magazine archive
magazine archive
Week Ahead
Data suggests on balance the Bank of England was right to cut rates this month
Thursday 22 Aug 2024When the Bank of England cut rates for the first time since 2020 earlier this month there were those who questioned whether the timing was right, the fear being the bank had moved too early. Although headline inflation had hit the official 2% target, core inflation was 3.5% and services inflation...
Staffing group Hays unlikely to provide an upbeat outlook for 2025
Thursday 15 Aug 2024Recruitment firm Hays (HAS) is one of the worst-performing stocks of 2024, having lost 15% since start of the year, and we don’t have high hopes when the company reports full-year earnings next week. Falling client and candidate confidence has knocked fee income for six, and in a trading update...
Can Target demonstrate it is on the right track?
Thursday 15 Aug 2024Hot on the heels of updates from Walmart (WMT:NYSE) and Home Depot (HD:NYSE) , hard-pressed Target Corporation (TGT:NYSE) is the next major retailer to give a read on the health of a US consumer struggling with the rapid rise in inflation and interest rates of the past few years. The discounter’s...
Markets skid as US jobs data prompts ‘growth scare’ among investors
Thursday 08 Aug 2024All along, the US Federal Reserve has maintained the economic data hasn’t justified cutting rates early and risking letting the inflation genie back out of the bottle. Even though inflation is close to – and by some measures already below – its 2% medium-term target, and by keeping rates at 5.5% it...
Hard yards ahead for the world’s largest home improvement retailer
Thursday 08 Aug 2024A subdued US housing market and a consumer who remains hard-pressed across the pond mean expectations are subdued ahead of second quarter earnings (13 August) from the world’s largest home improvement retailer, Home Depot (HD:NYSE). Of late, a raft of companies have reported weaker US consumer...
Balfour Beatty half-year earnings unlikely to produce a major shock
Thursday 08 Aug 2024Although shares in leading infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY) haven’t been immune to the recent pull-back in markets, they were recently sitting at their best level in more than a decade so investors will be keen to hear how the business has been performing when it reports half-year earnings...
Can Coca-Cola HBC serve up some upgrades fizz?
Thursday 01 Aug 2024Investors can expect some earnings fizz and potentially a round of upgrades when Coca-Cola HBC (CCH) serves up first half results on 7 August. The positive setup heading into the print for the consumer packaged goods group, a strategic bottling partner of The Coca-Cola Company (KO:NYSE) , follows...
Fed likely to leave rates unchanged this week due to mixed data
Thursday 01 Aug 2024The US Federal Reserve finds itself in a ‘damned if they do, damned if they don’t’ situation with regard to cutting interest rates as the data on which it depends still doesn’t make a conclusive case for moving from its current position. Last week’s second-quarter US GDP print showed prices rose...
Disney needs to deliver some turnaround magic
Thursday 01 Aug 2024Bob Iger was summoned out of retirement in 2022 to get iconic media company Walt Disney (DIS:NYSE) whirring again, but there is still much for the chief executive to do to turn round the fortunes of the ‘House of Mouse’. Cost-cutting progress, streaming business subscriptions and the outlook for...
Investors will be hoping for a clearly positive message from Rightmove
Thursday 25 Jul 2024Shares in online property portal Rightmove (RMV) have been trading in the same sideways range for a year, and each time they look set to break out to higher ground the sellers emerge out of the woodwork. Supporters – including the Shares team, who picked the stock as a Great Idea back in January,...