-----Business Analysis & Features
The Indy 100 share index is designed to reflect the health of the economy.
* NEW! Indy 100 - the full list, updated dynamically
* A better UK barometer: Which stocks made it, which didn't, and why
How much further do the bulls have to run on Wall Street?
Published: 27 April 2007
Hang out the bunting, prepare the sandwiches and the fizzy pop, get ready for a street party. A Wall Street party. The US stock market is very, very close to reaching an all-time high, and it could break the record at any moment.
The Investment Column: ARM survives and prospers in 'chips with everything' age
Published: 27 April 2007
Market Report: Delta stake makes Sainsbury's bid 'less likely'
Published: 27 April 2007
Traders believe that confirmation that the Qatari-based investor Delta is now the largest single shareholder in J Sainsbury, with a 17.4 per cent stake, makes a bid for the whole group less, rather than more, likely.
Hamish McRae: At 2.8 per cent, UK growth is still robust. So how come living standards are falling?
Published: 26 April 2007
A strongly growing economy but falling living standards: can that juxtaposition be right?
As Spain falters, is the world's property boom coming to an end?
Published: 26 April 2007
Panic selling of Spanish real estate stocks this week sent shudders through property markets worldwide. As investors bet that Spain's 10-year construction boom is finally over, we take a look at global property hotspots to see who will be the next casualty.
Market Report: Property stocks bounce on Slough bid rumours
Published: 25 April 2007
Property stocks bounced back after a bout of profit-taking related to valuation concerns, amid talk that British Land will use the proceeds of a partial sale of its Meadowhall shopping centre to bid for Slough Estates.
The great British Retail Invasion hits the US
Published: 25 April 2007
With the pound now buying you a whole $2, you might think that the British Retail Invasion refers to the squadrons of shoppers, payloads of empty suitcases, flying transatlantic in search of a bargain. Which of course it does. But it has another meaning. Slowly, British retail companies are rediscovering their confidence for a little Stateside adventuring, and this time they just might be able to vanquish the memories of two decades-worth of big retailers who have come before them and come a cropper amid the alien retail terrain of the US.
Market Report: New River acquisition helps turn tide at Shire
Published: 24 April 2007
In what is going to be a busy week for the pharmaceuticals sector, Shire could outshine its more illustrious rivals when it reports first-quarter earnings tomorrow.
$15bn MedImmune buy bolsters Astra pipeline
Published: 24 April 2007
AstraZeneca, the UK's No 2 drug maker, is paying $15.2bn (£7.6bn) in cash for one of the US's biggest biotech companies in an attempt to bolster its meagre pipeline of future products.
Small Talk: ChoicesUK warning bodes ill for music and movie sellers
Published: 23 April 2007
Although research suggests there has been a marked rise in profit warnings among AIM-listed companies, few alerts will have created as much ill-feeling as Thursday's from ChoicesUK, the DVD, CD and computer-games retailer and renter.
The Week Ahead: Sweet figures anticipated from AB Foods
Published: 23 April 2007
Shares in the sugar and retail group Associated British Foods have quietly rallied from 700p last June to close at 938p on Friday, an all-time high and a gain of 34 per cent. Traders are expecting a bullish set of first-quarter numbers from the company tomorrow and an encouraging outlook.
The Week Ahead: BP has another headache as it joins drugs giants in the City
Published: 22 April 2007
It's a drug-heavy week. Giants including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), AstraZeneca and Shire, which together produce a big slug of all the pills popped around the world, will unveil interim numbers. Their performance, along with results from Merck of Germany and Ireland's Elan, should give a broad view of the sector.
The Week That Was: The blues for EMI and turquoise for the banks
Published: 22 April 2007
EMI, the troubled music group, is having to devise ever more creative ways of digging itself out of a financial hole. Last week it announced it would securitise the cash flow from its collection of music publishing rights, which include timeless hits like "Heard it through the grapevine", to cut the cost of servicing its debts. It also suspended dividend payments to conserve cash.
Boeing's 787: Going like a dream
Published: 22 April 2007
Lawrence Hunt: Silver lining for laid-back airline chief
Published: 21 April 2007
Market Report: Threat of asset seizures weighs on oil stocks
Published: 21 April 2007
The surge in mining and commodities stocks listed on AIM operating in some weird and wonderful locations could be about to partially unravel if comments from Russian authorities result in asset seizures.
Business Interview: Sir Gerry Robinson
Published: 21 April 2007
Long race to sell Tote could fall at the final hurdle
Published: 20 April 2007
It has turned into the longest and most delayed privatisation in history.
Market Report: EMI rises as takeover talk is given another spin
Published: 20 April 2007
The struggling music publisher EMI Group once again topped the list of FTSE 350 risers as talk did the rounds for what seems like the umpteenth time that a bid is in the air.
The Investment Colum: Punch still a solid investment after FTSE 100 entry
Published: 20 April 2007
Market Report: S&S dips as Goldman calls time on takeover hype
Published: 19 April 2007
The utility sector remains one of the hotter takeover stories in the market, but Goldman Sachs believes that the time has come to cash in on the hype. It added Scottish & Southern Energy, many punters' favourite to get a bid, to its "conviction sell" list, telling investors that the shares are expensive "from all angles".
A tale of two retailers: Tesco thrives as Debenhams sinks
Published: 18 April 2007
Sir Terry Leahy signalled yesterday that Tesco was looking to build as big a business in the United States as it has in the United Kingdom as the supermarket chain unveiled record profits of £2.6bn and spelt out the value of its global property estate.
Debenhams shares dive on third profit warning in four months
Published: 18 April 2007
Debenhams laid bare the potential pitfalls of private equity ownership yesterday as it issued a devastating profits warning that left its shares worth a quarter less than when they were re-floated 11 months ago.
The Investment Column: Fund manager Ashmore is an emerging force
Published: 18 April 2007
Our view: Hold
Market Report: Sports Direct and Apax in Adidas bid rumours
Published: 18 April 2007
Although private equity bids have hardly been out of the headlines in the past few months, one major European player to have watched most of the action from the sidelines is Apax Partners. That could be about to change if rumours that it is poised to bid for the German sports goods giant Adidas turn out to be true.
