The knock-on effects of the Truss government?s disastrous ?mini-Budget? in late 2022, which caused panic-selling of bonds by pension funds and forced the Bank of England to provide tens of billions of pounds to stabilise markets, continue to work their way slowly through the financial system.Whereas before the upheaval most defined-benefit (DB) funds were decades from being fully funded, thanks to

There were several trends in the UK stock market this year which, if you managed to identify them, served you well.Most obviously, although it may not have seemed it at the index level, large-cap stocks generally performed better than small- and mid-caps, although for the lucky few the small-cap space has been rife with takeover activity.In terms of sectors, aerospace and defence topped the FTSE 3

Soft drinks business Britvic (BVIC) serves up full-year results on 22 November, when investors will be thirsty to learn how volumes are holding up at the Fruit Shoot, Robinsons and Tango maker which also produces and sells brands including Pepsi and 7UP in Great Britain and Ireland under exclusive agreements with PepsiCo (PEP:NASDAQ).Price hikes and volume growth helped Britvic's revenues to bubbl

Higher prices set to dominate Tesco's first-quarter earnings updateBargain-hunting and promotions means margins could be lowerSupermarket giant Tesco (TSCO) is due to report its results for the period from March to May on 16 June, with analysts expecting higher prices to be the main driver of sales while volumes and average basket sizes are likely to have fallen.This is against a first quarter of

Ken Wotton, manager of Strategic Equity Capital (SEC), reveals how he chooses which stocks to invest in and how he continually reviews his portfolio to ensure it is suited to market conditions. Importantly, and by design, the businesses in our portfolios share certain characteristics centred around financial quality and mitigating downside risk.They have very low levels of leverage or none at all,

Stock prices were largely in the red in London at midday on Wednesday as investors await in-coming interest rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.The FTSE 100 index was marginally higher, up 3.52 points at 7,539.74, boosted by a strong performance from banking stocks.Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was down 67.52 points, or 0.4%, at 18,711.58, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.

Stocks prices in London were suffering early Wednesday, but the pound was benefiting, after UK inflation came in higher than expected, rising rather than falling.The FTSE 100 index opened down 15.66 points, or 0.2%, at 7,519.06. The FTSE 250 was down 95.05 points, or 0.5%, at 18,682.71, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.67 of a point, or 0.1%, at 804.29.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 751.94, the

The crisis sparked by the mini-Budget (23 September) may have calmed for now thanks to the intervention of new chancellor Jeremy Hunt but the issues raised by this episode have not gone away.As is often the case during periods of market stress previously obscure areas come into focus and that's been the case with LDIs (liability-driven investment policies) held by defined benefit pension schemes.

Investors are increasingly looking for stocks, bonds or funds that pay a good income.Dividends or bond coupons provide positive returns which are particularly attractive in a more challenging market such as now.Many people have this year lost money from backing high-growth but dividend-less stocks such as Tesla (TSLA:NASDQ) and Netflix (NFLX:NASDAQ), and they're fed up.In the other side of the rin

Look at the investment trust space if you want to outperform the market when it comes to investing in UK smaller companies.Using data from FE Fundinfo, Shares compared the sector performance to the FTSE All-Share and the Numis Smaller Companies indices.Only seven out of 17 open-ended funds in the UK Smaller Companies sector have beaten the market over the past five years, according to analysis by

As the UK continues to step lightly through the coronavirus pandemic's social distancing minefield, many investors have turned their back on the small cap space. This is a mistake.We can understand why small caps might not appeal to everyone at the moment, given this space can include unproven business models and fragile balance sheets. It can also be harder to sell small cap shares when you want

Following a tough day of trading yesterday with worries over the direction of US interest rates, UK stock markets rebounded in early trade on Friday.The UK's leading FTSE 100 index is up 0.65%, or 46.55 points, to 7,174.71.While the FTSE 250, considered more representative of the UK economy, is up 0.9%, or 173.25 points, to 19,378.45 having been fuelled by a takeover bid for one of its constituent

XPS PensionS(XPS) 181pGain to date: 11% Original entry point: Buy at 163p, 31 August 2017The pensions actuarial, consulting and administration business previously known as Xafinity has published a decent set of full year results with £64m revenue and £17.9m adjusted pre-tax profit, the latter beating stockbroker Zeus's £17.3m forecast.Its results were helped by the acquisition of Punter Southa

I like the great new look for the magazine but I am surprised you have not featured Expansys (XPS:AIM). It is 41% owned by Peter Jones, massively undervalued and well worth a review, I would have thought. I would appreciate your thoughts.Daniel Corby, via emailJames Crux replies:Thanks for your kind comments on the magazine. Rest assured online consumer electronics retailer Expansys is on our rada

News that German operations will not breakeven until 2016 or 2017 fuels the downwards trend in Domino's Pizza (DOM), falling 8.8% to 547p. It has scaled back new store openings in the country and plans to turn most of its corporate stores into franchise operations. Respected chief financial officer Lee Ginsberg has resigned after a decade with the business. He tells Shares that Domino's was worth

Consumer-facing stocks were in full force today as a number of large and small caps reported earnings. Leading the pack was Next (NXT), the FTSE 100 fashion firm guided by Simon Wolfson, which put on 2% at £42.31p on the delivery of solid annual numbers showing taxable profits up 9% to £622 million. Investors bid the shares up despite evidence of recent slowing growth rates at online and catalog