UK stocks opened lower on Monday as investors reacted to the continuing and concerning climb in Covid-19 cases across the UK, Europe and the US, not to mention confirmation of 137 local cases in China.Adding to the doom and gloom were fading hopes of a stimulus package being agreed ahead of the fast-approaching US election.At 8.20, the blue chip benchmark was 0.26% lower at 5,845.15, while the...

UK stock markets lost their modest early gains on Monday as investors continued to mull the damage the coronavirus pandemic is having on the global economy and company earnings.While the benchmark FTSE 100 nudged 0.5% higher in early deals, that positive momentum proved short-lived, with the UK's leading index falling 0.9% into the red at 5,737.31.The more domestic facing FTSE 250 saw a...

It is business as usual at UK social care services provider CareTech (CTH:AIM) with sales and profitability rising despite the potential distraction from the acquisition of Cambian.Sales at CareTech climbed 11.9% to £185.7m and underlying pre-tax profit jumped 11.9% to £32.9m in the year to 30 September, supported by strong demand.In the company's biggest division, Adult Learning...

Already butchered, having been sliced downwards from 94.5p in late 2015, shares in value butcher Crawshaw (CRAW:AIM) collapse a further 27.1% to a mere 1.75p as the Rotherham-headquartered fresh meat seller concedes it may need to raise cash to keep the lights on.The alarming news is the latest blow for shareholders in Crawshaw, whose sales and profits have been sliced apart amid discounter...

The FTSE 100 is down 5.88 points to 7,441,94 following a rare day of poor trading on Wall Street. The markets will be looking at Prime Minister Theresa May's meeting with EU leaders in Brussels hoping that trade talks can begin.In corporate news, FTSE 100 communications services company BT (BT.A) gains 1.4% to 277.73p as it announces a deal with Sky (SKY). The company has agreed a multi-year...

The FTSE 100 opens down by over 40 points to 7,420.05 as aviation giants continue to struggle. Easyjet (EZJ) is down 2.74% to £12.76 while International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) also sheds 2.3% to 576.5pAnother key airline Ryanair (RYA) shares are down 5% to 17.19p despite reporting a first quarter to June 30 profit of €397m. The company says that the results are distorted as Easter...

London's FTSE 100 rebounds on Monday, up 82.15 points to 6,792.43, recovering from Friday's banking stock-led falls. The market is drawing strength from a rally in Asian stocks triggered by a firmer oil price and brushing aside caution ahead of this week's Federal Reserve policy meeting.In corporate news, the session's main casualty is outsourcing giant Mitie (MTO), which slumps 26.5% to...

Amid resurgent markets the good days are well and truly back for our City scribblers, research houses, corporate financiers, market makers and brokers, particularly the Aim specialists. But the news is not necessarily good for the whole of the financial services sector so I am picking carefully and putting in place a hedge.I have decided to go long the Aim advisors, holding those with hybrid...

After a lengthy fallow period, characterised by pressure on commission for client trades in existing listings (secondary business) and low numbers of new stock market flotations (primary business), life may finally be looking up for the nation's hard-pressed stockbrokers. I doubt their plight will elicit too much sympathy, judging by last week's debate about the latest bonus pool at Barclays'...

A profit warning sees emerging-market lender Standard Chartered (STAN) shed 6.25% to £13.42. In a pre-close trading update, the £34.5 billion cap warns fines in the US, write-downs in Korea and currency problems in parts of Asia will keep income flat this year after a decade of continuous growth.Heading in the opposite direction is accounting software supplier Sage (SGE), which jumps close...

The FTSE 100 was marginally down on the last trading day of the week, resting at 6,615 amid a very quiet day for equity news. The market has rallied since late June but still trades below lofty heights seen in May. Next week's corporate announcements include results from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Unilever (ULVR), Rolls-Royce (RR.) and British Sky Broadcasting (BSY).Worrying investors today is...

A new tax year means new tax allowances and those investing in small companies via Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS) can benefit from generous reliefs.While the Government's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) may have had some success in funnelling cash toward the UK's residential property market, in turn supporting...

Investors with a hunger for capital returns, combined with a voracious appetite for backing Britain's small, emerging businesses still have time to lodge subscriptions for the 2013 UK Growth EIS Fund ahead of tomorrow's (5 April) closing date. You will need to stump up a minimum of £10,000 for investment in this new fund, launched by wealth manager and stockbroker W.H. Ireland (WHI:AIM) in...

As the nation's stockbrokers continue to battle testing market conditions, private client wealth manager (PCWM) W.H. Ireland (WHI:AIM) looks well positioned to emerge as a likely long-term winner, alongside Redmayne-Bentley.Last week's (27 Mar) finals from W.H. Ireland underlined the broker's potential to take market share from weakened rivals as the business reported a 27% increase in assets...

Both the primary (initial public offerings) and secondary (trading) portions of the UK equities market remain challenged, but that has not stopped Numis (NUM:AIM) and WH Ireland (WHI:AIM) producing strong performances.The former pleased with this morning's upbeat year-end trading update, shares up 5.2% to 151p, while a robust performance from the latter's private client wealth management...

New floats can deliver knock-out performances if you pick the right names. You just need to look at how networking specialist WANdisco (WAND:AIM) has fared since its market debut in June last year, with an incredible 319% surge.The £177 million cap is among a select band of eight initial public offerings (IPOs) within the last three years to have soared by 100% or more since they joined the...

A couple of weeks ago over lunch, a former colleague from my days at UBS investment bank joked he thought his current broking firm was doing rather well as it was 'going bust more slowly than everyone else'. That ghoulish crack is now looking less like gallows humour and more like canny prescience as Westhouse (WHL:AIM) announces its decision to delist from (Aim) and Seymour Pierce reportedly...