First quarter like-for-like sales up 5.9%Budget plans adds £60 million to costsIndustry primed for further price risesPub group JD Wetherspoon (JDW) continues to perform better than the hospitality industry with 5.9% like-for-like sales growth in the 14 weeks to 2 November, marking 25 consecutive months of outperformance.Investors cheered the news, with the shares gaining 3% to 606.5p, although t

Personal thresholds to rise from 2028Capital gains and carried interest tax to riseEmployers' NI bill to rise significantlyIn terms of lowering expectations among the business community, the Labour party did a good job heading into today's autumn statement by letting slip potentially negative information such as the intention to raise employers' NI (National Insurance) contributions and a hike in

Regular readers of this column will be well aware of its faith in the Philadelphia Semiconductor index, or SOX, as a valuable indicator to follow and after the summer stock market stumble the 30-stock benchmark is well and truly in the headlines. At its early-August low, the SOX had lost 25% of its value in just a month. It has since rebounded by a sixth. Given the SOX's importance as both a guide

That chip designer Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) is now vying for the position of the world's largest company is arguably less startling than the 'blink and you've missed it' manner in which it has happened. It took Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) five years to bridge the $1 trillion to $3 trillion market cap gap, Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) about the same. Nvidia did it in barely a year.At the beginning of 2023 Nvidia wa

US-listed large-caps shone last year with shares in mega-caps, and the ?Magnificent Seven? in particular, surging higher. However, this outperformance only widened the valuation gap between US large and small-caps and left shares in the latter cohort languishing at the low end of historical valuations.Over one and five years, the Russell 2000 index of US small-cap stocks is up 14.6% and 30.5% at t

After repeated delays due to stock market volatility, social media business Reddit will finally make its Wall Street debut some time later this month according to its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on 22 February.If the New York listing does go ahead it will be the first major technology IPO (initial public offer) of 2024 and the first social media float since Pinterest (PINS:NYSE

Fundsmith founder Terry Smith and head of investment research Julian Robins were in good spirits while chatting with AJ Bell?s editor in chief Dan Coatsworth in a video interview.As usual, Smith was candid and open to discussing various topics from investment strategy to individual stocks and succession planning.VIDEO ? Terry Smith: my future as manager of Fundsmith Equity Fund and thoughts on per

Revenue miss and soggy guidanceStock slumps more than 9% after-hoursOnline advertising recovery is splittingSocial media platform Pinterest (PINS:NYSE) lost nearly 10% of its value in after-hours trading overnight as it became the latest in a run of internet stocks that bank on online advertising to spook the market.Pinterest, a sort of visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home

It?s been easy to overlook Advanced Micro Devices (AMD:NASDAQ) as Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) cornered the market for AI microchips last year. Yet analysts are increasingly seeing scope for AMD to emerge as a second AI chip champion as computer processing power demands surge.Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) is incorporating AMD?s AI chips into its Windows PC operating system as part of a multi-year partnership, f

Stock prices in London closed lower on Wednesday, as investors await the latest meeting minutes from the US Federal Reserve.The FTSE 100 index closed down 39.19 points, 0.5%, at 7,682.33. The FTSE 250 ended down 185.40 points, 1.0%, at 19,326.40, and the AIM All-Share closed down 7.40 points, down 1.0%, at 754.15.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.4% at 766.89, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 1.1% at 16,780

The FTSE 100 went into the afternoon on the back foot in tepid trade with US data and Federal Reserve meeting minutes ahead.The FTSE 100 index was down 69.86 points, or 0.9%, at 7,651.66. London?s large-cap index turned 40 on Wednesday.The FTSE 250 was down 174.90 points, 0.9%, at 19,336.90, and the AIM All-Share was down 5.84 points, 0.8%, at 755.71.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.8% at 764.47, the Cb

Microsoft gains advantage in latest quarterly resultsAlphabet slumps more than 6% after-hours, Microsoft up nearly 4%Growth has held up for big tech despite rate hikesNever mind the Champions League, for investors the big match came overnight with Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) gaining a narrowing win over rival Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) in AI cloud computing stakes. Both big tech firms announced forecast-

Private equity firm Apollo succeeding with its takeover of Restaurant Group (RTN) would represent a major turning point for the UK stock market. It would mean investors could no longer access a high street-focused casual dining chain operator on the London Stock Exchange of any scale.Restaurant Group's primary asset is Wagamama, a 165-strong nationwide chain offering Asian-style food. Investing in

According to data from the AIC, the average investment trust discount to net asset value has widened from 12.2% at the end of 2022 to 14.5% as of 8 September 2023, while sector averages have generally widened. The exception is private equity, which narrowed from 25.1% to 4.5%, skewed by 3i's (III) dramatic swing from discount to premium.While this presents an opportunity to buy into parts of the m

The headlines have been filled with news of sky-high inflation and the Bank of England's subsequent interest rate rises. But we thought it would be handy to go through exactly why inflation is high, how interest rates are meant to curb it and whether it's actually working.Why is inflation high?In an ideal world inflation would hover around 2%, but in August 2021 it started rising sharply before hi

Huge swathes of Europe, North America, Asia and Africa have endured boiling conditions this summer, with the majority of scientists pinning the blame for the planet's exceptional heat and rain, as well as wildfires in countries such as Greece and Canada, on human activity.Data from the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service showed that the first three weeks of July were the warmest three-week

Although the latest UK inflation figures are easy off, the cost-of-living crisis is still alive and kicking, as food, energy and petrol costs remain stubbornly high.This is bad news for consumers but good news for some companies who are benefiting from the doom and gloom on the high street and in households. Here are 10 names doing well.Shoe ZoneFootwear retailer Shoe Zone (SHOE:AIM) sells shoes a

There has been a significant amount of debate surrounding the cost or otherwise of bank holidays to the UK economy. This year May is awash with four day working weeks as the country comes together to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III which is being marked with an extra public holiday.Hospitality businesses and food retailers are already salivating at the prospect of extra pints being pu

Barclays to kick off key reporting season with UK banks undera cloudThe recent crisis in the sector has raised questions about financial stabilityThe collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the resulting fallout in the banking sector is not the best backdrop for the UK banks as they get set to report first quarter numbers.Up first is Barclays (BARC) on 27 April. Its 2022 results published on 15 Februa

Have you ever come across a company whose shares are classified as being in one sector, but in reality, should sit in a different one? It matters from a valuation perspective.For years, catering group Compass (CPG) was in the travel and leisure sector, sitting alongside travel agents, airlines and gambling groups. This seemed bizarre as running a canteen in a hospital or school is more of a servic