magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
Are investors asking themselves the wrong questions about rate cuts?
Thursday 01 Aug 2024Leafing through the second-half outlooks and thought pieces, Shares was struck by a piece not from one of the serried ranks of Wall Street or Square Mile analysts but by a strategist at Boston-based MFS Investment Managers. Portfolio manager and global investment strategist Robert M. Almeida, Jr...
Boom time for the travel sector could be coming to an end
Thursday 25 Jul 2024Since we emerged from the pandemic, people’s spending have shifted from stuff to experiences with holidays particularly prized by those with the means to afford them. Airlines and travel operators enjoyed bumper demand as people were desperate to get away for a week in the sun, having been denied...
Does the FCA’s new listing regime really offer better protection for investors?
Thursday 18 Jul 2024In an effort to encourage more companies to float on the London Stock Exchange, and presumably encourage more people to invest in them, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has unveiled a new listing regime which comes into force at the end of July. The rules – described by the FCA as ‘Big Bang 2...
It could be now or never if the Fed wants to cut rates before the election
Thursday 11 Jul 2024The recent presidential debate brought the US election into focus and the November poll is now looming large in investors’ consciousness. A knock-on effect of the timing of the election is the US Federal Reserve is running out of room if it is going to cut interest rates before doing so would be...
Why a 100-word statement from a UK small cap tells a bigger story about global trade
Thursday 04 Jul 2024It was an eight-line statement from a UK small-cap budget footwear maker but Shoe Zone’s (SHOE:AIM) latest profit warning tells a much bigger story about the way global trade and supply chains could be changing. The company has been hit by rising container prices as shipping routes have been...
What the election could mean for money, markets, stocks and sectors
Thursday 27 Jun 2024Barring a polling error of an unprecedented magnitude there will be a change of government after the UK general election on 4 July. With the Conservative Party at times polling below 20%, and Reform drawing level in some polls with what has been since its formation the UK’s most successful...
Halma reveals the value of consistency again
Thursday 20 Jun 2024Specialist engineering company Halma (HLMA) demonstrated its unerring dependability with its latest full-year results on 13 June. For the uninitiated, Halma is a global manufacturer of safety, health and environmental technology products. It employs around 6,000 people in roughly 50 individual...
Is AI causing a bubble in the markets?
Thursday 13 Jun 2024The long-awaited announcement of Apple’s (AAPL:NASDAQ) artificial intelligence (or should that be Apple Intelligence) proved something of a damp squib as far as the market was concerned. By effectively outsourcing the job to OpenAI and ChatGPT it almost feels like the company is admitting it has...
What will a new government do to revive UK plc?
Thursday 06 Jun 2024Much of the focus in the media and among investors has been on the poor performance of the FTSE 100 compared with global counterparts. A trend which only now seems to be unwinding. What is often lost is how poorly mid- and, particularly, small-caps have performed of late. This is significant given...
Will mid-cap stocks come back to the fore once more?
Thursday 30 May 2024A feature of the recent recovery in stock markets has been the leadership role played by large-caps. This represents a reversal of a longer-term trend, particularly in the UK, of medium-sized businesses setting the pace. As the charts show, year-to-date the FTSE 250 has lagged behind the FTSE 100...