The Brexit unknown: how the votes moved markets – and what next March 15, 2019 British politics has faced a turbulent week: three nights of Brexit votes, a Spring Statement and a downgrade to economic growth. Market prices have swung on each twist as investors attempt to digest a constantly shifting set of possible outcomes. The single constant factor is uncertainty. With the scheduled exit date of 29 March looming, [...]
Snap reports user losses despite topping revenue expectations October 25, 2018 Snapchat parent firm Snap has reported its second consecutive decline in daily active users for its third quarter. Snap finance chief Tim Stone added user numbers will continue to fall again next quarter, causing its share price to drop more than eight per cent in after-hours trading. However the loss-making social media firm topped expectations for average revenue [...]
Samsung to post record profit as chip market reaches its peak October 2, 2018 Samsung Electronics is expected to report a record high in quarterly profit on Friday, ahead of a predicted slide as chip prices begin to fall. Consensus estimates as polled by Refinitiv have forecast an 18 per cent rise in operating profit to 17.2 trillion won (£12.04bn) compared to the previous quarter, while revenue is set [...]
Amazon misses sales estimates despite skyrocketing profits October 25, 2018 E-commerce giant Amazon missed consensus sales estimates as it reported its third quarterly earnings tonight, taking its share price down more than six per cent in after-hours trading. Net sales for the quarter rose 29 per cent year-on-year from $43.7bn to $56.6bn (£49.8bn), narrowly missing estimates of $57bn as collated by S&P Global Market Intelligence [...]
How the FTSE 100 returned 94 per cent without moving January 14, 2019 On New Year’s Eve 1999, the FTSE 100 closed at a then-record high of 6930. Few could have envisaged then that, 19 years on, the index would be lower. It stood at 6845 as at 14 December 2018. A negative return for investors over that long a period can be concerning, but it doesn’t tell [...]
Facebook hit by user drop as European growth falls for a second quarter October 30, 2018 Social media giant Facebook failed to live up to estimates for monthly user growth in its third quarter, as growth remained flat in North America but fell across Europe for the second consecutive quarter in the wake of massive data breaches and tightened regulations. Despite this, its profits outperformed expectations, the firm said tonight. Shares [...]
Can a 60/40 split portfolio deliver better outcomes? May 15, 2019 Recent decades have been a tumultuous time for investors. In the last 20 years alone we have experienced two of the biggest stock market crashes in history – the bursting of the dotcom bubble at the turn of the millennium and the financial crisis in 2008. Smoothing returns and avoiding losses has been a crucial [...]
The yield curve explained: is it predicting recession? February 6, 2019 The yield curve has been a reliable predictor of US recessions over the last four decades. Each time the yield curve has inverted, the US economy has entered a downturn within 18 months. At the start of 2019, the curve is precipitously close to inverting again. The yield curve is the difference between the interest [...]
29 reasons not to invest in the stock market January 21, 2019 Wars, disasters, economic strife and political instability have been persistent themes over the last three decades and they can affect people’s attitude towards investing. In many cases they make an already tough decision to part with your money and invest even harder, leading some to not invest at all. Behavioural scientists have a name for [...]
Death of the High Street? Why we’re still backing UK retail April 9, 2019 Following some dire headlines you might rightly wonder why the share prices of UK retailers have recorded double-digit gains this year (see graphic, below). Surely the relentlessly downbeat mood music from the mainstream media (and pessimism among analysts) is confirmation that the UK consumer is in full retreat, and consumer-exposed sectors are in deep trouble? [...]