MoneyWeek

So much for another French revolution. Instead, France has opted for evolution in slow motion. It’s gone the way of post-war Italy, with protracted negotiations to form unstable coalitions on the cards. There are now 16 groups across three blocs sitt

The end of rising interest rates, which has led to an increase in deal-making, means bigger bonuses for London’s investment bankers, says Kalyeena Makortoff in The Guardian. Capital market activity was “promising” in the first quarter, signalling a t

“It could have been worse,” says John Authers on Bloomberg. French president Emmanuel Macron’s “reckless decision” to call early parliamentary elections has yielded a hung parliament and “an unconscionable mess” (see page 9). But that outcome was sti

Investors have caught “uranium fever”, say Geoffrey Morgan and Jacob Lorinc on Bloomberg. The nuclear fuel suffered from a long period of neglect after the 2011 Fukushima disaster but prices have surged 233% in five years, “more than triple the gains

“My cautious views lead to fewer new subscribers. I guess people want their bullish views to be reinforced… the best things to read are those that test your beliefs… If you are a bull, read bears. If you are a bear, read bulls. You only learn from wh

The UK stockmarket put in a mediocre performance during the last parliament, with the FTSE 100 gaining 9% and the FTSE 250 rising 6% since July 2019, shortly before Boris Johnson became prime minister. That contrasts with gains of 85% for America’s S

Shares in pharmaceuticals group Indivior plunged by a third last week after the drugmaker slashed its profit guidance and revealed it would discontinue sales of Perseris , its schizophrenia drug, says This is Money. Indivior, based in the US, moved i

One of Hollywood’s oldest companies, the entertainment giant Paramount Global, has agreed to merge with independent film studio Skydance Media, creating a group worth $28bn, says Peter Hoskins on the BBC. As part of the “complex” deal, Skydance will

After rejecting previous takeover offers from Carlsberg because they undervalued the company, soft-drinks maker Britvic has now agreed to an improved £3.3bn bid from the Danish brewer, say Jack Simpson and Jasper Jolly in the Guardian. Shareholders w

The Times Tate & Lyle’s shares tumbled after it acquired ingredient supplier CP Kelco. But although the deal raises concerns about debt levels and integration, it should expand Tate’s product range. Meanwhile, Tate has transitioned away from being th

The proportion of computers working with artificial intelligence (AI) is set to expand by a third by 2017, says WirtschaftsWoche. The AI “megatrend” is good news not only for the likes of Nvidia, but also for IT-services groups such as Munich’s Canco

MegazoneCloud, one of Asia’s biggest cloud and artificial-intelligence (AI) services companies, has selected banks to support an initial public offering (IPO) likely to value it at several billions of dollars, says Bloomberg. The date of the flotatio

Nigel Farage’s “upstart” Reform UK party won around 14% of the vote and now has five seats in parliament, including one for Farage at his eighth attempt, says Stefan Boscia in Politico. This “surge” is thought to have cost the Tories more than 100 MP

There were “gasps of horror” and tears from Marine Le Pen’s supporters following an “unexpected left-wing victory” in the second round of France’s parliamentary elections, which thwarted her efforts “to bring the far-right to power”, says the Financi

Many Iranians boycotted the first round of the country’s presidential election, says The Guardian. But more turned out for the second round, leading to a victory for the more moderate candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian (pictured). His campaign focused on e

Last week’s general election was generally good for this column as I’ve long tipped Labour getting the most seats as well as an overall majority. Also as tipped, the Tories got more than 100 seats and ended up with more MPs than Reform, which got les

“Wanted: part-time tutor for a budding young architect student. Potential pay: over £2m.” Specialised private education for the super-rich is booming, with earnings outpacing conventional salaries, says Robert Booth in The Guardian. Tutors Internatio

Milan has always been Italy’s financial centre, but it has never had much of a role on the global stage, and as Italy’s economy has stagnated over the last 20 years, even its domestic role has not amounted to very much. Over the last few months, howe

● M&S’s hybrid video and in-person format for its annual shareholder meeting “worked”, says Nils Pratley in The Guardian. It was a stark contrast to last year’s digital-only event. Shareholders “have a right to buttonhole” the board once a year. But

Just three months ago, a plethora of commentators, including the former editors of this magazine, were predicting a turnaround in the relentless underperformance and shrinkage of the British stockmarket. Their rationale was sound and plausible. Surve

