Xtrackers IE Physical Gold ETC Securities (XGDU) $35.61Assets: £2.43 billionIt may have beaten a hasty retreat from recent record highs as concerns about an escalating conflict in the Middle East have eased but gold prices are still forecast in many quarters to make further gains from here.For investors concerned about geopolitical and economic risk, as inflation shows signs of being more entrenc

Stocks in London ended in the red on Wednesday, despite the FTSE 100 hitting another record high earlier in the day, while Tesla was the star in New York, where wider markets mixed.The FTSE 100 index gave back 4.43 points, 0.1%, at 8,040.38. The blue-chip index traded as high as 8,092.19 earlier Wednesday, its best-ever level. Selling pressure in the afternoon prevented it from achieving another c

Stock prices in London rose on Tuesday heading into the afternoon, as UK economic data buoyed investors with ?fresh optimism? and helped the FTSE 100 hit another intraday high.Amongst individual stocks, AB Foods was the star of the morning, thanks to a jump in its interim profit. JD Sports also rose, after agreed to buy US sports fashion retailer Hibbett for just over $1 billion.The FTSE 100 index

Investors in London continued to show confidence, as stocks at the open on Tuesday added to Monday?s gains, boosted by the prospect of interest rate cuts.The FTSE 100 index opened up 33.06 points, 0.4%, at 8,056.93. The FTSE 250 was up 54.48 points, 0.3%, at 19,653.87, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.14 points, 0.3%, at 751.32.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 804.24, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 17

The FTSE 100 was lower on Monday at midday as the oil price declined despite high tensions between Iran and Israel, while the FTSE 250 was a tad higher.The FTSE 100 index was down 33.43 points, 0.4%, at 7,962.15. The FTSE 250 was up 12.21 points, 0.1%, at 19,733.45, and the AIM All-Share was down 4.01 points, 0.5%, at 751.90.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 795.86, the Cboe UK 250 was marginally d

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE The mining sector is not homogenous. On the BlackRock World Mining Trust, we believe this year its fortunes may be particularly disparate, as a range of factors weigh on individual commodities and regions. As we see it, there are three key factors that will determine the performance of mining companies for the remainder of 2024: geopolitics, global growth and infras

London?s FTSE 100, the outperformer on Friday as investors fretted over a possible escalation in the Middle East, was the laggard on Monday in the wake of Iran?s strikes on Israel over the weekend, as the blue-chip index?s oil majors tracked crude prices lower.Large-cap benchmarks in Frankfurt and Paris, which fell on Friday, were on the up on Monday. Stocks in New York tumbled at the end of last

In its latest quarterly survey of UK CFOs (chief financial officers), entitled ?Turning The Corner?, business advisory group Deloitte paints a picture of the UK corporate scene which will be music to investors? ears.Optimism among the UK?s largest businesses is running at well above average levels, ?suggesting the worst of the economic downturn is behind us? says the survey.Not only is sentiment w

With geopolitical tensions rising, the price of Brent Crude could top $100 a barrel for the first time since Russia?s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 suggests former White House advisor Bob McNally in an interview with Bloomberg.Brent Crude has rallied more than a quarter since December 2023 and almost touched $92 per barrel last Friday (5 April) raising fears of a commodity-led rebound in inflation.T

Blue-chip stocks in Europe fell on Tuesday, though oil majors and miners stopped London?s FTSE 100 from suffering a sharper decline.Stocks struggled, but gold was on the rise again, achieving another record high. Defence firms were sold off, meanwhile.The FTSE 100 index ended down 8.68 points, 0.1%, at 7,934.79. The FTSE 250 ended down 91.23 points, 0.5%, at 19,763.35, while the AIM All-Share rose

London?s FTSE 100 ended Tuesday morning how it started it, barely budging in cautious trade ahead of Wednesday?s US inflation report.Miners were on the up, as were oil majors, though that still could not lift the FTSE 100 into the green. Heavyweights such as drugmaker GSK, down 0.5% and defence firm BAE Systems, sliding 4.2%, were among those holding back London?s blue-chip benchmark.The FTSE 100

Stocks in Europe had a weak start on Friday, as the threat of more Middle East sabre-rattling and doubt of US interest rate cut timing damaged investor morale.Perhaps in a sign of the times, BAE Systems was among only a handful of large-caps in London to trade higher.A red-hot US jobs report could damage sentiment further later. The data is reported at 1330 BST.The FTSE 100 index opened down 73.44

While the relentless advances in Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ), Bitcoin and US equities continue to grab most of the headlines (and that is not forgetting new all-time highs for headline stock indices in France, Germany, Taiwan, Australia and Japan), one asset is outstripping them all so far in 2024 ? and that is cocoa. Futures prices for the commodity have melted up by almost 150% this year alone, to a ne

Stock prices in London closed lower on Monday amid rising global tensions, although conviction grows that the Bank of England will soon cut rates.The FTSE 100 index closed down 13.35 points, 0.2%, at 7,917.57. The FTSE 250 ended down 110.79 points, 0.6%, at 19,613.53, and the AIM All-Share closed down 2.26 points, 0.3%, at 737.26.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.2% at 791.89, the Cboe UK 250 closed do

European stocks went into Monday afternoon in negative territory, with geopolitical tensions putting the brakes on a post-central bank decision rally seen in equities last week.The FTSE 100 index was down 32.76 points, 0.4%, at 7,898.16. The FTSE 250 was down 143.23 points, 0.7%, at 19,581.09, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.03 points, 0.1%, at 738.49.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 789.82, the

Standard Chartered Bank director sells £9.64 million sharesBAE Systems chair buys £180,779 sharesDarktrace CEO offloads over £700,000 sharesSimon Cooper, CEO corporate, commercial, and institutional banking, and Europe & Americas of Asian-focused Standard Chartered Bank (STAN) has sold 1,482,343 shares at 650p for a total value of £9.64 million on 14 March.The bank said last week that Cooper i

Oil prices recently hit a four-month high with Brent crude topping $86 per barrel after US inventories came in lower than expected and amid reports of attacks on Russian facilities.Yet the FTSE 350 Oil & Gas Producers sector is pretty much flat, like the wider UK market. In the US, energy stocks are underperforming the S&P 500 with a 7.4% gain against 9.4% for the wider market.Writing in mid-March

Stock prices in London rose around midday Monday, including the FTSE 250, despite shares of Marshalls shedding due to a profit dive.The FTSE 100 index was up 21.69 points, 0.3%, at 7,749.11. The FTSE 250 was up 33.85 points, 0.2%, at 19,546.76, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.29 points, 0.2%, at 737.02.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 775.52, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.4% at 16,968.64, and the Cboe S

Indices in London were largely unmoved at the start of trading ahead of a batch of US data due on Thursday afternoon.Among individual shares making waves, however, Trainline jumped as it expects revenue growth to beat expectations. OSB Group tumbled on poorly-received earnings and a tepid outlook.The FTSE 100 index rose just 2.97 points to 7,775.14. The FTSE 250 climbed only 4.07 points to 19,567.

Rewind to 2020, five years on from the landmark Paris Agreement to combat climate change, and aside from the pandemic the big stories in markets were the ?climate emergency? and the ?energy transition?.Although the Glasgow COP26 conference had to be postponed until 2021 due to Covid, there was no shortage of high-profile events from Manchester?s virtual four-day Green Summit to the WEF (World Econ