Central bankers, politicians, company management teams and the public continue to fret about the cost of oil. A high oil price is in effect a tax, as it increases costs and squeezes margins and cash flow at companies. It also crimps consumers’ disposable income and their ability to spend. An oil price of $147 a barrel may not have caused the recession of 2007-09 but it may have tipped a ...

Chief executive of B&M European Value Retail (BME) Simon Arora has sold shares worth £234 million. Shares in variety goods retailer B&M European Value have been under pressure following news that on 18 Jan Arora sold 40 million shares at a price of £5.85, equivalent to £234 million. The sale was arranged by investment bank Goldman Sachs, and was made through the family office of ...

UK stocks opened higher on Tuesday as profit upgrades from the likes of FTSE 100 constituent Electrocomponents (ECM) and cyber security firm Darktrace (DARK) brightened investors’ mood ahead of the release of key US inflation data on Wednesday. The consensus forecast is for inflation to have hit 7.1%, meaning all eyes will be on the Federal Reserve and how quickly it plans to take action to ...

UK stocks rallied in early trading on what commentators called ‘turnaround Tuesday’ following back-to back losses for markets on Friday and Monday, helped by positive US earnings reports overnight. Chip maker Micron reported strong first quarter results due to robust demand from new product areas like data centres, electric vehicles and factory automation, while footwear giant Nike posted ...

FTSE 100 pushed gains further in lunchtime trading, shrugging off weaker retail sales data and easing concerns over China, thanks to cash-strapped property firm Evergrande making a last-minute bond interest payment this week, according to reports. UK retail sales volumes fell 0.2% in September, bucking expectations for a monthly rise of 0.5%. At 12.30pm, the UK benchmark was 0.56% up at ...

The biggest insider deals of the last week were at house builder Berkeley Group (BKG) where Rob Perrins, group chief executive, bought almost £3 million worth of shares in two tranches last Friday and this Monday. Perrins, who started at the firm as a qualified accountant in 1994, has been a seller of Berkeley shares on balance this year but timed his purchase neatly as the shares are now ...

UK stocks got off to a positive start on Friday despite GDP data for May coming in below expectations. Data from the office of national statistics showed the economy grew 0.8% year-on-year in May, slower than the 2% recorded in April. Construction and manufacturing output contracted slightly indicating the economic recovery may be losing some steam. Despite this, the pound remained stable ...

UK stocks got off to a positive start on Friday despite GDP data for May coming in below expectations. Data from the office of national statistics showed the economy grew 0.8% year-on-year in May, slower than the 2% recorded in April. Construction and manufacturing output contracted slightly indicating the economic recovery may be losing some steam. Despite this, the pound remained stable ...

The UK’s major shares drifted into the red by midday on Friday on profit taking and more inflation worries after a gauge of British economic growth hit its highest level on record in May. The benchmark FTSE 100 nudged 0.09% lower to 7,013.61 after a preliminary reading of the UK Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) hit its highest level since it was launched in 1998 at 62.0, matching ...

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE   An economic recovery is good news for UK mid- and small-cap stocks Two events that occurred late in 2020 – the first Covid-19 vaccines were approved and the UK officially left the European Union (EU) – could set up a very different macroeconomic environment for UK equity investors in 2021. Clearance for take-off After being grounded by the ...

As we write the bond and stock markets have stabilised after a period when fears over mounting inflation and an increase in interest rates saw fixed income yields spike and equities fall over. Having reached a record high market close in mid-February the MSCI World index of developed markets then fell nearly 4% by 4 March. The slump has been more pronounced in the US technology-heavy Nasdaq ...

Following on from recording its biggest monthly gain in three decades in November, London's FTSE 100 started December in bright fashion with blue chip stocks soaring in early trade. At around 8.30am, the UK's benchmark index jumped 1.44% to 6,356.15, as positive Chinese factory data fueled global economic recovery hopes that are already supported by upbeat coronavirus vaccine ...

Last week saw a changing of the guard at fund group M&G (MNG) with Tom Dobell, a 28-year veteran of the firm, stepping down from the M&G Recovery Fund (3128921) which he had managed since 2000. As per its name the fund invests in ‘value’ stocks in the hope that they will recover. It had a good August 2020 thanks to gains in some of its healthcare stocks, but has lagged the FTSE ...

While it’s too early to say the economic recovery is under way, it’s possible we have seen the worst readings in terms of industrial confidence in Europe and Asia. This week analytics and information firm IHS Markit published its widely-followed industrial purchasing managers index (PMI) surveys for China, Japan, the UK and several European companies, as well as the composite index for the ...

The FTSE 100 plunged 2.46% in early trade to 5,755.87 as UK manufacturing output looks set to record its sharpest drop since records began in 1992. It looks like bad economic data as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is finally starting to catch up with the stock markets. US and European markets all closed lower yesterday as the number of jobless Americans topped 30m and France and Italy ...

Private investors, not just big institutions, should be allowed to participate in discounted equity fundraisings, according to an open letter from senior figures in the investment industry. Amid rising concerns that the rights of small investors are being flouted by the current fundraising rush as companies shore up their finances in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the letter calls on ...

As the city of Wuhan ends its 11-week quarantine, it seems that life in China is more or less getting back to ‘normal’. Although a handful of new virus cases are being reported, the draconian measures the government took to limit the virus mean the country is recovering just as the rest of the world goes into lockdown. Cinemas and schools have reopened in many provinces and traffic is back ...

Financial analysts often come in for criticism for ‘herding’ together when compiling their earnings forecasts, but when companies themselves have no idea where earnings are going to be a year from now it may be time to cut them some slack. What we know from multiple previous business cycles is that corporate margins tend to mean-revert over time. When margins are high – and they have been ...

Coronavirus presents a big risk to corporate earnings if world trade is affected and companies’ supply chains are interrupted. While investors have begun to factor this risk into company valuations over the last month, when companies say they no longer have visibility over earnings it makes the job of valuing them a great deal harder. Now, as the virus continues to spread, some investors are ...

Stock markets around the world started to recover at the start of this week on expectations that the world’s central banks and governments would do whatever they could to prevent an economic meltdown. According to Bloomberg data, markets have already priced in a significant policy response from the US Federal Reserve, with two interest rate cuts expected during March and two further cuts by ...