Private markets suffer ‘reality check’ as fundraising dries up Markets Private markets fundraising fell to a decade low across Europe in 2025, after a slowdown in dealmaking and stuttering performance led major buyout shops to struggle to return cash to investors. According to a fresh analysis of the sector, a dearth of new mega fund raises and “persistent liquidity constraints” across the industry led fundraising [...]
Magnum only scoops €8bn valuation on stock market debut Retail Unilever’s demerged Magnum Ice Cream Company netted a €7.8bn (£6.8bn) valuation on its stock market debut, heavily undershooting early analyst expectations at an initial public offering overshadowed by a long-running spat with the founders of Ben & Jerry’s. Shares in the ice cream group, which also owns the Cornetto and Wall’s brands, opened 60 cents [...]
Don’t overlook UK stocks in 2026 Business The UK stock market has long been shunned by retail investors, as the AI boom, inflation woes and gloomy economic conditions spark the search for greater returns in overseas markets, particularly the US. While this narrative has held back many investors from tapping into the UK, the London index has bounced back in 2025, with [...]
Why are asset managers turning away from the US? October 28, 2025 Asset managers are increasingly choosing to diversify their portfolios away from US stocks, despite Wall Street’s pronounced rally, as fears over being overexposed to secular markets grows. US markets saw a significant bounce back in recent months, shaking off the lows that followed Trump’s tariff announcement in April, with investors not yet losing their appetite [...]
Investment boss: US capital flight won’t necessarily benefit UK May 9, 2025 Investors fleeing US markets won’t necessarily boost the value of those in the UK or Europe, a senior investment boss has warned, pouring cold water on hopes for a London Stock Exchange revival. Last month’s Bank of America global fund manager survey found that investors were looking to cut their exposure to US stocks at [...]
Will the price of gold keep going up? April 22, 2025 The US-China trade war rumbles on. Investors are digging their trenches. The dollar is losing its force while the price of gold is going ballistic. A week ago, UBS made what some saw as a bold prediction that gold would reach $3,500 per ounce by December 2025. That milestone has already been hit. Scarred stockholders [...]
Which FTSE 100 companies are most exposed to Donald Trump? November 14, 2024 The FTSE 100 has dropped by more than one per cent following the election of Donald Trump as US president, hitting a three-month low earlier this week. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has been soaring, leading to a clear divergence between the two indexes. While not all of the poor performance of the FTSE 100 can [...]
London’s FTSE 100 is ‘substantially concentrated’ as regulator frets over volatility risk October 10, 2024 The UK stock market is “substantially more concentrated” than Europe or even the US, analysts have warned, as regulators fret over the clustering of the biggest British stocks on London’s FTSE 100. In a speech earlier this week, Financial Conduct Authority chief executive Nikhil Rathi warned that market concentration was leading to a “sharp rise [...]
Are UK investors going to get burned by volatile Chinese stocks? October 9, 2024 The Chinese stock market is on a roll, seeing its best week since 2008 followed by its worst day since 1997 since the country’s central bank announced sweeping stimulus measures. The seesawing back and forth experienced by UK investors diving into the Chinese stock market might be scary, with many worrying the strong growth over [...]
What’s causing the decline in UK investment fund launches? September 19, 2024 The number of actively managed funds launched in the UK is dropping, fast. While the number of passive funds, which track indexes, has been fairly consistent recently, the number of active ones has almost halved in the last five years, from 146 in 2018 to just 79 last year. What’s worse, only 32 have been [...]