Shares & the stock market

7 August 2026

US stocks bounced back this week on renewed hopes for a resolution in the Middle East and a broadly reassuring set of corporate updates.

The technology sector also regained some of its equilibrium after a period of volatility, helping propel the Nasdaq index forward.

AI software outfit Palantir was among the top risers. Its second-quarter earnings...

6 August 2026

The value of UK mergers and acquisitions continue to gather pace, with the cumulative value of announced deals touching £70 billion, more than double the total across the whole of 2025, according to AJ Bell data.

Deals have been struck at an average premium of around 44% to the undisturbed price, up from 40% in the prior year, showing buyers are...

6 August 2026

The FTSE 100 ticked higher on Thursday, despite selling on Wall Street and in Asia, as its lack of technology exposure proved to be a boon.

Continuing concerns about whether the AI story is running out of legs had an impact on the big US tech names and their Asian suppliers, though continuing hopes for a breakthrough in the Middle East helped to...

6 August 2026

SpaceX reported its first quarterly results as a public company on 4 August to a mixed market response.

Having run up in advance of the numbers on the day of the release, the shares fell in extended trading as better-than-expected revenue was overshadowed by heavy spending on artificial intelligence.

The AI trade has spent much of the year being...

5 August 2026

The FTSE 100 ticked higher on positively received corporate updates and as hopes continue to rise around diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.

There is increasing optimism about a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz which means Brent crude oil prices are currently bubbling around the $80 per barrel mark, well short of their recent highs.

The...

4 August 2026

The FTSE 100 got off to a solid start on Tuesday following gains in US and Asian markets.

Miners were higher in London, with performance also bolstered by some positively received corporate updates.

Smith & Nephew was a notable laggard. The company seems to be in a permanent state of turnaround in recent years and delivered yet another...

3 August 2026

As markets continued to new highs this year, the increases have made some investors nervous about a possible bubble.

The nerves are understandable, considering the amount of excitement around AI while a lot about its capabilities remains unclear. However, when we look at the numbers across most major markets, share price growth in the last year has...

3 August 2026

Investors have two main options when it comes to investing in bonds. These are government bonds and corporate bonds.

When governments and companies need to borrow money, they issue bonds. If you buy one, you become the lender, and in return you receive regular interest payments plus your original investment back at the end.

However, within these...

3 August 2026

It’s déjà vu for investors all over again as hints of a rapprochement between the US and Iran saw oil prices fall and risk sentiment improve.

The FTSE 100’s advance was constrained by a negative reaction to AstraZeneca’s reported interest in a merger with Bristol Myers Squibb and by weakness in its oil and gas heavyweights BP and Shell. However...

1 August 2026

In investing it is just as important to understand where the risks are accumulating as well as potential buying opportunities.

With markets becoming increasingly concentrated and returns driven by a handful of AI-related names, even broad global indices present challenges for investors to maintain extensive diversification.

Schroder’s CIO Johanna...

31 July 2026

The FTSE 100 tested new record highs on Friday morning as investors continue to climb the wall of worry and sentiment improves.

The rebound in tech powered by Microsoft’s extremely well-received numbers has helped lift the broader market mood, helping investors to put concerns about the Iran conflict and its continuing impact on ice for now.

Miners...

31 July 2026

US stock markets had a see-saw week, initially sitting on losses before Microsoft’s results helped boost sentiment and push indices higher.

At one point the Nasdaq 100 index had entered correction territory after dropping more than 10% from the prior peak.

Stocks were dragged lower by rising long-term bond yields with 30-Year treasury yields...

31 July 2026

Facebook owner Meta saw its share price plummet around 9% after it released second quarter results that revealed the high levels of spending on AI were, for the moment, having low levels of payoff.

This has been a repeated pattern among most of the big tech stocks when earnings have been released recently because investor’s focus has shifted from...

30 July 2026

The FTSE 100 is hovering on the cusp of the closing high it reached in late February, just before the war in the Middle East began, and investors will be looking to better-than-expected results from London Stock Exchange, Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, alongside new share buybacks from Lloyds, Shell and London Stock Exchange (again) to give the index...

30 July 2026

China got some good news last week, and they needed it. Once a favourite market for investors' portfolios, the Hang Seng Index dropped over 5% in the first six months of 2026, and by over 20% in the last five years to the end of June. But in the past month, investors seem to be singing a different tune.

A June export report showed a 27% increase in...

29 July 2026

The FTSE 100 is sneaking above the all-time closing high from 28 February in early trading on Wednesday, helped by its lack of exposure to technology and AI stocks, and a slew of strong corporate results, with index heavyweights Standard Chartered, Reckitt Benckiser and Rio Tinto all delivering either better-than-expected profits, or bumper cash...

28 July 2026

An often-repeated mantra of investing is that it's also about time in the market rather than timing the market.

Equity markets have been dealt their latest wobble during a major earnings week as the top AI spenders are reporting just how that investment is paying off for them so far.

Volatility is an expected part of investing. But that doesn't...

28 July 2026

If Monday was all about the soaraway stock market debut of China’s memory chips maker CXMT, Tuesday is getting off to a stickier start thanks to huge falls in the leading Korean and Japanese producers, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Kioxia.

Such were the falls that they dragged Korea’s KOSPI index down by 10% and Japan’s Nikkei lost 4% of its...

27 July 2026

A thumping drop in the price of oil, all the way back to $90 a barrel, is helping get global stock markets off to a good start to the week, as the US and Iran pause hostilities once more amid efforts from Oman to broker a deal over the vexed issue of shipping passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Sentiment has received a further boost from a...

27 July 2026

On the face of it, bonds might seem like straightforward investment products. Once you dig deeper, it is easy to get confused with the language around how they work. Fear not, as we are here to help.

To help you better understand the world of bonds, we have compiled answers to seven frequent questions that investors ask.

Getting your head around...

25 July 2026

Recruitment firms are seen as bellwethers for the health of the economy, so recent share price strength raises the question of whether we are seeing a legitimate signal of growth or just a relief rally after a long period of weakness.

The performance of recruitment firms is often linked to broader economic performance because it moves with the job...

24 July 2026

Tariffs are back on the list of concerns for global stock markets as the White House brings in a new swathe of levies to replace temporary measures which had just expired.

The Trump administration was always likely to look for another route to introduce a new round of tariffs after the ruling in February from the Supreme Court that the previous set...

24 July 2026

US stocks were firmly on the back foot this week, driven by continued weakness across large technology companies, as worries build on AI spending.

Oil prices moved higher amid rising geopolitical tensions, keeping pressure on US 10-year government bond yields, which moved back above 4.7% for the first time since May.

After the prior week’s mauling...

23 July 2026

A cabinet reshuffle following a change of leader can have major implications for bond and equity markets. Even though new prime minister Andy Burnham has pledged to stick to fiscal rules, there are signs that he will do things differently.

Markets are forward looking and they will be trying to second guess what path Burnham and new chancellor John...