Carpetright shares: Undervalued or overexcited? July 1, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Carpetright’s peak trading period straddles the next Brexit deadline, but speculators are not put off. Carpetright (LSE:CPR) and its threadbare share price drew interest from speculative investors last week amid signs that the drastic measures needed for its survival are starting to pay off. While early days in the turnaround, the floor covering [...]
Bitcoin: Is it starting to feel like 2017 all over again? June 27, 2019 | City Talk By Gary McFarlane from interactive investor. Bitcoin’s decisive break above the psychologically important $10,000 mark – with $11,000 breached over the weekend and in sight again – is being driven by institutional investors and the afterglow from Facebook’s Libra news, despite the regulatory and political pushback against Mark Zuckerberg’s global money plans. Also, the recommendations, as expected, from [...]
Podcast: Why invest in AIM shares? June 27, 2019 | City Talk AIM is 24 years-old! To celebrate, our head of equity strategy Lee Wild and head of markets Richard Hunter discuss why it can be a happy hunting ground for investors, and how to do it successfully. AIM was launched in 1995, has a combined market capitalisation of more than £70 billion, and is home to [...]
Why ASOS just dived to a multi-month low June 26, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. With an impressive recovery in 2019 unwinding in spectacular fashion, how far will the shares fall? A downgrade for ASOS (LSE:ASC) shares yesterday flagged margin pressures as the former high-flying stock attempts to drive global expansion in the face of fast-fashion rivals including Boohoo (LSE:BOO). The note from UBS analyst Olivia Townsend suggests that recent [...]
Is the financials sector priced for disruption? June 26, 2019 | City Talk We think all industries are likely to be vulnerable to disruption in the coming years. We’ve seen it already in retail and media, for example, and this is likely to be a growing theme in markets for the long term. Financials, and banks in particular, are currently facing disruption to their business models. We can [...]
Japanese stocks surf higher over troubled waters June 25, 2019 | City Talk Tokyo’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 stock index is riding out regional fears over China and Hong Kong as well as wider concerns regarding Iran and the US. Despite Japan’s special vulnerabilities to both East Asian tensions and higher oil prices, the index is trading higher than either a month or three months ago. This creates a [...]
Dunelm shares: Upgrade cycle not over June 25, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor Up 70% already in 2019, this quality operator is well-fancied and tipped to keep outperforming. Dunelm (LSE:DNLM) continues to defy expectations after another profits upgrade extended the home furnishing chain’s remarkable share price rally for 2019 to a whopping 81%. One of the stand-out performers in the FTSE 250 index so far this [...]
Brexit three years on: markets and the economy in six charts June 24, 2019 | City Talk On 23 June 2016, the UK public voted on whether or not to stay in the European Union (EU). Many expected the UK to remain in the EU, but by a majority of 52% to 48% the Leave campaign won. The UK was scheduled to leave the EU at 23:00 UK time on 29 March [...]
London markets lower as squalls hit Tory leadership contest June 24, 2019 | City Talk Sterling and stock markets were lower this morning as the race for leadership of Britain’s governing Conservative Party was plunged into turmoil. Three years exactly since the UK woke up on Midsummer Day 2016 to learn that it had voted to leave the European Union, the prospects for an orderly Brexit are overshadowed by serious [...]
Whitbread shares: Waiting for strategy to bear fruit June 24, 2019 | City Talk It’s not easy being a hotelier in this market, but Whitbread shares are holding their own for now. Despite having previously laid the groundwork in guiding expectations lower, Whitbread (LSE:WTB) has delivered a first-quarter update which is light on cheer. Without the diversification and success that Costa brought, the company is now mostly hostage to the cyclical [...]