London's FTSE 100 struggled as Thursday wore on, ending lower despite a decent start after Donald Trump's tariff agenda received a blow. A US court blocked most of Trump's sweeping import tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the president had overstepped his authority with the across-the-board global levies. The Trump administration filed an appeal. European stocks started strongly, but...

London's blue chip index underperformed against its European peers at Thursday midday, ahead of US quarterly personal consumption expenditures price index, GDP and weekly jobless data. The FTSE 100 index was down 3.68 points at 8,722.33. The FTSE 250 was up 66.67 points, 0.3%, at 21,012.86, and the AIM All-Share was up 3.05 points, 0.4%, at 744.63. The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.1% at 869.08, the...

Revenue tops £600 million Strong demand for used cars Growth outlook downgraded Automotive online marketplace Auto Trader (AUTO) motored in with solid annual results showing upticks in both revenue and pre-tax profit despite a testing market backdrop. However, shares in the second-hand car platform were the biggest FTSE 100 fallers early doors on 29 May, skidding 13.5% lower to 780p as...

The sweeping tariffs unveiled by president Donald Trump on 2 April 2025, dubbed 'Liberation Day' by the administration, have significantly impacted financial markets, seemingly disrupting decades of economic norms, at least in the short term. We discuss the details and initial market reaction elsewhere in this magazine and it's only natural as an investor to be somewhat shaken by these...

With more than half a century of unbroken dividend hikes under its belt, Brunner (BUT) aims to provide long-term growth in capital and dividends by investing in global and UK equities with an 'all-weather' approach designed to adapt to different market conditions.To achieve this resilience, co-managers Julian Bishop and Christian Schneider of Allianz Global Investors focus on...

Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK) 180pMarket cap: £251 millionWhile 2024 has been a reasonable year for growth investors generally, for those looking just at the UK it has still required patience and a need to stay focused on the fundamentals.As Baillie Gifford director James Budden put it at the firm's latest private investor forum, inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitics have...

Outlook revised downNew car market remains toughFears over ruling on car financing commissionsThe UK's largest automotive platform Auto Trader (AUTO) revised down its dealership listing volumes outlook and now expects full year average revenue per retailer to fall, sending the shares down 7% to the bottom of the FTSE 100 index.The shares have reversed nearly 12% since the beginning of October...

Investors looking to put money to work with a company for the long term often employ fundamental analysis, which involves scrutinising financial metrics and analysing financial statements to help them understand how fundamentally strong a company is. While profit margins are a solid indicator of a good or bad business, the margin doesn't tell you anything about how much money a company...

The FTSE 100 was in the green on Friday morning, while other stocks were mostly downbeat amid gloomy UK retail sales data and a global IT outage.Companies around the world reported technical issues, with planes grounded, trains disrupted, and television and radio broadcasters taken offline. According to Sky News, Berlin Airport has halted all flights until 0900 BST, while Microsoft Corp said...

Stocks in New York were called lower at midday on Thursday, but European stocks were stable with Auto Trader and Currys among the top performers.The FTSE 100 index was up 17.00 points, 0.2%, at 8,200.07. The FTSE 250 was up 175.00 points, 0.9%, at 20,611.34, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.16 points, 0.3%, at 802.43.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 818.16, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.8% at...

Revenue up 14% to £570 millionOperating profit climbs 26%Shares gain another 12%Shares in Auto Trader (AUTO) jumped by 94p or 12% to a new life-high of 825p as the online car marketplace reported a 14% increase in group revenue to £570.9 million for the year ended 31 March 2024.The FTSE 100 firm said the used car retail market had been robust throughout the past financial year and it...

The end of the tax year is coming down the track fast and that means there are only weeks remaining to make full use of your £20,000 annual ISA allowance.Even if you are some way off this maximum limit or haven?t invested through an ISA at all in 2023/24, the rapidly approaching deadline is a good spur to look at the possibility of making money from the financial markets.Two weeks ago we ran...

It has been an up and down year for the UK stock market but some names have really shone over the course of the last 12 months. In this article we go through the market cap ranks to identify the best performing large-, mid- and small-cap stocks in 2023.£5 billion+ market capWhile Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) has dominated headlines globally as excitement around AI (artificial intelligence) helped...

Sales and profits beat forecastsCompany dominates the online marketShares jump 7% to new year-highThe UK's leading online automotive marketplace Auto Trader (AUTO) reported better-than-expected growth in revenue and earnings for the first half of the year thanks to record buyer levels.The shares accelerated more than 7% to a new 12-month high of 683p, taking them to the top spot on the FTSE...

If there is one thing investors can agree on, it is that the UK stock market is cheap.How cheap depends on who you ask, but the strategy team at Morgan Stanley believe the FTSE 100 is trading at a 35% discount to the MSCI World Index on a PE (price to earnings) basis.If inflation pressures continue to ease and the economy shows further signs of cooling, there is a fair chance the Bank of...

New acquisition Autorama drags down resultsShares down 2% to 615pFormer Greggs Chair Matt Davies appointed to BoardShares in online car marketplace Auto Trader (AUTO) were down more than 2% to 615p in morning trading as it reported a slight fall in pre-tax profits to £293.6 million for the year ending 31 March 2023 compared to £301 million in the same year-ago period.NEW ACQUISITION DRAGS...

Share prices were on the rise in Europe on Thursday, while gold was sharply lower, amid a risk-on atmosphere following the passage by the US House of Representatives of a bill that will allow Washington to avoid a disastrous debt default.The FTSE 100 index opened up 39.34 points, 0.5%, at 7,485.48. The FTSE 250 was up 44.51 points, 0.2%, at 18,767.41, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.82 points,...

It has been difficult to ignore the renewed sense of optimism creeping into stock markets this year. Misery has been replaced by a watchful brightness, and nowhere has this sheen reflected better than among software growth stocks.After tumbling more than a third in 2022, the US-listed iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV:BATS), comprised of many of the major enterprise software...

For years, UK-listed technology and biotechnology companies moaned about how they could get a higher valuation if their shares traded on the US market. Some added a secondary listing, others ditched the UK completely and parked their shares across the Atlantic. It was a trend that bubbled away, but not a mainstream activity.That's now changing after several larger companies across non-tech...

With engineering software company Aveva (AVV) poised to exit the stock market thanks to a takeover, it will mean losing the UK's largest 'tech' firm by market value, at £9.15 billion.Aveva has been majority owned by French industrial group Schneider Electric (SU:EPA) since 2017 and this shareholder now wants the whole business.That's a slightly different bid situation to most of the other...