magazine archive
magazine archive
Week Ahead
UK Autumn Budget the main focus of attention this week
Thursday 31 Oct 2024For once, Investors’ focus over the next couple of weeks has nothing to do with interest rates or macro events but politics. In the UK, by the time Shares goes to press we will have been treated to the first Labour Budget in 14 years. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said in order to fill the ‘black...
Legal dispute could cast long shadow over Arm earnings
Thursday 31 Oct 2024The recent legal wrangling between UK chip architecture designer Arm Holdings (ARM:NASDAQ) and one of its major clients Qualcomm (QCOM:NASDAQ) is likely to be one of the big talking points when the firm reports second-quarter earnings for fiscal 2025 next week (6 November). The dispute is over a...
BP’s green strategy in focus as it gets set to release quarterly results
Thursday 24 Oct 2024Oil and gas firm BP (BP.) has already released a teaser ahead of its third-quarter results on 29 October. Given this, the focus may be on the company’s long-term strategic direction with reports the company plans to ditch its target to cut oil and gas production by 25% by 2030. This has already...
UK economy continues to set course for a ‘soft landing’ as Budget looms
Thursday 24 Oct 2024The UK economy continues to surprise to the upside. Figures for September showed retail sales grew for the third month running, led by spending on non-food items, heading into the so-called ‘golden quarter’. ‘With peak trading and gifting season approaching, it is encouraging for non-food retailers...
Latest data indicates a ‘soft landing’ for the economy
Thursday 17 Oct 2024UK investors have plenty of reasons to be cheerful right now as the macro data all seems to be pointing towards a gentle glide path for the economy into Christmas and the New Year. Last week we had a positive surprise courtesy of the August GDP (gross domestic product) print, which showed economic...
Lloyds Banking Group to kick off UK third-quarter earnings season
Thursday 17 Oct 2024Despite the strong market reaction to results from the US banks last week, we can’t see investors getting quite so excited when the UK’s biggest financial institutions unveil their latest earnings over the coming weeks. As usual, the country’s largest mortgage lender Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY)...
American Express is a useful barometer of US consumer sentiment
Thursday 17 Oct 2024Given the rapturous response last week to results from two of Wall Street’s biggest banks and the growing feeling the US economy is on track for a ‘soft landing’, it should be no surprise shares in leading credit-card provider American Express (AXP:NYSE) are trading at all-time highs ahead of its...
Has the hiring cycle hit bottom for beaten-up recruiter Hays?
Thursday 10 Oct 2024City-based headhunter Hays (HAS) has had a rough time over the last 12 months, posting four consecutive quarters of negative growth in fee income. Worse still, the rate of decline actually accelerated over that period to stand at minus 17% at the end of June. Therefore, investors and analysts will...
America’s biggest bank will set the tone for earnings season
Thursday 10 Oct 2024Tomorrow (11 October) sees the release of third-quarter earnings from JPMorgan Chase (JPM:NYSE) , America’s biggest bank by market cap and the 12th-largest company in the S&P 500 index. With a market value of $445 billion and annual revenue of around $130 billion, which includes investment...
Pub group JD Wetherspoon expected to meet full year expectations
Thursday 03 Oct 2024Pub group JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is due to reveal full-year results on 4 October. These are expected to be in line with market expectations according to a pre-close trading statement on 10 July. Consensus expectations are calling for sales just north of £2 billion for the first time and a pre-tax...