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Soft data shows rising prices are a big concern for businesses
Thursday 07 Oct 2021The latest service sector data, covering everything from pubs and restaurants to industrial and business companies, has shown healthy readings in the UK and US, but problems associated with inflation are brewing. 5 October saw the latest survey results from research firm IHS Markit for purchasing...
Merck’s game changing oral Covid-19 drug shakes up biotech sector
Thursday 07 Oct 2021Shares in Covid-19 vaccine makers Moderna and BioNTech lost around a quarter of their market value in the first two trading days of October after pharmaceutical company Merck released positive data for its oral Covid-19 tablet known as molnupiravir. The tablet, taken twice daily over a five-day...
Boohoo and ASOS out of fashion as shares slump
Thursday 07 Oct 2021If online retailers were among the big winners of 2020, many have endured considerable bad luck in 2021 with share prices slumping across parts of the fast fashion sector. Boohoo ( BOO:AIM ) and ASOS ( ASC:AIM ) have been seen their share prices fall by nearly 40% year to date. Zara-owner Inditex...
Ford to invest another $7 billion in electric vehicle push
Thursday 30 Sep 2021Plans by Ford to invest $7 billion in electric vehicle production facilities have gone down well with investors. Shares in the car maker nearly quadrupled in price between April 2020 and June 2021 as investors snapped up stock beaten up by the global market crash, as well as the market applauding...
Energy crisis goes global... but investors in Shell are quids in
Thursday 30 Sep 2021It may have started in Europe, but the mounting energy crisis is going global as a combination of factors affecting supply and a post-pandemic surge in demand create a perfect storm. There are two main upshots. First, the increased cost of energy could threaten to stop the post-Covid rebound in its...
HeiQ shares take a beating after near 70% drop in profit
Thursday 30 Sep 2021A slump in earnings triggered a 20% sell-off in HeiQ’s ( HEIQ ) share price to 105.85p on 28 September. That means its share price has now halved year-to-date. The materials company suffered a 14.3% drop in first-half sales to $25.8 million, partially due to delays in starting a major contract...
New fund to help modernise old fashioned UK companies
Thursday 30 Sep 2021Phoenix Asset Management’s new investment trust Castelnau is targeting a minimum 20% annual return by helping to modernise a group of old-fashioned businesses. Direct Line ( DLG ) and Esure founder Peter Wood will be a cornerstone investor and will work with Castelnau to jointly invest in new...
UK investors start to lose faith in ‘transitory’ inflation narrative
Thursday 30 Sep 2021It wasn’t a surprise to investors that the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged at 0.1% after its latest policy meeting (23 Sep), and voted to maintain bond purchases. However, sterling gained against the US dollar and bond prices fell slightly (meaning yields went up) after the MPC (...
Shell picks up pace with transition away from oil and gas
Thursday 23 Sep 2021The $9.5 billion sale of assets in the core oil producing Permian basin in the US suggests Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSB ) is doing more than paying lip service to the transition away from fossil fuels. The transaction, with the 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of output being sold to US peer...
AstraZeneca breakthrough makes up for Covid vaccine setback
Thursday 23 Sep 2021Many of the Covid-19 headlines that pharma giant AstraZeneca ( AZN ) has attracted over the past 18 months haven’t really had much impact on its profits, but one recent development could potentially have a huge impact. Results from the latest Phase III trial showed cancer drug Enhertu, which was...