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FTSE 100 finally joins the new-highs club despite being unloved for years
Thursday 25 Apr 2024After almost closing at a new high in early April, the UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 has finally made it into the ranks of indices hitting new all-time highs thanks to a 4.5% gain since the start of January. On 22 April the index reached its highest ever close and on 23 April it moved through its...
Lloyds Bank cuts risk monitoring in effort to drive change
Thursday 18 Apr 2024In a surprising development for a company which is usually considered fairly staid, Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY ) circulated an internal memo last month letting staff know it was ‘saying goodbye’ to a number people in its risk management team after an internal review found the function was hampering...
Lok’n Store shares leap on Shurgard cash offer
Thursday 18 Apr 2024Shares in AIM-listed self-storage site operator Lok’n Store Group (LOK:AIM) hit a new high last week after the firm revealed it had been approached by Belgian company Shurgard with a cash offer for the business. Shurgard’s offer of £11.10 represents roughly a 16% premium to the undisturbed share...
Shares in personal care firm PZ Cussons hit 20-year low
Thursday 18 Apr 2024Investors in Carex and Imperial Leather maker PZ Cussons (PZC) must be wringing their hands as they see the firm’s share price disappearing slowly down the plughole. Year-to-date the stock has lost over 40% of its value, while over one year it is down 53% and last week the price hit its lowest...
Has Associated British Foods-owned Primark maintained its momentum?
Thursday 18 Apr 2024Primark’s margin recovery narrative and sales performance for the second quarter ended 2 March will be in focus when parent Associated British Foods (ABF) delivers first half results (23 April). Shareholders will also be seeking reassurance the food-to-fashion conglomerate still expects ‘meaningful...
Prospects for US interest rate cuts reduced as inflation remains sticky
Thursday 18 Apr 2024Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell’s phrase ‘bump in the road’ to describe choppiness in the expected downward path for inflation is being tested following a third consecutive hot inflation reading on 10 April. Headline consumer price inflation for March remained elevated at 3.5%, while core...
Service sector inflation undermines market rally
Thursday 18 Apr 2024We said last week the market faced a test with the US CPI (consumer price index) report and that’s exactly how it turned out, with a third successive hotter-than-expected print sending the S&P 500 index down 2% on the week, its worst five-day performance since last October. As expected, it was...
Can Amazon continue to beat ‘The Street’?
Thursday 18 Apr 2024Tech earnings got off the ground this week but it is over the coming week when the real heavy-hitters report, and few will be as eagerly watched as Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) on 25 April. Coming just a couple of weeks after breaking its share-price ceiling to set a new all-time high ($189.05 on 11 April...
What have we learned from the US banks’ first-quarter updates?
Thursday 18 Apr 2024A quick run-through of the first-quarter results from the US banks suggests a clean sweep of better-than-expected revenue and earnings, yet that didn’t translate into a rise in their share prices. First to report was JPMorgan Chase (JPM:NYSE) , which smashed earnings forecasts due to the strong...
What is Microsoft-backed Rubrik, the latest firm to IPO in the US?
Thursday 11 Apr 2024M icrosoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) -backed cybersecurity firm Rubrik (RBRK:NYSE) plans to raise up to $750 million as it becomes the latest company to unveil plans for an IPO (initial public offering) in the US. The roster of companies planning to go public is starting to fill out after two years of relative...