Defensives hold up in sell-offNew appetite for growth stocksBanks unable to shake off lossesAs the dust settles from the three-day 'Liberation Day'-inspired sell-off, the list of winners and losers makes for interesting reading.Not everything which held up during the market meltdown is being sold off, and not everything which racked up big losses is rebounding, unlike in previous recoveries,...

Blue chips in London, Paris and Frankfurt opened lower on Monday as UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves failed to lift the mood in the UK with her China trip, amid a modest investment deal.'Surprise! The US economy added more than [250,000] new nonfarm jobs in December, some [90,000] more than expected, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%,' explained Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya. 'If it's any...

Quarterly index changes this weekThree new names to join FTSE 100Four new stocks to join FTSE 250This Wednesday, FTSE Russell ? part of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) ? will announce the results of its latest quarterly index review.This includes potential changes to the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and FTSE Small-Cap indices which will become effective from the start of trading on 23...

Recent changes to the UK's listing rules should lead to a host of new names joining the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices in the new year, generating more interest in the UK stock market and putting more companies on the radar of investors.This matters to investors whether they own UK stocks directly, have exposure via actively-managed funds or simply track certain parts of the market through an...

We start the review on a positive note with the news of two small-cap IPOs (initial public offers), one in the healthcare space and one in the red-hot AI (artificial intelligence) space.Having sold its governance, risk and compliance software business to private equity earlier this year and returned £225 million to shareholders via a buyback and special dividend, business services group...

At the centre of the current boom in generative AI (artificial intelligence) is chip maker Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ).It designs some of the fastest computer chips in the world which are needed to run data hungry LLMs (large language models) capable of understanding natural language.Readers may be familiar with Nvidia's historical link to the gaming industry, but less familiar with the US giant's...

Global smaller-cap 'Discovery' fund ratings cutShared focus on US health and softwareNegative returns over one and three yearsEdinburgh-based investment manager Baillie Gifford saw two of its global growth funds lowered by ratings agency Morningstar from Silver to Neutral last week after a prolonged period of underperformance.The funds, which together managed over £1 billion assets at the end...

We could potentially see changes to the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices as a knock-on effect to proposals by the UK financial regulator to change the UK stock market listing rules.The Financial Conduct Authority wants to make it easier for companies to join the UK stock market by revamping the listing requirements. One of the proposals is for the London market's standard and premium segments to...

- Oxford Nanopore up 5.9% on sequencing tech selection- Shares down 40% amid growth stock sell-off- CEO confident of enabling even more discoveriesShares in Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) rallied 5.9% to 269.5p on the news the DNA sequencing company's technology has been selected for the 1000 Genomes Project, led by University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital.The Oxford...

Are you looking for the next big thing? Rather than risk all your money on a single stock, intellectual property investor IP Group (IPO) will give you exposure to a portfolio of promising companies, each with a bright idea and the potential to make big money in the future.Not everything will be a success in its portfolio, but it only needs a handful of winners each year to make shareholders...

Numerous investment trusts in recent years have asked shareholders permission to increase their exposure to companies which do not trade on a stock market, known as unquoted or unlisted.Primarily, this is because companies are staying private for longer and this change in investment policy allows investment trusts to capture more of the rapid growth and value generated during the earlier...

Originally backed by fallen star fund manager Neil Woodford, Oxford Nanopore (ONT) listed on the stock market in September 2021 at 425p per share, giving it a market capitalisation of around £3.4 billion. Despite a recent wobble the shares are up more than a quarter on their issue price to 542p.The market value of the shares is in excess of 30 times 2021 expected revenue and the company is...

Shares in newly listed DNA sequencing company Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) gained 6% to 577.4p on Tuesday after it won a new contact and upped revenue guidance.The company, a past favourite of former star fund manager Neil Woodford, has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology allowing real-time analysis of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), a chemical which carries each...

UK investors seem to have got over the blow of Deliveroo (ROO) and other flop IPOs (initial public offerings) with London's new listings matching Europe's bulging pipeline.Despite ongoing inflation and interest rate hike threats, supply chain blockages and a stubborn Covid virus that refuses to go away, investors continue to be willing to back high-quality businesses that have a distinctive...

UK stocks ended the month and the quarter in negative territory, despite positive economic data and a revival across the mining sector, a major contributor to the leading FTSE 100 index, with Anglo American's (AAL) 3% gain topping the leader board.At the close the benchmark FTSE 100 was down 22 points or 0.3% at 7,086 points, with gains in miners and drug maker AstraZeneca (AZN) - up 1.4%...

UK stocks continued their recovery on Thursday helped by positive economic data and a revival across the mining sector, a major contributor to the leading FTSE 100 index, with Anglo American's (AAL) 3% gain topping the early leader board.At midday, the benchmark FTSE 100 was up 19 points or 0.3% at 7,127, with drug maker AstraZeneca (AZN) contributing to the rally after its Covid vaccine...

Investors jumped on DNA-sequencing company Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) early on Thursday as its hotly-anticipated stock market debut went off with a bang.A favourite with one-time star fund manager Neil Woodford, Oxford Nanopore saw its share price surge nearly 45% in early trading to hit 616p in one of the UK's best-ever market debuts. That values the business at close on £5...

UK stock markets continued their recovery on Thursday helped by positive economic data and a revival across the mining sector, a major contributor to the leading FTSE 100 index, with Anglo American's (AAL) 3% gain topping the early leader board.At 9am, the benchmark FTSE 100 was up 0.57% at 7,148.35, while mid-caps were even stronger, the FTSE 250 rallying 0.7% to 23,316.7.UK GDP increased by...