magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
The succession issue
Thursday 12 Apr 2018Press speculation suggests FTSE 100 advertising business WPP ( WPP ) is lining up several candidates to replace current chief executive Martin Sorrell amid an investigation into his personal conduct. This is something the company would have to confront soon anyway given Sorrell turned 73 earlier...
How to spot decent dividend opportunities
Thursday 05 Apr 2018While this year’s stock market weakness is bad from a capital returns perspective, it does have some benefits from a dividend perspective. A reduced share price will serve to push up dividend yields, assuming there is no change to dividend forecasts as a result of earnings pressures. Therefore now...
Dissecting the market to see what’s moving up and down
Thursday 29 Mar 2018Thirty out of the 38 sectors in the FTSE 350 have fallen in value since the start of 2018. The market as a whole, as defined by the FTSE All-Share, is down by 8.5%. The FTSE 100 index has fared even worse, down 9% year-to-date. Five of the FTSE 350 sectors in positive territory have mustered up...
Is the stock market over-reacting to bad news with large share price declines?
Thursday 22 Mar 2018The UK stock market is being very edgy with extreme reactions to negative news. More than 230 companies have seen their share price fall by more than 20% year-to-date. That’s approximately 12% of the entire market and nearly twice as many as the number of companies which fell by more than a fifth...
How to deal with profit warnings
Thursday 15 Mar 2018The number of UK-listed companies issuing a profit warning hit a two year high in the final quarter of 2017 with 81 offenders, according to consultant EY. And the profit warnings keep coming in 2018. Investors must accept that profit warnings come with the territory when putting money into equities...
Trade war fears spark another bout of market volatility
Thursday 08 Mar 2018Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium imported to the US, as well a threat to tax car imports from the European Union, have given investors something new to worry about. The prospect of a trade war has triggered weakness in many stock markets around the world, particularly those like Europe...
Calm before the next stock market storm?
Thursday 01 Mar 2018It’s been nearly a month since the global stock market sell-off and equities still haven’t fully recovered all the lost ground. While some institutional investors say the sell-off wasn’t severe enough for them to go bargain hunting, others suggest another (deeper) correction could be on its way...
High hopes for South Africa-focused stocks after president change
Thursday 22 Feb 2018South Africa is the latest country to be closely watched by UK investors. A decent number of companies doing business in that part of the world have their shares traded on the London Stock Exchange. Cyril Ramaphosa was last week sworn in as the new president of South Africa, replacing Jacob Zuma...
Have IPOs been hit by stock market volatility?
Thursday 15 Feb 2018Markets appear to have settled down at the time of writing (13 Feb) with the FTSE 100 index holding still at 7,177. Volatility, as measured by the Vix index, has also halved at 25.61 from its approximate 50 level last week. While there is no guarantee that the latest market sell-off has reached its...
Why you should stay calm amid stock market volatility
Thursday 08 Feb 2018The decline in share prices around the world has dampened the spirits of many investors. In times like this, it is important to stay calm and consider the reasons behind the market sell-off. You should ask whether the fundamentals have changed for your investments. If they haven’t, it’s probably...