London equities begin the week on the front foot in early trade on Monday after a gruelling Friday session saw key indices plumb depths not seen for some time. Today's boost comes from reassuring action by China's central bank which has introduced measures to stem capital outflows. The People's Bank of China said on Monday it will start implementing a reserve requirement ratio (RRR) on...

London's index of leading shares rises 22.7 points in early trading to 6,455 after the market welcomes the sacking of Barclays (BARC) chief executive Antony Jenkins.The bank's shares gain 3.3% to 260.4p after Jenkins left following disagreements with the board over Barclays' direction. Executive chairman John McFarlane takes over until a permanent replacement is found.Beer brewing behemoth and...

UK stock markets are back in reverse gear in early trade on Friday after the collapse of Greek debt talks at the Eurogroup meeting on Thursday. There may also be some residual nervousness over the upcoming budget, due on 8 Jul, details of which you can read here.The FTSE 100 slumps more than 70 points, or more than 1%, to was down 0.72% at 6,737, while midcaps and the wider FTSE All Share both...

Last year's launch of the UK Bond Network (UKBN) could be mistaken for a sign that the retail domestic fixed income space is maturing. The birth of the Order Book for Retail Bonds (ORB) four years ago was certainly a welcome development.But the jury is still out on the UKBN peer-to-peer platform that issued its first bond in December. The platform was launched by Christopher Maule, formerly of...

We suggest a selective approach to the oil and gas giants Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB), BP (BP.) and BG (BG.) ahead of their forthcoming results. Both the former are at risk of disappointing while BG is our preferred sector pick thanks to a promising exploration pipeline.Superficially both BP and Shell are inexpensive, trading on prospective price/earnings ratios of 8.8 and 9.5, as well as...

Three out of the four FTSE 100 oil and gas stocks rank among the notable underperformers in the FTSE All-Share for 2013 and the outlook for 2014 looks equally unpromising. Although oil and gas are essential to everyday life, buying commodity-related equities is not a guaranteed ticket to wealth creation. The blue-chip constituents are struggling with a mixture of low visibility on future...

The argument between bears and bulls continues to rage. The UK's FTSE 100 flagship benchmark is within touching distance of the 6,930 all-time high reached almost exactly 14 years ago (31 Dec '99) while the FTSE 250 index stands well above its prior peak. This suggests optimists have the upper hand. The bulls point to signs of improved economic momentum in the West, accommodative central bank...

Record low interest rates, lowly government bond yields and stubbornly sticky inflation all mean the long-term investor must still concentrate on how to steadily accumulate dependable income from portfolio holdings, in the form of dividend payments. Under such circumstances it is no wonder the Royal Mail (RMG) flotation went so well. The indicative market value of £2.5 billion to £3.3...

The dollar index has rallied over 3% following Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's pronouncement (19 Jun) that the tapering of asset purchases may begin this year and could end altogether by June of next. It was Bernanke's opening remarks, rather than the official Federal Open Markets Committee statement, which shed light on the possible timing of the start of the tapering, something that...