In a thin trading update, alcoholic drinks behemoth Diageo (DGE) warned that the global backdrop for the industry 'remains challenging' with consumers continuing to exercise caution. However, shares in the Johnnie Walker-to-Smirnoff vodka maker rallied 4% to £26 on relief that things aren't getting any worse and trading remains in line with expectations. CEO Debra Crew also reassured investors...

Stocks in Europe opened higher on a busy Thursday filled with economic readings from the US and Europe as well as comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The US data today will be followed on Friday by the Fed's preferred inflation gauge of core personal consumption expenditures. 'The global economy is settling into a newfound stability and central banks can continue to cautiously...

London's FTSE 100 went into the afternoon on decent footing, but limped over the line on Wednesday, as a weaker oil price hit BP and Shell. Hawkish words from a UK central banker did little to stir up enthusiasm for equities, though the OECD set out an encouraging outlook for the domestic economy. 'With a lack of major economic news on the schedule for Wednesday and only a few big-name corporat...

Stock prices in London were higher at midday on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 outperforming its European peers after news that the UK has overtaken several G7 countries on economic growth forecasts. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development has placed the UK joint second in its economic growth forecasts for the rest of 2024. The prediction of 1.1% growth for the whole of this year...

Shares in online package holiday provider On The Beach (OTB) were down 3% to 139p in morning trading despite it reporting record TTV (total transaction value) of £1.2 billion (representing an 15% increase from 2023) for the financial year ending 30 September. Commenting on the trading update, On The Beach's CEO Shaun Morton said the company had made considerable progress over the past 12 month...

Antitrust watchdogs have had Big Tech firmly in theirs sights for months but now its Visa (V:NYSE) that finds itself being hauled over the regulatory coals after the US Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against the credit and debit cards colossus. The DoJ claims Visa has been unfairly monopolising its debit cards power in the US, accusing the company of engaging in anticompetitive conduc...

Indebted sofa seller DFS Furniture (DFS) lurched into loss for the year to June 2024 and passed the final dividend following a year marred by weak spending on big ticket items and Red Sea supply disruption. Yet shares in the clear UK living room furniture leader ticked up 2.5% to 117.8p in early dealings on Wednesday to leave them broadly flat on the year. The reason for the uptick? Well, there...

Investors gave a rousing applause for posh cinema group Everyman (EMAN:AIM), sending the shares up 3.5p or 6.2% to 60p after it delivered a strong first half performance. The shares continued their recovery, rising 22% from the lows in June, taking gains over the last 12 months to 8% compared with a 1% advance for the FTSE Aim All-Share index. For the 26-weeks to 27 June, revenue increased by 2...

The FTSE 100 opened in the red on Wednesday morning, but other London stocks were mostly in the green, as investors awaited home sale and building permit data from the US. 'An incredibly quiet economic calendar awaits today,' observed Pepperstone's Michael Brown, 'with only August's new home sales figures of note, though today's five-year auction will attract some attention after solid demand f...

The FTSE 100 closed higher in London on Tuesday, as miners enjoyed a boost from stimulus efforts in China, while mid-caps retreated from earlier in the day following US data. The FTSE 100 index closed up 23.05 points, or 0.3%, at 8,282.76. The FTSE 250 ended down 75.00 points, or 0.4%, at 20,770.12, and the AIM All-Share closed down 1.52 points, 0.2%, at 742.80. The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.3% at...

It is always better to under promise and over deliver and market newbie Raspberry Pi (RPI) seems to have pulled it off after reporting a better-than-expected maiden first half. The shares soared more than 8% to 377p, topping the FTSE 250 leaderboard, taking gains since coming to the market in June to around 35%. The IPO (initial public offering) raised £178.9 million, of which £31.4 million w...

Blue-chip equities in Europe were on the up heading to Tuesday afternoon, with miners and luxury retail on top after stimulus measures in China were unveiled. Among the measures was a cut to the reserve requirement ratio, which dictates the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve. Lloyds analysts, however, commented: 'It feels like we've been here before when it comes to headline-grabbing bou...

There is 'panic on the streets of London' as Smiths (SMIN) missed headline profit and margin targets. While there were some pluses in the engineering outfit's annual results to end July, it is difficult to dress up the fact that headline profit was limp. The share price tanked 8% to £16.84, a six-week low and back to May 2024 levels. Heaven knows, investors are miserable now. This will come as...