Wednesday preview: J. Sainsbury, Michael Page
6th Oct 2009 16:07
Though still a long way from reclaiming its position as Britain's biggest supermarket in terms of sales, J. Sainsbury has been enjoying a renaissance in recent years and has certainly been enjoying faster sales growth than sector leader Tesco this year. Recent figures from TNS Worldpanel indicated
Read moreBroker snap: Cracks appearing at Tesco
6th Oct 2009 12:52
The market seems to have had difficulty deciding what to make of the results from Tesco announced on Tuesday morning, but ETX Capital is convinced cracks are beginning to appear in the supermarket giant's money making machine. 'Despite a net first half profit in excess of £1bn and a hike in their d
Read moreLondon close: Footsie puts on late spurt
5th Oct 2009 17:16
Having been lethargic all day leading shares put on a late spurt in London, after receiving a transatlantic boost in the form of better than expected data from the US services sector. Miners featured prominently among the top performers, helped by bullish comment from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie eases into the red
5th Oct 2009 13:45
The Footsie dipped into the red over the lunch-time session but it was a very shallow dip, with leading shares mixed and mostly sticking close to overnight levels. Life insurer Aviva is the heaviest faller in the FTSE 100 after it confirmed it is to sell a minority stake in its Dutch insurance bus
Read moreLondon midday: Shares still sluggish
5th Oct 2009 12:13
Equities are in sluggish mood on the first day of trading this week and the leading share index sits just below the 5,000 point level. Life insurer Aviva is the heaviest faller in the FTSE 100 after it confirmed it is to sell a minority stake in its Dutch insurance business Delta Lloyd through a fl
Read moreLondon close: Stocks finish down
2nd Oct 2009 16:33
London's leading shares closed in the red but were off earlier lows as the US recovered somewhat after a poor start. A weaker than expected jobs report had pushed US stocks deep in the red, though by midday the markets had retraced some of the losses. Over here, there was good news for home owners
Read moreLondon afternoon: US jobs data sinks Footsie
2nd Oct 2009 14:05
Footsie has tumbled further below the 5,000 level after a disappointing read on the monthly US jobs numbers. US non-farm payrolls fell a worse than expected 263,000 in September, up from a downwardly revised 201,000 the month before, and compared with the 180,000 expected by economists. The unemp
Read moreBroker tips: Supermarkets, Inchcape, Dunelm
2nd Oct 2009 13:14
Food price deflation is about to put a dent in the earnings of the major UK supermarkets if the experience of their US counterparts is anything to go by, reckons Citigroup. The US bank has slapped sell recommendations on Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons. Citi said high hopes at the beginning of the y
Read moreBroker snap: Supermarkets to be hit by food price deflation
2nd Oct 2009 12:51
Food price deflation is about to put a dent in the earnings of the major UK supermarkets if the experience of their US counterparts is anything to go by, reckons Citigroup. The US bank has slapped sell recommendations on Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons. Citi said high hopes at the beginning of the y
Read moreLondon midday: Equities nervously lower
2nd Oct 2009 12:05
The Footsie dipped below the 5,000 level this morning as it followed Wall Street lower in the wake of patchy US economic data yesterday. Over here, there was good news for home owners as UK house prices rose for the fifth month in a row in September, according to the Nationwide Building Society. Th
Read moreReckitt appoints Compass chief to board
23rd Sep 2009 15:07
The boss of caterer Compass is joining Reckitt Benckiser as a non-executive director to replace David Tyler who's leaving for the chairman's role at Sainsbury's. Richard Cousins, who was also on the board of HBOS during the credit crisis, will take up his role at the household products firm on 1 Oc
Read moreLondon close: Shares end up but down from highs
22nd Sep 2009 16:39
London's leading shares finished with slight gains but were well below earlier highs as miners eased back slightly. Eurasian Natural Resources, Lonmin, Xstrata and Vedanta Resources still posted healthy gains, while precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources were also on the climb. R
Read moreLondon afternoon: Shares off the top
22nd Sep 2009 14:07
Shares drifted lower over the lunchtime session but are still up on the day, helped in no small part by the strength of miners, which are rising in line with firmer metals prices. Rio Tinto is wanted after it sold off another chunk of Alcan. The heavily indebted miner sold Alcan Composites, part of
Read moreSector movers: Property stocks rise on updates
18th Sep 2009 11:26
On a generally quiet day on the company news front, property groups take centre stage with a series of announcements. None of the news is particularly earth-shattering, but the sector is one of today's best performers nonetheless. Property group Songbird is flying high after saying it has increas
Read moreSainsbury's new chair Tyler opens account
17th Sep 2009 16:29
New Sainsbury's chairman David Tyler wasted no time in opening his account, snapping up £167,000 of shares in the supermarket chain today. The former finance boss of GUS, who joins the board at the start of next month and becomes chairman on 1 November, paid 334.3p each for 50,000 shares. Tyler ta
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