Stock & Shares

Over the first three months of this year London-listed equities were the least popular of any developed market in the world with international institutional investors. The UK’s first quarter GDP growth ground to an almost halt and retail data, considered one of the most accurate reflections of future economic growth, was poor. Throw in a vulnerable looking, warring government and the uncertainty of the Brexit process and it would have been a brave soul who bought the dip that took hold at in mid-January and had knocked over 12% off the FTSE 100 by late March.

Shares in online groceries shopping business Ocado had rocketed to a peak of 997.4 pence by lunchtime today, having closed yesterday at 554.2 pence. The remarkable climb, which equated to over 57% over half a trading day, was sparked by news breaking that a deal had been agreed that will see US supermarket chain Kroger take a 5% stake in the business. The deal will also involve Kroger using Ocado’s robotic warehouse technology across its US business.

While the backdrop of surging oil prices may not be welcomed by airlines, EasyJet’s share price received a further boost today after the company reported a strong set of results yesterday. A rise of 3.2% so far today takes total gains to almost 40% since last September’s lows.

When I finish writing it, this article, along with almost every other file I want to archive will be saved to the Dropbox folder on my laptop. From there it will quickly be automatically synced to the cloud. Last year my previous laptop packed in at one point, corrupted hard disk, and I had to have it repaired.

UK pharma giant Shire’s share price has jumped almost 4.5% today after news its board is backing the takeover bid made by Japanese peer Takeda. After news of the approach originally broke on April 16th and April 19th, Shire’s share price leapt 11%.

Royal Bank of Scotland’s share price has risen over 3% today on news that the lender has reached a ‘tentative’ agreement on a settlement that would end the long running US probe into its activities in the run-up to the 2008 sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

It’s the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world but few in the UK will have heard of Xiaomi. The Chinese company, founded only 8 years ago in 2010, yesterday filed for a $10 (£7.3) billion stock exchange listing. That would value Xiaomi at an initial $100 billion and be the world’s biggest IPO since Alibaba, the ‘Chinese Amazon’ listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Despite an initial dip in share price over its first year as a public company, Alibaba shares are now trading at almost twice their debut price. That represents an average annual return of almost 25% for early investors who will be wondering if Xiaomi can repeat the trick.

A somewhat surreal interaction between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Wall Street analysts and investors on Wednesday has raised some serious questions for many around the company’s future prospects. Should investors be concerned at Musk’s seeming increasing inclination to ignore finances in the pursuit of his grand vision? Many investing online both in the USA and US have been wooed by the charismatic Musk’s sales pitch for a near future where electric and driverless cars are standard and Tesla models lead the new high tech, environmentally friendly market. Some, however, may be starting to wonder if a Veil of Maya has been cast around Tesla by the force of Musk’s personality and is starting to slip.

No frills online stock broker Degiro has reported a record quarter, showing strong growth and is approaching the 300,000 accounts milestone. The pan-European fintech, whose transaction fees to buy and sell shares are on average around 90% less than competitors, is part of a new wave of budget investment platforms disrupting the industry.
Over the past two decades, the rise of ‘budget’ no frills airlines has irreversibly changed the aviation industry.

With reports over the weekend detailing a deal that will see supermarket giants Sainsbury’s and Asda now officially confirmed, the former’s share price has leapt 15% on the London Stock Exchange today. Investors holding Sainsbury’s shares with online stock brokers might well wonder if the deal will lead to further long term gains or if now is a good time to cash out.