Anyone lucky enough to have enjoyed a long summer holiday and focused on the beach rather than their portfolio might not have noticed the recent jolt in global stock markets.While the second half of July was a miserable time markets amid fears of a US recession, the scale of the subsequent rebound has been remarkable.Glance at your portfolio now and you might only see a small dent. There is certai

US markets remain popular with UK investorsUK continues to see more sellers than buyersAppetite for gold ebbs away as rates promise higher for longerInvestors in the UK continued to commit cash to inexpensive US ETFs during September, according to latest data from investment platform AJ Bell. Most popular was the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (VUSA), with purchases of the sterling and dollar denomina

Holidaymakers will be familiar with exchanging pounds for euros and dollars when making trips abroad. A weak pound can make that trip more expensive, or a strong pound can result in extra cash to spend.Exchange rates also impact investing in overseas markets, but unlike the holidays example a weak pound has a positive benefit for investors as we explain in this article.Exchange-traded funds or ETF

It was in the months following the global financial crisis that Robert started becoming interested in the stock market. In a graduate IT job with Barclays (BARC) based in Canary Wharf, he'd had a front row seat during the teeth of the financial shock, but he has developed his own stocks-only DIY investment style during the decade-plus since.In this article we talk through how he goes about identif

US equities ended a rollercoaster week lower. The S&P 500 index posted its worst daily loss since October 2020 of 2.95% on Monday 7 March followed by its biggest daily gain since May 2020 of 2.57% on Wednesday 9 March.Having led last week, oil and gas shares gave way to alternative energy infrastructure stocks as Enphase, Quanta Services and Solaredge Technologies which all registered gains of 10%

Amazon's shares are about to get 20-times less expensive after the retail platform's board rubber-stamped a 20-for-1 stock split.Shares in Amazon closed overnight on Wednesday (9 March 2022) at $2,785.58, so if the stock split was to happen today, it would see the shares start trading this afternoon at $139.28.Investors have given their backing for the stock split, with Amazon's share price rallyi

Elon Musk's pledge to sell 10% of his Tesla shares following his controversial Twitter poll could force US tracker funds to buy more stock because of the way they calculate index stock weightings.In the UK, tracker funds work out how much of each FTSE index constituent they should own based on a company's market value. Tesla is a member of the S&P 500 in the US and this index use the free float-ad

This is the second part in a regular series in which we will provide an investment clinic based on hypothetical scenarios. By doing so we aim to provide some insights which can help different types of investor from beginners all the way up to experienced market participants.After saving hard for the past 30 years, 50-year old retail manager Georgia has her mind set on buying a holiday home in Spai

I am considering an ETF to track the US market and intend to hold it outside an ISA. I am a basic rate taxpayer and UK resident.Also, I have been looking at passive vehicles to track index linked bonds. Are there tax implications that would lead me to me favour simple UK-based open-ended funds in preference to ETFs? I believe most of these are domiciled in Ireland, or elsewhere outside of the UK.I

When people talk about US stock markets they are usually referring to the Standard and Poors (S&P 500) index. One reason why it's so popular is that it represents around 80% of the whole US stock market.S&P 500Over $10tn of assets are benchmarked to the index including $3.4tn of indexed products.It may come as a surprise given the sheer size of the index, but its performance is often determined by

The US stock market is the largest in the world and encompasses shares in household names such as McDonald's, Disney and Facebook.It has also been an extremely strong performer in recent years. On 10 July the S&P 500 index hit a new record high above the 3,000 level, just five years after attaining the 2,000 mark.It is also the geographic market with the largest selection of London-listed exchange

It appears investors have been sticking to familiar territory in September when investing via exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with popular choices involving the FTSE 100 and the S&P 500.ETFs are desirable for investors looking to match - rather than beat - the performance of indexes or physical assets such as commodities for a cheaper price than actively managed funds.According to data from Youinvest

There has been a big increase in the number of investment houses and platforms offering multi-asset funds and multi-manager funds in recent years. Both types of investment vehicle give you greater diversification than if you invest in one type of asset or one individual fund manager, but they each have their drawbacks and aren't suitable for every investor.As their names suggest, multi-asset funds

Robots taking over the world has been a much-loved fictional theme for Hollywood blockbusters and hit TV shows for the past 70 years and it could be about to become a reality, at least in the world of investment advice.Slowly but surely robots have been marching into the advice sphere, giving investors an additional choice over how they make their investment decisions. These so-called 'robo-advise