The FTSE 100 experienced some fairly wild swings in afternoon trading on Wednesday following the Budget, with a mixed reaction to announcements including the extension of furlough and support for businesses, as well as continued relief on stamp duty and a plan to raise corporate tax to 25%. Having initially rallied over 1% in morning trade before falling back to trade just 0.2% higher after the ...

Investors have reacted in a mixed fashion to the Budget after Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged to extend furlough and support for businesses, continue relief on stamp duty and refrain from raising income tax. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was trading 0.6% higher at 6,654 shortly after the Chancellor’s speech, losing half of the gains seen at the market open, while the more domestically focused FTSE ...

There are many options for an investor wanting to put their money to work right around the world. Even if you’ve narrowed it down and decided to go for an investment trust instead of an open-ended active fund or a passive exchange-traded fund (ETF), choosing the trust for you can still seem a daunting task, particularly when there are 15 of them in the Association of Investment ...

The digital payments space is booming and not just because of lockdown. We are all buying more stuff online, and that requires safe and easy ways to pay. A forecast-thumping fourth quarter for industry leader Paypal earlier this month saw its stock jump to new all-time highs.  Cambridge-based Bango (BGO:AIM) is much smaller but well worth a look. It runs a direct carrier billing ...

UK stocks fell into the red by lunchtime on Thursday after the Bank of England maintained interest rates at 0.1%, which came as a host of corporate updates got an increasingly negative reception. The UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 0.35% to 6,485, while the midcap FTSE 250 index gave up earlier gains to trade almost flat at 20,732. GROWTH WORRIES HIT UNILEVER Consumer goods giant ...

UK shares opened higher on Thursday as positive earnings boosted hopes of an economic recovery, with investors looking to Bank of England's policy meeting later in the day. The BoE’s Monetary Polity Committee is widely expected to maintain base interest rates at the current 0.1%, great for mortgage borrowers and businesses looking to invest, but not so good for high street banks and ...

A trio of recently floated small caps have seen their shares perform extremely well since IPO, confirmation that new issues with compelling growth narratives can deliver impressive rapid-fire returns. Swiss-based environmentally-minded materials company HeiQ (HEIQ) debuted on the Main Market on 7 December following a £60 million raise at 112p and has more than doubled to 240.3p on excitement ...

Mobile payments firm Bango (BGO:AIM) is to team up with BT (BT.A) to help power the telecoms giant’s bundled subscription services. Subscriptions are seen as a key tool for BT to deliver a range of third-party products and services to its customers and open-up greater entertainment and commerce opportunities for it. BT has the UK’s largest fixed-line and mobile customer base across its ...

The FTSE 100 closed slightly lower on Thursday as an early rebound lost steam despite a number of positive earnings reports. Data from the US showed third-quarter GDP growing at an annualised rate of 33.1%, slightly ahead of estimates. European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said the bank would increase its bond buying programme in December to counteract the impact of lockdowns in ...

The FTSE 100 gave back early gains on Thursday lunchtime despite a number of positive earnings updates, as investors digested weak US markets overnight. Markets are also braced for a slew of economic news scheduled for today including US third-quarter GDP numbers and a briefing from European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde. In addition investors are expecting earnings updates from ...

Telecoms group BT (BT.A) shot to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board in early trade on Thursday after nudging up full year profit guidance and, importantly, confirming plans to restart paying dividends next year. The latter news will come as a major fillip for income investors starved of yield this year amid a sea of shareholder payouts either cut back or pulled altogether during the Covid-19 ...

UK stocks staged a tentative recovery after hitting six-month lows yesterday with the FTSE 100 index gaining 9 points or 0.2% to 5,592. Oil stocks and banks led the way after another round of company results. US futures pointed higher after markets tumbled overnight with the S&P500 index suffering its biggest one-day fall in four months, down 3.5%, as more than 90% of index stocks ...

Don’t rule out more bidders for embattled telecoms services supplier TalkTalk (TALK). Private equity investor Toscafund has made a 97p per share offer for the business, valuing it at £1.1 billion. While the approach implies a rough 16.5% premium to the stock’s 83.3p level before the announcement, it would cement a five-year run of value destruction for investors. TalkTalk shares traded ...

Shares in telecoms group TalkTalk (TALK) have jumped almost 17% to 97.1p following news of a 97p per share takeover approach from existing shareholder and specialist asset manager Toscafund. The shares trading almost dead on the mooted bid level suggests the market doesn’t expect interest from elsewhere. TalkTalk has received a preliminary and non-binding proposal from Toscafund Asset ...

David Smith, fund manager of Henderson High Income Trust (HHI), argues the lockdown losers that dragged on performance in the half to June will emerge from the Covid-19 crisis in ‘a strong position relative to their competition’. And despite having been through a period of dividend suspensions, deferrals and cuts, Henderson High Income forecasts an increase in the 2020 total ...

Investing doesn’t need to be hard, complicated or even require a lot of time, and you certainly don’t need dozens of all different kinds of investments in your portfolio. In fact, seven funds could be enough. And they needn’t be active funds either. Picking the right fund and fund manager is always a tricky task, particularly trying to find ones that have proven they can outperform the ...

Analysts believe any takeover interest in BT (BT.A) is likely to be doomed by a series of effective poison pills, including regulation, massive capital expenditure commitments and a yawning pension scheme black hole. Speculation emerged last weekend that the UK telecoms giant had engaged bankers at Goldman Sachs to put together an updated takeover defence package as rumours swirled that its ...

UK markets closed on Monday firmly in positive territory buoyed by new hopes that a leading Covid-19 vaccine contender could be approved for use in the next couple of months, while takeover speculation added a little extra spice. The benchmark FTSE 100 ended the session 1.7% higher at 6,104.73, led by a 7% jump for BT (BT.A), at 109p. The strong rally for the UK telco came following reports ...

UK markets rallied strongly through the morning session on Monday, buoyed by new hopes that a leading Covid-19 vaccine contender could be approved for use in the next couple of months, and takeover speculation. At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE 100 was up 1.85% at 6,112.93, led by the near-6% jump for BT (BT.A), at 107.5p. The strong rally came following reports over the weekend that suggested ...

UK telecoms giant BT (BT.A) jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board on Monday following weekend reports that it is steeling itself to fight off potential takeover offers. Speculation emerged on Saturday that the group has engaged bankers at Goldman Sachs to put together an updated buyout defence package if industry or private equity buyers make a bid. BT’S BIG SHARE PRICE JUMP ...