London?s FTSE 100 pushed higher on Thursday, leaving peers on the continent and beyond in its wake, on share price rises for heavyweights AstraZeneca, Barclays and Unilever, as well as M&A impetus for Anglo American.Trade was underwhelming elsewhere, however, as equities struggled following a red-hot US inflation reading, which was coupled with numbers showing a slowdown in growth.The FTSE 100 ind

Second-quarter guidance disappointsAI spending plans spook investors$200 billion wiped off market valueSocial media and technology outfit Meta Platforms (META:NASDAQ) saw its recent share price momentum stall in a big way overnight as investors fretted its ?year of efficiency? in 2023 would give way to a period or profligacy.At one point more than $200 billion had been wiped off the company?s valu

They say you can lead a horse to water but you can?t make it drink, however that?s exactly what we are trying to do with this week?s cover story on the compelling value being offered in UK stocks right now.We may be sowing our seed on stony ground ? indeed according to figures from one newspaper there has been a £2.5 billion outflow of money from UK funds and trusts in the last four months compar

If you had £10,000 to invest in a single fund, which would you choose ? one of the most popular with retail investors for more than a decade, or a relative new kid on the block with a similar asset allocation approach?In a manner of speaking, it is what billionaire City grandee Michael Spencer challenged formidable money man and Fundsmith Equity (B41YBW7) founder Terry Smith at the end of 2023, t

The start of the new financial year tends to be when many of us really think about our own financial circumstances.Increases in average wages have finally overtaken inflation, those on the National Living Wage have enjoyed chunky pay increases and employees will feel the benefit of the cut to national insurance when they receive their April pay. While prices haven?t been rising as quickly as they

Equities in London were firmly in the red Tuesday afternoon, with market confidence knocked by geopolitical tensions and US interest rate concerns, as a hat-trick of cuts by the Federal Reserve this year looks an increasingly distant prospect.The interest rate picture in the UK was muddied by the latest batch of jobless data. The unemployment rate rose, though pay growth remained sticky, giving th

Our portfolio of picks for 2024 is off to a solid start in what proved an uneven first quarter for the stock market as a whole.Our return of 9% is comfortably ahead of our FTSE All-Share benchmark at 3.9%. It?s a tale of feast and famine, however, with half of our selections achieving double-digit gains while 40% are in the red.THE BIG WINNERSAt the end of 2023, shares in biotech specialist Purete

Stocks in London opened mostly in the red on Tuesday, ahead of consumer price inflation data from the US on Wednesday and an interest rate decision from the European Central Bank on Thursday.The FTSE 100 index opened down 3.23 points at 7,940.24. The FTSE 250 was down 45.31 points, 0.2%, at 19,809.27, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.52 of a points, 0.1%, at 749.35.The Cboe UK 100 was down slightly

US stock markets took a turn for the worse after Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari threw a cat among the pigeons by introducing the possibility of zero rate cuts this year.?If we continue to see inflation moving sideways, then that would make me question whether we need to do those rate cuts at all?, Kashkari told journalists. ?There's a lot of momentum in the economy right now.?That was evi

London?s FTSE 100 rose on Thursday morning, despite doubts over the timing of US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts still lingering, while gold reached another record high.The FTSE 100 index opened up 18.52 points, 0.2%, at 7,955.96. The FTSE 250 was up 34.02 points, 0.2%, at 19,787.66, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.82 of a point, 0.1%, at 742.90.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 795.53, the Cboe UK

The shrinking UK stock market is a worry for fund managers and has wider implications for the UK as a listing venue as well as the UK?s economic growth, say analysts at Peel Hunt.This article explores the so-called de-equitisation of the UK stock market, or plainly put the substitution of debt for equity via share buybacks and cash acquisitions.More than 45 companies exited the UK market in 2023 d

At the centre of the current boom in generative AI (artificial intelligence) is chip maker Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ).It designs some of the fastest computer chips in the world which are needed to run data hungry LLMs (large language models) capable of understanding natural language.Readers may be familiar with Nvidia?s historical link to the gaming industry, but less familiar with the US giant?s connec

Stock prices in London were mostly in the green at the close on Wednesday, helped by economic data from the US amid ongoing discussions about the interest rate cut trajectory.The FTSE 100 index closed up 2.35 points at 7,937.44. The FTSE 250 ended up 39.75 points, 0.2%, at 19,753.64, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.32 of a point at 742.08.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.1% at 793.01, the Cboe UK

It has been a busy time for shareholders in Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (SMT), but it has been a fruitful time too with the shares hitting new 12-month highs in March.First, the board announced it would buy back at least £1 billion worth of shares in order to help narrow the discount to NAV (net asset value).Then, Delaware-based Elliott Advisors revealed it had taken a 5% stake in the trus

In the middle of a bull market in stocks, gilts are back on the menu for investors. They might not offer the eye-popping returns experienced by Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) shareholders, but nonetheless individual gilts were some of the most popular investments made over the last year on the AJ Bell platform, both by financial advisers and DIY investors.Clearly rising interest rates have precipitated gilt

JPMorgan UK Small Cap Growth & Income(JUGI) 293.5pMarket cap: £403.4 millionA major trend in the investment trust sector is mergers between sub-scale trusts with similar remits to create funds large enough and sufficiently liquid to attract wealth managers and retail investors.One example which Shares believes offers a compelling proposition is JPMorgan UK Small Cap Growth & Income (JUGI), which

Average orders of 414,000 per week grew 8.4%Average basket value up 2.1%, basket size stableOcado shares down 37% year-to-dateShares in Ocado (OCDO) were marginally higher at 463p this morning as the online grocer reported a 10.6% rise in revenue for its Ocado Retail joint venture to £645.23 million for the 13 weeks to 3rd March 2024Average orders per week of 414,000 grew 8.4% compared with the f

I am 64, a homemaker, and unemployed with two tax years to go before I receive my state pension at 66 years old. I have a SIPP, that I have not yet touched. I also have an ISA.I would like to take an income for the next two tax years before I receive my state pension. I?m considering moving my SIPP into drawdown, taking my tax-free cash, and some income so I can take advantage of my personal tax a

From the minute that squirming bundle of joy is placed in parents? arms life gets complicated and expensive.How will you split paternity leave, will you both go back to work full time and is that even a possibility with childcare in the UK so expensive?With the average cost of full-time nursery for a child under two coming in at an eyewatering £14,800 a year, according to a 2023 Coram Childcare r

We are weeks away from the end of the tax year and inevitably there is plenty of focus on ISAs ? whether that relates opening an account or using up existing allowances.In all the hoo-hah it?s easy to lose sight of just what a compelling vehicle this is for investors. Whatever you are investing for, whether it?s the cost of the kids? education, to supplement your income in retirement or to fund ho