingly a target for tax collectors.Joe Biden has already pushed through a 1% tax on buybacks in the US and wants to raise that level to 4% if he gets a second term

Covid-19 stock market darling Moderna (MRNA) appears to be getting its mojo back with investors following a punishing 85% drop in the shares from their September 2021 highs.Over the last six months Moderna's shares have more than doubled and despite the fall over the past couple of years, they remain one of the best performers in the benchmark S&P 500, notching up gains of 880% over the last five

Positive readout for combined vaccineFirst-ever positive results from late-stage trialModerna is developing non-Covid vaccinesUS biotechnology firm Moderna (MRNA:NASDAQ), best known for its Covid-19 vaccine based on its unique mRNA technology, said its combined flu and Covid-19 drug provoked a higher immune response than separate single jabs in late-stage clinical trials.The shares gained 2% in pr

As investors gear up for the latest earnings season, stubbornly resistant inflation continues to dominant the mood music on US markets. After Wednesday?s (10 Apr) hotter-than-expected CPI data and the FOMC minutes, analysts at investment banks Citi, UBS, and Goldman Sachs all said they don?t see the Federal Reserve cutting rates in June, a blow to hopes that the interest rates down cycle will get

Cancer drug gets positive readoutPotential for personalised medicinesModerna has over 45 drugs in developmentUS biotechnology firm Moderna (MRNA:NASDAQ) was the top performer in the S&P 500 on Tuesday (9 April) jumping as much as 10% after its personalised cancer vaccine showed positive results in an early stage trial.The shares closed 6% higher at $11.60, a new three month high, but are down 30%

Marks Electrical (MRK:AIM) 69.35pLoss to Date: 29.3% In late August 2023 we said online domestic appliances and consumer electronics retailer Marks Electrical (MRK:AIM) had good growth potential driven by market share gains and geographical expansion. Over the last three years, its share of the online major domestic appliances market has more than doubled to 4.7% while its share of the online cons

European equities traded lower on Wednesday afternoon, ahead of a host of risk events later in the week, including earnings from major US banks and an inflation reading from the world?s largest economy.AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould commented: ?The market is still trying to work out if central banks are going to under-promise and over-deliver on interest rates cuts or if they really mean it when they

European equities do not naturally spring to mind when thinking about growth but that is wrong-headed according to fund manager James Rutland who runs the Invesco European Focus Fund (BJ04GL7).Against a tough market backdrop the fund has delivered handsome gains with a three-year return of 54% compared with 21% for the Investment Association's Europe Ex-UK sector.Showing it has more than one strin

We believe Marks Electrical (MRK:AIM) has the potential to grow earnings at an attractive rate over the next few years driven by geographical expansion and market share gains.Although the shares have only been publicly traded since November 2021, the company has been honing its customer proposition for 35 years.Founded by Mark Smithson in Leicester in 1987 at the tender age of 21 the company sells

Shares in pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna (MRNA:NASDAQ) have had a difficult time since we emerged from the pandemic. However, they've started to move up since mid-August.The company's success in developing a Covid-19 vaccine using mRNA technology helped propel it to highs of around $450 in 2021 but as demand for these vaccines has eased, the shares dwindled to $96 a few weeks ago

Since inception in October 2019 RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) has delivered 65.3% growth in NAV (net asset value), smashing the performance of the Russell 2000 Biotech index which is down 0.7% as well as the NBI (Nasdaq Biotech Index) which is up 20.6% over the same period.Despite the superior performance to the benchmark and peers, the shares trade at an unwarranted 23% discount to NAV, represe

With so much macroeconomic uncertainty, the recent mergers and acquisitions spree has lost momentum apart from one sector.Big pharmaceutical firms are awash with cash, yet patent cliffs (expiration of patent protection) present challenges which can be partially fixed by buying smaller biotech firms with products almost ready to go to market.International Biotechnology Trust's (IBT) Ailsa Craig and

It feels as though we are at a pivotal point for stock markets as we head into the second quarter, with investors willing the indices on in the belief the interest rate cycle is nearing its end at the same time as fears of recession seem to be growing.Technology stocks have been strong with the Nasdaq 100 index up as much as 20% since the start of January, making it the best-performing index in th

- Electricals retailer reports record revenue- Momentum remained strong in final quarter- Continues to take market shareShares in Marks Electrical (MRK:AIM) sparked up 8.4% to 90.5p after the rapidly-growing online electricals retailer defied the tough consumer backdrop to deliver a forecast-beating performance for the year to March 2023, driven by continued sales growth and margin expansion.Despi

- Defensive income trumps growth in 2022- 5-for-1 share split proposed- On course for 18th successive dividend increaseDespite choppy financial market conditions throughout 2022, global income star Murray International (MYI) delivered a net asset value (NAV) total return of 8.8% for the year to December.This comfortably outperformed a 7.3% drop in the FTSE All World Total Return index as Murray In

- Positive news flow from electrical retailer continues- AO World delivering sustained margin improvements- Customers remain resilient despite cost-of-living pressuresShares in AO World (AO.) rallied 20% to 67.6p after the online electrical retailer upgraded profit guidance for the third time since November in another unscheduled trading update.Despite headwinds from inflation and cost-of-living p

A sell-off late in the week helped sour the previously positive mood on Wall Street. On Thursday two officials at the US Federal Reserve spoke in favour of a 50 basis point rate increase in March.This wasn't the message the markets either expected or wanted to hear. It would represent an increase on the 25 basis point hike seen earlier this year when the hope was the Fed was approaching the end of

Achieving decent returns has been difficult in 2022 as shareholders in many investment trusts have found to their cost. According to data from the Association of Investment Companies, the average one-year share price total return from all trusts (excluding venture capital trusts) is -13.7%.However, several trusts have really stood out from their sector peers this year. In this article we highlight

It's been a rollercoaster for US stocks this past week. On 13 December lower-than-expected US inflation raised hopes of a Santa Rally but these hopes were soon dashed.As expected, the Federal Reserve slowed the pace of interest rate hikes to 50 basis points at its latest meeting (14 December) but its updated forecasts and statements indicated that a pivot away from rate increases is still a long w