Predicting what will happen to the global economy and markets over the next 12 months is hard enough at the best of times, but with Trump's election victory on 5 November that job has become even more difficult.As Deutsche Bank's head of global economics and thematics Jim Reid put it, the outlook is no longer 'business as usual' which opens up a much wider range of potential outcomes for the globa

There is a lot to be said for being boring, especially when markets are volatile, and no firm quite captures that essence like FTSE 100 specialist distribution group Diploma (DPLM), whose shares have already sailed serenely to half a dozen all-time highs so far this year.Diploma operates a decentralised model with three divisions: Controls, which supplies components including specialised wiring, S

While investors have been fretting over the direction of interest rates, the rise in crude oil prices, the state of the US consumer and any number of other things in recent weeks, the B class shares in investment giant Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE) have sailed serenely to a new all-time high of $363 almost completely undetected.Since 1965, when Warren Buffett - the so-called Sage of Omaha - took

Share prices were slightly lower but sterling was steady early Wednesday, ahead of the UK government budget at midday and another US inflation reading about the same time.Nonetheless, a strong day for European and US stocks on Tuesday, and Asian counterparts on Wednesday, suggests some serenity has followed the agitation caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US, analysts at Lloyds B

- Positive top line results in breast cancer study- Potential to become new first-in-class treatment- Rich history of breast cancer innovationPharma giant AstraZeneca (AZN) showed continued success in its breast cancer franchise after announcing positive top line results from a phase three trial of a combined treatment of capivasertib and Faslodex.Capivasertib is an oral investigational treatment

Investors were cautious on Monday as they navigated the near certainty of a large rate hike from the US Federal Reserve and the continuing uncertainty resulting from the government's mini-Budget.After a hotter-than-expected US jobs reading on Friday, it is almost certain that the Fed will continue its 75-point rate hikes. This will continue to strengthen the dollar and continue to make life diffic

The summertime blues are nowhere to be seen. Share and bond prices are advancing, and oil and commodity prices are ebbing to help take the edge off inflationary concerns and permit markets to convince themselves that central banks are planning a policy pivot, in the form of interest rate cuts, sometime in 2023.This all seems at odds with a world where inflation still stands at 40-year highs, econo

With inflation eating away at investors' income, high-yield trusts can look very appealing. However, the big question investors should ask before committing themselves is just how sustainable are the dividend streams?In this article we analyse four of the highest-yielding trusts, with a diverse mix of income generation, from European real estate and specialist lending to solar assets and Far Easte

i3 Energy (I3E:AIM) 29.4pGain to date: 167%When we flagged the appeal of Canadian oil and gas producer i3 Energy (I3E:AIM) at 11p in July 2021 we couldn't have foreseen Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting surge in oil and gas prices.We simply liked the potential for generous dividends, the business model of acquiring low-cost conventional assets and an attractive equity valuation.WHAT'S

For most people, the attraction of investing in real estate investments trusts, or REITs for short, is that they offer a stable and consistent stream of income.They are also a good way of getting exposure to real assets which in theory should behave differently to stocks and bonds, and provide some diversity in a portfolio.The permanent capital structure and closed-end nature of investment trusts

Shares in Parsley Box (MEAL:AIM) plunged 19% to 137p after the direct-to-consumer ready meals provider warned sales growth had slowed with the loosening of Covid-19 restrictions.The Edinburgh-based business also reported strong growth versus tough prior year comparatives boosted by the pandemic as well as record customer numbers.Parsley Box delivers ready meals that don't need to be stored in a fr

Investors looking for a way to play the current strength in oil prices should snap up i3Energy (I3E:AIM). It is buying up conventional oil and gas assets in North America cheaply and plans to pay dividends from the resulting cash flow.The company's strategy echoes the one pursued successfully by former AIM peer Diversified Gas & Oil (DGOC), which is now a FTSE 250 company. While Diversified is muc

London's FTSE 100 gave up 26.8 points to trade at 7,304.5 early on Tuesday, dragged lower by supermajor BP (BP.), ongoing domestic election uncertainties as well as a further slowdown in house price growth which weighed on large cap builders Berkeley (BKG), Barratt Developments (BDEV) and Taylor Wimpey (TW.).Oil major BP softened 3.9p to 508.1p after reporting a sharp drop in third quarter 'underl

We believe Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust (SERE) is an excellent means of getting property exposure in your portfolio which is partly diversified away from the risks facing UK assets.Despite achieving the 5.5% yield promised at its December 2015 IPO (based on the issue price in euros) and having nearly fully deployed all of its capital, the investment trust is trading at an 8% disc

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) £15.24Loss to date: -0.3%Original entry date: Buy at £15.30, 1 December 2016Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is emerging stronger after surviving competitive threats against its asthma and HIV treatments from rivals Hikma (HIK), Gilead Sciences and Mylan.Several companies have been attempting to develop a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's off-patent asthma med

Wednesday 26 JulyInvestors should check whether sales of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) asthma treatments have further declined when it reports half year results on 26 July. In April, sales of its Advair/Seretide products in the US fell due to lower volumes and prices.Generic competition against Advair has been restrained after the US Food and Drug Administration prevented US rival Mylan from launching i

Pharmaceutical colossus GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has fallen 0.9% to £15.84 as sales of its asthma treatments Advair/Seretide dropped in the US in the first quarter of 2017.Advair is a prescription medicine to treat asthma and Seretide is an accuhaler, a breath-activated device.Investors have overlooked the company beating analysts' expectations of £7.25bn in turnover, as it delivers a 19% jump in r

In The Opposite, a 1990s episode of sitcom Seinfeld, the character George (Jason Alexander) tries an experiment.Believing that every previous decision he made turned out to be wrong, George decides instead to try doing the exact opposite. And it works out surprisingly well.Sometimes investing can feel the same. Making decisions that fly in the face of sentiment and market opinion can pay off hands

Global stock and commodity markets have had a torrid start to the year but Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, takes a look at five indicators that can help investors cut through the day-to-day noise and work out whether stocks have further to fall or whether this is a chance to buy.'Stock markets have got off to an alarming start in 2016 and it is sometimes difficult for people to assess

Amid the wreckage that has become the energy industry over the past 12 months there remains one bright spot which has proved the salvation of some, and the making of a precious few, listed businesses.Tumbling oil prices are a big problem for UK-listed oil majors BP (BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) as revenue and profits plunge and hydrocarbon reserves fall in value.Downstream profits - money ear