A very strong Christmas trading update (best in 7 years) from supermarket Morrison (MRW) has allowed it upgrade profits guidance, helping its shares outperform this morning. This, coupled with a positive sector assessment of the Christmas period by surveyor Neilson, is giving a real boost to peers. Cost conscious shoppers putting it off until the…
Macro observations Never doubt the impact a speech can have. Prime Minister Theresa May’s first interview in 2017 has revived talk of a ‘hard Brexit’ following a conspicuously quiet Christmas and New Year, providing an immediate impact in currency markets. During the morning trading session on Monday Pound Sterling has retraced its November recovery, with Cable to falling…
Shares in engineer Babcock International (BAB) are down in the dumps this morning, footing the blue-chip UK 100 index on a combination of analyst downgrade (Deutsche Bank; Hold from Buy) and charting technicals. The shares had already peaked on Friday, at the ceiling of a 3-month falling channel that coincides with a 100-day moving average…
Having come back from the New Year break, it seemed that nothing could slow down the speed of the UK 100 santa rally, carrying on where it left off before Christmas. Refreshed and ready to go, traders helped the index storm not just one, but two fresh all-time highs during the course of shortened trading…
This week provided a fine example in ‘sector read-across’ with management updates from two major corporates contributing to huge share price moves for both themselves and sector peers. The sectors in question are client favourites, intricately linked to consumer confidence and likely to figure in many a portfolio – Retail, which I talk about below,…
Shares in the newly merged and renamed interdealer broker TP ICAP (TCAP) are top of the more UK-focused this morning, bulls pushing them to a test of 8.5yr highs. The jump higher comes courtesy of a reassuring – albeit brief – FY trading update regarding performance in Q4 with management suggesting 2016 revenues will be…