magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
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...
Stay and make hay, or sell in May and go away?
Thursday 23 May 2024Among stock market adages, one in particular sticks in this author’s mind: ‘successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others’. Attributed to the economist John Maynard Keynes, it suggests the way to make money in stocks is to try to guess what other people think is valuable rather...
Rolls-Royce has little margin for error
Thursday 16 May 2024It was the best performing stock in the ranks of the FTSE 350 by some distance in 2023, and aircraft engine-maker Rolls-Royce’s (RR.) share price has started 2024 in fine fettle to trade above pre-pandemic levels. There is no doubt Tufan Erginbilgiç has brought real seriousness to the business of...
Can ASOS restore its fortunes?
Thursday 09 May 2024The journey of online clothing retailer ASOS (ASC) on the stock market has been a pretty extraordinary one. It started life as a penny stock on AIM – when Shares first covered the story in 2003 it traded at 4.5p. Within a little less than five years the share price had reached more than £4, by 2014...
Are we back in 1995 when it comes to the markets?
Thursday 02 May 2024In 1995, Oasis and Blur were duking it out at the top of the charts, Barings Bank went bust and Manchester United broke the British transfer record by signing Andrew Cole from Newcastle. Meanwhile, in Downing Street, a Conservative prime minister faced plotting from MPs seeking to unseat him amid...