John Donahoe to step downNew CEO Hill has successful track recordNo quick fix for Nike's problemsNike's (NKE:NYSE) shares surged 6.8% higher to $86.5 in after-hours trading on Wall Street after the company announced that veteran Elliott Hill is coming out of retirement to take the reins as chief executive officer. You can see why the mood has been lifted. John Donahoe, who has been in the hot seat

Recent trading exceeds forecastsProfit seen well above targetAnalyst cites turnaround successCyber security and software firm NCC Group (NCC) surprised the market with a positive half year trading update and an increase to its financial outlook.The shares climbed 15p or 10% to a new year-high of 167p, closing the yawning gap in the price after the firm downgraded forecasts 18 months ago due to wea

POLAR CAPITAL TECHNOLOGY TRUST (PCT) £27.71Trust size: £3.32 billionIt's a simple fact of modern investing that tech stocks need to be part of a broadly-based portfolio, but as the recent spell of volatility shows it can be a minefield.What you want is a broad selection of high-quality, innovative companies exposed to long-run profitable technological change while avoiding the hype and bluster m

A report published in 2023 by BNP Paribas showed that 70% of investors surveyed expected to increase their focus on thematic investing over the following three years. Clearly this is an area which is moving into the mainstream at pace but what exactly is thematic investing and how should investors think about getting involved?In this article we'll look to provide a broad-brush definition of themat

It's said there are only two certainties in life ? death and taxes ? and as it stands the world is steadily getting older, with not enough births or young people coming through to offset the increasing ranks of the middle-aged and old-aged.Moreover, according to the United Nations' latest World Populations Prospects study which came out earlier this year, the global population is likely to peak th

Eight months in, 2024 is already a record year for M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the investment trust sector.Trust boards are increasingly focused on value for money and shareholder returns amid persistently wide discounts to NAV (net asset value) and with activists nosing around. A major trend underway is mergers between sub-scale trusts with similar remits to create funds large and liquid en

Luca Maestri been in role for a decadeNew CFO Parekh to take role up in early 2025Investors hoping for more of the same, not step changeChange at the top always brings some sort of uncertainty, particularly when an incumbent has been in place for years. This is where Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) finds itself after shuffling its C-suite and appointing a new chief finance officer.Long-standing CFO Luca Maest

Wall Street anticipates another strong quarter for Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) as investors' favourite chip stock prepares to release fiscal second-quarter 2025 results (28 Aug), so the pressure is on.There's been no sign that demand for the firm's high-end graphics processing units is waning, the benchmark for running generative AI workloads, but good hasn't been good enough for Nvidia for months: only

On 1 August the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee made a 5-4 decision to kickstart its rate-cutting cycle. A 25 basis point reduction in the base rate to 5% marking The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street's first cut since March 2020.This means cash savings rates are heading in one direction, down. And the lower-than-expected jump in UK inflation reported on 14 August only boosted market exp

London indices closed higher on Monday with mining stocks benefitting from rising gold prices while aerospace & defence manufacturers waned.The FTSE 100 index closed up 45.53 points, 0.6%, at 8,356.94. The FTSE 250 ended up 108.56 points, 0.5%, at 21,157.47, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.32 points, 0.3%, at 776.59.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.6% at 835.35, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.7% at 18,55

Stock prices in London edged down at midday on Friday, although companies of all sizes in the gambling sector performed well.The FTSE 100 index was down 31.96 points, 0.4%, at 8,315.39. The FTSE 250 was down 27.94 points, 0.1%, at 21,066.22, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.92 points, 0.3%, at 772.87.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 831.21, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 18,451.52, and the Cboe

As is often the case in times of stock market volatility, parts of the financial eco-system which previously hadn't received a great deal of attention are suddenly catapulted into the mainstream.This time it's the carry trade, specifically in yen, which is drawing the attention of investors. Effectively a carry trade means borrowing money in one place where interest rates are low and using it to i

The issue of executive pay and how it compares with that of the average worker is one which can generate a fair amount of heat and noise, but how much does it actually matter to shareholders?A new report from the High Pay Centre, a think tank which aims to promote quote, unquote fairer pay, shows the median pay of chief executives of FTSE 100 companies increased by 2.2% to £4.19 million in 2023.N

ESG investors often find selecting a fund which meets their environmental and ethical preferences involves wading through an alphabet soup of acronyms and buzz words which provide little illumination as to how their investments are going to reflect ESG criteria in their investment portfolio. In a bid to help improve consumer communications, the financial regulator (the FCA) is introducing a series

Stock markets across the globe have just emerged from a short, sharp shock, with the sell-off on 5 August one of the worst days in years as investors mull the frightening thought that the US economy is slowing and could be sent spinning into recession.Combined with the impact of the unwinding in the yen 'carry trade' discussed in this explainer and some stretched valuations and you had the recipe

Stocks in London ended lower on Thursday, though avoided deeper losses thanks to a better-than-expected US jobless claims reading.The FTSE 100 index ended down 21.91 points, 0.3%, at 8,144.97. It had been 1.3% lower earlier on Thursday, however.The FTSE 250 fell 67.45 points, 0.3%, at 20,508.58, and the AIM All-Share lost 2.11 points, 0.3%, at 765.21.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.2% at 813.12, the

New home completions up 5%Interim dividend held at 20pShares up 37% over past yearShares in Persimmon (PSN) perked up nearly 3% to £15.86 in morning trading after the leading housebuilder guided to full year completions of 10,500, the top end of management's prior guidance.The FTSE 100 firm also said underlying operating profit and margin were in line with expectations for the six months ended 30

CrowdStrike (CRWD;NASDAQ) $258.81Market cap: $63 billionIt's been a rough couple of weeks for CrowdStrike (CRWD:NASDAQ) after what some have called the world's biggest IT outage caused banks, hospitals, and airports to 'go dark'. The question for investors now is that following the more than 30% share price crash, is the stock worth buying?Shares believes the answer is Yes, but investors who do so

Whatever the occasion, audience, or setting, I'm always asked the same question: how have I balanced being a mother of nine with a big City career?Looking back, especially over those years when my children were very young, it's hard to fathom it myself ? but certain things have helped, both practically and emotionally. I hope that some of those lessons learned might be of help to other mothers ? a

As the UK heads to the polls, it is political events across the Atlantic and the Channel which are really dominating market discourse.In France the first round of voting in parliamentary elections suggested president Emmanuel Macron's gamble of calling a snap poll last month had backfired.Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally won 33.1% of the vote, with a left-wing alliance behind on 28% and th