London?s blue-chip benchmark surged over 100 points on Thursday, spurred on by US interest rate cut hopes, though the Bank of England and European Central Bank struck more hawkish tones than the Federal Reserve.Between them, the trio have enacted around 1,500 basis points worth of hikes in the current cycle, but it is seemingly the Fed that will cut faster, according to its dot-plot.The BoE?s vote

Predators continue to swoop on the UK stock market's undervalued prey and a number of consumer-facing firms have drawn bids or flagged takeover interest since Shares addressed the mergers and acquisitions theme on 16 November.High-profile targets include Hotel Chocolat (HOTC:AIM), City Pub Group (CPC:AIM) and Musicmagpie (MMAG:AIM), and given the lowly valuations currently ascribed to UK consumer

BT and Aurelius circling MusicmagpieRedde Northgate/Halfords merger talks rumouredAnalyst sees some logic in proposed tie-upsPotential bids for two unloved stocks have come out of the blue and from unexpected suitors to boot, as the UK takeover machine continues to whir.Shares in Musicmagpie (MMAG:AIM) fluttered 30% higher to 25p after the refurbished electronics seller confirmed it is in early st

Q1 impacted by postal strikes and low consumer confidenceBut trading rebounded strongly in Q2BNPL offering expected to boost consumer tech salesMusicmagpie's (MMAG:AIM) shares fluttered 10% higher to 19.4p after the refurbished electronics seller reported a trading rebound in the second quarter following a 'challenging' start to the year blighted by postal strikes and the tough consumer market.New

- US bank saved by regulators- UK arm rescued by HSBC- Depositors in both banks safeBanking regulators in the US and the UK moved swiftly over the weekend to limit the potential fall-out from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB:NASDAQ) and Silvergate Capital (SI:NYSE) last week.SVB held deposits belonging to half of all venture-backed startups in the US, according to Bloomberg, and on Friday

After it delivered a major profit warning in March 2022, it looked as though Musicmagpie (MMAG:AIM) would become yet another casualty of the downturn in consumer spending which has seen so many smaller companies go to the wall over the past year.Yet, in recent months, the 'circular economy' company has reported several positive developments which have sparked a rebirth of investor interest in the

Shares in MusicMagpie (MMAG:AIM) plunged 27% to 119p after the smartphones-to-computers recycler and reseller downgraded margin guidance for the current year to November 2022, prompting material earnings downgrades for this year and next.The recommerce specialist warned trading momentum has moderated during the first quarter of 2022 amid a normalisation of trading, with the business being hit by w

Sometimes investors ignore funds which have accumulated a limited amount of funds from investors, often because they are seen as not having much of a future due to a lack of scale or just because they don't have the marketing budgets of the big asset managers.However, ignoring these smaller funds could mean neglecting some potentially interesting investment options.VICTIMS OF SUCCESSWhile we are l

Smartphones-to-computers recycler and reseller MusicMagpie (MMAG:AIM) is set to swoop onto AIM (22 April) today through a flotation valuing the 're-commerce' business at £208 million.That market valuation equates to roughly 1.4 times historic sales and 15 times historic earnings.Trading as musicMagpie in the UK and Decluttr in the US, MusicMagpie is a specialist online reseller of used electronic