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Alibaba left with bloody nose as Ant IPO shelved at the 11th hour
Thursday 05 Nov 2020China’s online shopping giant Alibaba saw more than $75 billion wiped off its market value after the shock late postponement of Ant Group’s initial public offering ( IPO ). Ant had been set to go public on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges today (5 November) in what would have been the largest...
How ‘Lockdown 2’ news impacted the markets
Thursday 05 Nov 2020London’s blue chip benchmark index seemingly took the imposition of a new England-wide lockdown in its stride, the FTSE 100 finishing 2 November with a 1.4% gain to 5,654 points, helped by a weaker pound. However, the more domestically focused FTSE 250 fell by 0.2% as investors fretted over the...
Horizon Discovery and LiDCO surge on agreed takeover bids
Thursday 05 Nov 2020The announcement of second lockdown measures in England gave biotechnology shares involved in Covid-19 testing another a boost with Avacta ( AVCT:AIM ) , Omega Diagnostics ( ODX:AIM ) , Genedrive ( GDR:AIM ) all registering gains. However these moves were overshadowed by the 110% gain in gene cell...
New rules on ISAs to crimp demand for property funds
Thursday 05 Nov 2020As the saga over the liquidity mismatch in open-ended property funds – which offer daily prices but in practice need months to sell assets to pay back investors who want their money – rolls on, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) suggested in August that investors give funds a 90-day or 180-day ‘...
UK in flux as state support sees borrowing spike and Brexit remains uncertain
Thursday 29 Oct 2020A significant extension of the financial support available for individuals and businesses affected by coronavirus restrictions is unlikely to shift investor sentiment dramatically towards the hospitality and travel businesses at the sharp end of the pandemic. The spending associated with this new...
German software giant SAP pulls forward cloud plans
Thursday 29 Oct 2020Europe’s largest software company SAP plans to use the Covid crisis to go all in on cloud computing. The German giant revealed its plans after it was forced to pull medium-term profitability targets as it continues to struggle with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. SAP reported disappointing...
Schroder British Opportunities on track despite other failed IPOs
Thursday 29 Oct 2020The initial public offering ( IPO ) of the Buffettology Smaller Companies Investment Trust has been pulled (26 Oct), despite a ‘broad level of support from a significant number of investors’, after it failed to raise the £100 million minimum needed for a stock market float. This follows on from...
Bank stocks rally but dividend resumption hopes may be overdone
Thursday 29 Oct 2020Shares in the FTSE 350 banking index, which in recent weeks has plumbed multi-decade lows, jumped on press reports that talks were under way with the Prudential Regularity Authority (PRA) to resume dividend payments in 2021. In March 2020, the regulator asked the banks to suspend dividends and...
Why stocks have fallen despite beating earnings
Thursday 29 Oct 2020In a sign that it’s sometimes better to travel than arrive, several US technology stocks went down last week despite delivering forecast-beating earnings. Notable names included software firm Citrix, cloud computing and services business IBM and chip maker Intel. According to veteran US technology...
Crisis brewing at JD Sports as orders delayed
Thursday 22 Oct 2020A problem is brewing at JD Sports Fashion ( JD. ) where customers have experienced order delays and poor customer service, according to comments on social media. Negative sentiment towards the brand could potentially hurt earnings, particularly if the situation isn’t resolved soon. ‘Due to...