I have been taking a fixed income of £500 a month from my pension drawdown pot. I have not changed this amount, yet this month?s income is a lot lower. Why is that?FlorenceRachel Vahey, AJ Bell Head of Public Policy, says:Let?s start by looking at how pension income is taxed.When first taking pension benefits, usually you are able to take up to 25% of your pension pot as a tax-free cash lump sum

European stocks closed lower on Tuesday, after the long Easter holiday weekend and a day full of economic data.The FTSE 100 index closed down 17.53 points, 0.2%, at 7,935.09. The FTSE 250 ended down 170.84 points, 0.9%, at 19,713.89, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.86 of a point, 0.1%, at 742.40.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.3% at 793.40, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 1.1% at 17,147.56, and the C

All divisions profitable in first halfFull year operating profit upgradedNet debt significantly reducedOne of 2023?s best share price performers, private-label cleaning products maker McBride (MCB), has upgraded earnings guidance again as the cost-of-living squeeze continues to stoke demand for its affordable products, news that sent the stock up 16% to 85.2p in early dealings on Tuesday.Having re

Shares in Costco (COST:NASDAQ) hit new all-time highs at $659, taking year-to-date gains to 45.4%. This followed forecast-beating first-quarter results (14 December 2023) from the Washington-headquartered retail giant, as members continue to flock to its warehouses for cheaper groceries and other essentials.The near-$300 billion cap warehouse membership retailer, which continues to take market sha

Google-owner Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) hasn't been shooting any AI (artificial intelligence) lights out lately, but the launch of its Gemini AI model could mark a significant leap in the tech giant's quest to regain dominance in the sectorThat's clearly the thinking among Wall Street analysts, who dished out a swathe of positive updates on Alphabet helping blow the cobwebs off a stock which hadn't ma

It has been an up and down year for the UK stock market but some names have really shone over the course of the last 12 months. In this article we go through the market cap ranks to identify the best performing large-, mid- and small-cap stocks in 2023.£5 billion+ market capWhile Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) has dominated headlines globally as excitement around AI (artificial intelligence) helped drive i

EasyJet holidays profits grew 221%Shares up 25% year-to-dateDividend 4.5p per share payable in early 2024Shares in EasyJet (EZJ) were up over 2% in morning trading to 413p as the budget airline said it had achieved ?record? pre-tax profit for the full year ending 30 September 2023.The budget airline reported a full year 2023 headline pre-tax profit of £455 million ? a £633 million year-on-year i

Grocery sales top forecastsUnderlying growth ahead of TescoFull-year guidance increasedSainsburys (SBRY), the UK's second-largest supermarket group by market share, dished up a surprisingly positive first-half trading update and raised its forecast for full-year earnings and cash-flow.The shares, which had been drifting towards six-month lows since peaking in May, leapt more than 5% to 275p and li

The GfK consumer confidence index fell nine points from minus 21 to minus 30 in October amid a slowing jobs market and the uncertainty engendered by the Middle East conflict which have dampened the Christmas spending outlook.This consumer squeeze was in evidence in the quarterly volume declines reported by FTSE 100 consumer goods giants Unilever (ULVR) and Reckitt Benckiser (RKT).Unilever delivere

Q1 earnings ahead of forecastsPrivate label growth of 10.8%But inflationary pressures persistPrivate-label cleaning products maker McBride (MCB) has delivered another earnings upgrade as the cost-of-living crisis continues to drive demand for its budget laundry detergents, dishwasher liquids and surface cleaners.In an unscheduled update that sent the shares 22% higher to 39.75p, taking year-to-dat

Wall Street closed out August in decent fashion, although some of the momentum was taken out of the recent rally by a mixed reading on US inflation.The Core PCE index - closely followed by the Federal Reserve when making interest rate decisions - was roughly in line with forecasts but, nonetheless, showed a slight tick higher year-on-year.August as a whole represented the first monthly back step f

We believe Marks Electrical (MRK:AIM) has the potential to grow earnings at an attractive rate over the next few years driven by geographical expansion and market share gains.Although the shares have only been publicly traded since November 2021, the company has been honing its customer proposition for 35 years.Founded by Mark Smithson in Leicester in 1987 at the tender age of 21 the company sells

The past week has increasingly taken on a bearish hue on Wall Street as concerns about interest rates and a bubbling Chinese property crisis have begun to dominate.Minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting talking about upside risks to inflation and the need, potentially, for further rate hikes (16 August) helped put upward pressure on US government bond yields and contributed to weakness in s

Although the latest UK inflation figures are easy off, the cost-of-living crisis is still alive and kicking, as food, energy and petrol costs remain stubbornly high.This is bad news for consumers but good news for some companies who are benefiting from the doom and gloom on the high street and in households. Here are 10 names doing well.Shoe ZoneFootwear retailer Shoe Zone (SHOE:AIM) sells shoes a

If, as is being widely suggested, the Bank of England is likely to continue tightening monetary conditions by raising rates close to 6% in its effort to combat inflation, we suspect investors are going to want a higher degree of income protection than they have so far this year.The good news for income-seekers is the UK market is a treasure trove of high-quality, high-yielding stocks on attractive

Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava (CAVA:NYSE) made an explosive stock market debut on 16 June in New York, pushing its valuation beyond $4 billion.The company priced its IPO (initial public offering) at $22 per share, above the expected range of $19 to $20. The shares then started trading at more than double the IPO price at $40.83, extending to a high of $45.25 a few hours later.Cava in the lon

- Shares rise more than 8% in morning trading- Profit and revenue to be ahead of expectations- New platform launched for streaming academic contentShares in Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) were heading higher as the company brought forward a scheduled trading update to announce full-year profit would be ahead of expectations.The shares rose more than 8% to 455.81p in morning trading as the Harry Potte

After a difficult February, US stocks made a reasonable start to March as rate expectations continue to fluctuate.Hints from Raphael Bostic, the president of Atlanta's Federal Reserve Bank, that rates might not move much higher than 5.25% from the current 4.75% soothed investors who were getting concerned rates were heading higher for longer.Software firm Salesforce (CRM:NYSE) was the week's big w

Stocks in London ended lower on Friday, with interest rate worries providing a disheartening end to a strong week for equities.The FTSE 100 index ended down 8.17 points, or 0.1%, at 8,004.36. The FTSE 250 closed down 92.52 points, or 0.5%, at 20,088.93, and the AIM All-Share lost 3.89 points, or 0.5%, at 865.70.For the week, the FTSE 100 rose 1.6%, the FTSE 250 added 0.3%, though the AIM All-Share

Rising interest rates designed to cool inflation are squeezing consumers' disposable incomes around the globe with spending on big ticket and discretionary items coming under pressure.Yet spending on everyday necessities, mass daily-use items that billions employ every day, is holding up rather well. That's good news for the makers of mundane products which consumers trust and depend upon; think t