In the previous part of this series we defined what a share was, how you can generate a return by investing in them and how this return can be made up both of dividends and capital gains. In this article we turn to the menu from which you can pick shares. After all, shares come in different sizes, shapes and flavours just like the dishes you choose in a restaurant or from a takeaway ...

Property listings website Rightmove (RMV) fell 3% to 571.6p as it reported unprecedented levels of activity on its site as the housing market moved out of hibernation but also said it would extend discounts for its estate agency client base. Upstart rival OnTheMarket (OTMP:AIM) gained 5.4% to 82.75p as it provided its own update and also extended its cut-price offer to agents. Rightmove said ...

The FTSE 100 climbed on Tuesday morning after US president Donald Trump confirmed the US-China trade deal is ‘fully intact’. Trump moved quickly to calm worries after one of his top China trade advisers, Peter Navarro, initially said in an interview with Fox News the deal was ‘over’ – sending Dow Jones futures and the Chinese Yuan plummeting – before backtracking and claiming his ...

The housing market is emerging from hibernation but as investors in directly related sectors like housebuilders and estate agents count the cost of lockdown they have seen a significant divergence in share price performance. There are a number of factors behind these disparities. A look at the table of year-to-date performance suggests that financial strength has been a clear dividing line but ...

The coronavirus crisis has had an unprecedented impact on the UK property market, as viewings and sales ground to a halt and the market stalled during lockdown. Activity is now starting to resume, but at a slow pace and with a number of big changes that househunters and sellers will have to adapt to. So what does that means if you’re trying to buy a property or sell your pad? WHAT ...

Once a darling of the stock market, property listings site Rightmove (RMV) is losing friends and making enemies. Grumbling among its estate agent clients has exploded into mounting dissent following the company’s apparent tone deaf response to the coronavirus crisis. Despite its strong balance sheet and low cost base, both useful attributes to have in the current climate, there are clear ...

Advertising giant WPP (WPP) and engineering company Smiths (SMIN) have become the latest FTSE 100 firms to axe their dividends, taking the total up to 13. WPP has suspended its 2019 final dividend and a £950m share buyback having cited a recent deterioration in demand, in a move which will save it £1.1bn in cash. Smiths meanwhile has not declared an interim dividend for the first half of ...

Shares in online property listings site Rightmove (RMV) fell 3.8% to 470.7p as it cancelled its final dividend and withdrew earnings guidance with the UK housing market going into hibernation. Coronavirus containment measures mean people will not be moving house in the near future while banks are pulling mortgages from the market at pace. The company had been planning to pay a final ...

Hopes of a 'V-shaped' recovery in the UK stock market look to be fading as shares continue to take a beating, while dividend wipe-out across the market continues. The benchmark FTSE 100 index opened 3.7% down at 5,602 this morning, with investors hopes also dented by a warning from the Bank of England that the UK economy is set for long-term damage as a result of the coronavirus ...

Given the scale of the global market sell-off, now could prove an opportune time to buy quality stocks or to invest in funds with a quality tilt. We cannot say for certain that they will be good investments in the short-term, yet we’re much more confident they will provide generous rewards in the long-term. ‘Stocks are simple,’ says Warren Buffett. ‘All you do is buy shares in a great ...

In its first set of annual results since listing, Terry Smith’s fledgling investment trust Smithson (SSON) has significantly outperformed its benchmark. The FTSE 250 trust, which became the largest ever investment trust launch in October 2018 when it raised £822m, delivered a net asset value (NAV) total return of 33.2% in the year to 31 December. This compares to a 21.9% total return in ...

Shares in estate agency Countrywide (CWD) jumped 7% to 365p first thing on Monday, valuing the firm at £123m, on confirmation that it is in discussions with rival agency LSL Property Services (LSL) ‘regarding a possible all-share combination.’ Reports had begun circulating at the weekend that the companies, two of the UK’s largest listed estate agencies, were in talks about a possible ...

We think housebuilder Persimmon (PSN) can close the valuation gap on its rivals as it repairs its reputation and improves its building practices amid robust conditions for the wider sector. The housebuilding space has enjoyed good momentum since the December general election delivered a measure of political certainty arguably not seen since before the Brexit vote in June 2016. Online ...

Shares in estate agent backed property listings site OnTheMarket (OTMP:AIM) were up 3.1% to 82.5p as it announced record traffic and leads in January. Traffic to its site totalled 30m visits, up 28% year-on-year. This translated into a fresh monthly high for number of leads generated for its clients – which include estate agents, letting agents and housebuilders – the company has agreements ...

There is a reason why some investors think the best things come in small packages. Smaller companies, just by virtue of their size, have more significant growth potential and could increase their revenue at a rapid rate if things are going well. With higher reward comes higher risk however, and without the right knowledge trying to invest in small caps can expose you to significant ...

The FTSE 100 enjoyed strong gains on Friday morning, up 0.9% to 7,307.15 in early trading as hopes of a US-China trade deal were revived somewhat overnight. A quiet day for corporate news is dominated by boardroom appointments at two FTSE 100 firms. Developer and regeneration group St Modwen Properties (SMP) says that chief executive Mark Allan was leaving to take up the same role at Land ...

After a bit of a Halloween shocker for the FTSE 100 on Thursday the index ended up trading down 1.9% for the month of October. This compared with gains of 5.4% for the Nikkei 225, 2% for the S&P 500 and 3.5% for Germany’s DAX index. As AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould observes: ‘The FTSE wasn’t helped by sterling’s best performance since the financial crisis as raised hopes ...

A year ago Smithson (SSON) became the largest ever investment trust launch, raising £822.5m to invest in quality small to mid-cap companies. Investors lapped up the shares in the hope they would deliver similar success to its sister fund, Fundsmith Equity (B41YBW7). Their faith has been rewarded with Smithson having achieved 18.8% return since launch on 19 October 2018 versus 19.7% from ...

Investors are responding to a potential competitive threat to deliveries firm Just Eat (JE.) from US online behemoth Amazon’s investment in rival operator Deliveroo. The shares are marked down 7.1% to 629.9p on the news Amazon was the biggest investor in Deliveroo’s latest round of fundraising which booked the equivalent of £450m. Combined with the challenge posed by Uber ...

Modern history has seen a remarkable pace of change. Disruption is everywhere and changes to established industries, employment dynamics and how we all live are shaking to their foundations almost every aspect of life. From transport to energy, communications to healthcare, manufacturing, entertainment, education, even government. Yet many investors remain reluctant to invest in the technology ...