Tariffs on Chinese imports have so far been a “Western phenomenon”, says Sonal Varma. “This is about to change.” Chinese overcapacity, exacerbated by Western tariffs which have led additional supply to be redirected to markets closer to home, are “sq

“Since Covid I have made £365,000 through cameos and personalised videos. One day I will need carers. I want to be comfortable and I want them to be properly paid for. It is really because I want to make money though and they pay me to do it.” Actor

bloomberg.com/opinion Investors in British stocks have reason to feel cheery, says Merryn Somerset Webb. Labour has won a “pretty hefty” majority, boding well for political stability. And the new government has been “dealt a perfectly reasonable han

theconversation.com Why do politicians look so out of touch with ordinary people? “Because they are,” says Emma Otterski. Politicians tend to come from a narrow subsection of society and have higher status than those they represent. Status in turn a

unherd.com The election was a missed opportunity to face a grim reality, says Paul Collier: “beyond London and Edinburgh, the regional economies of Britain have accumulated deep structural problems” and are poorer than they should be due to low-prod

Cevian Capital has acquired a 5% stake in knee-and-hip replacement manufacturer Smith+Nephew (S&N), says Bloomberg. The Swedish activist investor says that S&N “has not generated shareholder value for many years”, and there is “potential to create si

■ Investment trusts consistently outperform similar open-ended “sister funds” from the same manager, with an average additional return of 5.3% on an underlying basis, according to Wealth Club, an investment service. These trusts, which have been arou

Diploma’s half-year results (to 31 March 2024) showed revenue up 10% year on year to £638.3m, with adjusted operating profit (which excludes acquisition costs) up 14% to £125.4m, adjusted earnings per share (EPS) up 10% to 65.1p and ROATCE (defined a

Canadian industry is ideally placed to benefit from nearshoring, says Greg Eckel – a result of both the incentives and subsidies coming from the government, and its preferential access to the US market under the USMCA trade agreement. Eckel’s fund, C

Experts think 2.5 million pensioners are already paying income tax on their state pension. In principle, you don’t pay any income tax until your income goes above the personal allowance, currently £12,570 and frozen for the next few years. Your state

● One early decision for Labour on pensions will be when to introduce new contribution rates. The last government legislated for two significant changes to the auto-enrolment system, through which employers enrol all staff in their occupational pensi

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust’s (FGT) strategy is based on the premise that one way to achieve competitive investment returns is to run a concentrated portfolio built around positions in world-class companies that offer access to long-lasting and mo

Over the past 15 years the notion that a company exists to make money for its shareholders has often been cast aside. Many technology companies saw their share prices rocket even as they drowned in red ink. This was partly due to a genuine belief tha

After a lousy June the long-delayed summer seems finally to have arrived. But does good weather bode well for equity markets? A 2015 study by Pomona College, California, seemed to suggest as much. Between 1948 and 2013, the market performed better on

It has been a poor fortnight for my long tips, with six of the eight declining, and only two going up. Investment and share-trading platform IG Group rose from 829p to 835p, while cruise-ship operator Royal Caribbean appreciated from $154 to $161. Ge

“I was the first of my family to go to university,” Keir Starmer told the Leeds University alumni’s magazine in an “exclusive interview” in 2023. “My Dad worked in a factory, my Mum was a nurse.” That will not be news to anyone paying attention to th

2015 Barca-Velha, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro, Portugal Approximately £600, hedonism.co.uk Every so often – well, to be precise, this is the 21st occasion in 72 years – a mind-blowing red wine is released in Portugal. It is no understatement to say that

Going… A collection of four drawings sketched by a young princess Victoria in the years leading up to her coronation in 1837 and just after were heading for auction this week with Roseberys Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers in London. Three of the drawi

An original watercolour illustration created in 1997 for a children’s book that was soon to be published about a boy wizard became the most valuable item connected with Harry Potter, when it sold for $1.9m with Sotheby’s in New York, late last month.

Editor: Andrew Van Sickle Markets editor: Alexander Rankine Comment editor: Stuart Watkins Politics editor: Emily Hohler Wealth editor: Chris Carter Shares editor: Matthew Partridge Senior digital editor: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Writer/editorial assistan