There is a phrase in business ? 'shrink to greatness' ? meaning companies selling or demerging assets and focusing on what they do best.You might call it streamlining, others might say it is an admission that the previous strategy did not work and the company was too bloated.This trend is firmly in motion across the UK stock market with nine companies in the FTSE 100 either in the middle of shrink

With the UK economy seemingly headed for a 'soft landing' and interest rates set to fall at some point this year, more adventurous investors will be looking to add a little more risk to their portfolios.Given the UK market, and the mid-cap space in particular, is widely acknowledged to be cheap, the passive option would be to buy a mid-cap ETF (exchange-traded fund) such as the iShares FTSE 250 (M

Miners dragged the FTSE 100 into the red on Tuesday, as stocks in London finished the session lower at the close.The FTSE 100 index closed down 31.41 points, 0.4%, at 8,167.37. The FTSE 250 ended down 47.19 points, 0.2%, at 21,091.49, and the AIM All-Share closed down 3.07 points, 0.4%, at 780.17.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.5% at 814.73, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.5% at 18,388.59, and the Cboe

Stocks in London made a cautious start to the week, with falls in mining stocks pegging back the FTSE 100 after mixed economic data from China.The FTSE 100 index traded down 7.60 points, 0.1%, at 8,139.26. The FTSE 250 edged up just 1.22 points to 20,121.58, and the AIM All-Share lost 0.54 of a point, 0.1%, at 775.50.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 810.01, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 17,517.86

Firm has received four bidsFinal bid pitched at 230pDeadline for talks extendedThe board of oil services and consulting firm Wood Group (WG.) last night published a statement saying while they were confident in the company's strategic direction and its prospects they had decided to engage with bidder Sidara.Wood Group shares jumped 19p or 10% to 205p, which is still some way short of Sidara's cash

The high-flying S&P 500 paused for breath this week, edging 1.3% lower after disappointing US quarterly growth added to concerns over elevated inflation and tight monetary policy and soft guidance from customer relationship management company Salesforce (CRM:NYSE) weighed on technology stocks.While the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also finished the week in the red, the index actually notched up a r

It was the best performing stock in the ranks of the FTSE 350 by some distance in 2023, and aircraft engine-maker Rolls-Royce's (RR.) share price has started 2024 in fine fettle to trade above pre-pandemic levels.There is no doubt Tufan Erginbilgiç has brought real seriousness to the business of turning around a company which had been struggling for years even before Covid grounded planes a

One of the factors undoubtedly helping lift the UK stock market to new highs this year is an upturn in M&A (merger and acquisition) activity.According to Dealogic, the value of UK takeovers so far in 2024 is more than $78 billion, the highest level since 2018, as overseas buyers in particular home in on the undervaluation of the market.'The UK has become structurally very attractive for M&A. There

Copper is already one of the most important materials underpinning human civilisation, and the energy transition is only likely to see demand for the industrial metal build in the years to come.Limits and pressures on supply and this growing demand profile are already seeing copper prices mount a charge and recent M&A activity ? with BHP's (BHP) unsuccessful (for now) attempt to take over Anglo Am

In 1995, Oasis and Blur were duking it out at the top of the charts, Barings Bank went bust and Manchester United broke the British transfer record by signing Andrew Cole from Newcastle.Meanwhile, in Downing Street, a Conservative prime minister faced plotting from MPs seeking to unseat him amid weak polling ? plus ça change.To paraphrase Mark Twain, ?history doesn?t repeat itself but it ca

Australian miner launches deal worth proposed $38.8 billionAnglo has huge copper assets crucial to buyoutCopper prices at two-year highs as renewable energy demand risesFTSE 100 mining group Anglo American (AAL) has huge iron ore, platinum, coal and, through its? controlling stake in dealer De Beers, diamonds, but make no mistake, BHP?s (BHP) interest in the business is a big bet on copper.Copper

London stocks closed up on Friday, as consumer confidence reached a two-year high and the Federal Reserve appeared more likely to consider cutting rates.The FTSE 100 index closed up 105.36 points, 1.4%, at 7,635.09. The FTSE 250 ended up 114.92 points, 0.6%, at 19,338.02, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.60 points, 0.4%, at 750.70.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.4% at 763.67, the Cboe UK 250 closed up

Equities in London were on the up heading into Wednesday afternoon, with a better UK economic data and measures out of China lifting the mood.The pound climbed on an improved UK purchasing managers? index reading, while miners cheered a move by China?s central bank which it hopes will spark some life into the Asian economy.Over in Frankfurt, SAP was one of the stories of the day. The software firm

A big increase in the average takeover premium in 2023 highlights how parts of the UK stock market continue to be undervalued. The average bid premium for UK stocks in 2023 was 51% against 37% in 2022 and 43% in 2021, according to analysis by AJ Bell.Most London-listed takeovers last year involved small-cap firms. Buyers were a mixture of private equity firms or industry players looking to buy riv

Miners led the way as London?s FTSE 100 began the final month of the year strongly, despite Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell?s attempt to pour cold water on rate cut hopes.The likes of Anglo American and Antofagasta were lifted by promising China data on Friday. Manufacturing readings in the US were less-than-stellar, however.The FTSE 100 index closed up 75.60 points, 1.0%, at 7,529.35. The FTS

It's not often the UK stock market gets to blow its own trumpet but in September the FTSE 100 was the best-performing major global index, gaining 2.3%, while Germany's Dax lost 3%, the S&P500 lost 4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ended the month 4.5% lower.Key drivers of international weakness were the continued rise in bond yields, which is particularly negative for the valuation of growth compan

Spin-offs, demergers and disposals are often good news for investors, although it's not often a firm sees its share price rise when it has to pay someone to take assets off its hands, especially when those assets were previously thought to be earnings positive.In the case of hospitality firm Restaurant Group (RTN), however, that is exactly what happened.The group, best known for its Wagamama chain

After a downbeat start to September, US markets have staged a healthy recovery thanks to buying of heavyweight big tech stocks and huge excitement over ARM's (ARM:NASDAQ) IPO, the biggest in the US for two years. As of the market close (14 Sep), Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) was up 5.7%, Meta Platforms (META:NASDAQ) up 4.1%, Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) up 2.7% and Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ) up around 7.5% over the we

Whether you're saving for retirement, looking to pay off your mortgage or any other future objective, investing in equities has been one of the most successful ways of generating long-term value creation. According to data from Bloomberg from April 2023, global equities, represented by the FTSE All-World Total Return Index, have grown by 57.3% over the past five years, smashing the returns from ca

Value-focused trust delivered 3.4% NAV total returnMarks & Spencer among best-performersCar maker Stellantis is a new purchaseValue-oriented investment trust Temple Bar (TMPL) outperformed the FTSE All-Share index in the half ended 30 June 2023 as strong share price performances from the likes of Marks & Spencer (MKS), EasyJet (EZJ) and Standard Chartered (STAN) more than offset disappointing show