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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images My Scottish Mortgage (LSE: SMT) shares had a jolly good January. I didn’t expect that, given the furore over Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) upstart DeepSeek. Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust’s heavily invested in big US tech, with Amazon (6.3%), Meta Platforms (4.6%) and Nvidia (4.1%) among its top holdings. Yet the sector’s been all over the place this week, as investors struggle to get their heads around DeepSeek. It triggered a $1trn US stock market crash on Monday (27 January), with Nvidia at the heart of it. Its market-cap crashed by almost $600bn, the largest one-day…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images After years of being overlooked, UK dividend shares are starting to look like unmissable bargains, to my eyes.  Investors have shunned the FTSE 100 as they chase high-flying US tech stocks, but that dynamic could be about to shift. With interest rates expected to fall this year and next, high-yielding dividend stocks may steadily regain their appeal. Lately, investors have preferred the safety of cash and bonds. These have offered more attractive returns due to rising interest rates, with little or no capital risk.  However, as further UK interest rate cuts loom, the yields on these…

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[ad_1] Intel issued disappointing quarterly guidance on Thursday, but reported earnings and revenue that topped estimates. Shares were up 3% after hours.Here’s how the company did in the fourth quarter compared with LSEG estimates:Earnings per share: 13 cents adjusted vs. 12 cents expectedRevenue: $14.26 billion vs. $13.81 billion expectedIntel’s revenue declined for a third straight quarter, decreasing 7% from a year earlier, according to a statement. The company’s net loss for the quarter totaled $126 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with net income of $2.67 billion, or 63 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.It…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images I was surprised to learn that Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) shares were the number one stock purchase among ISA millionaires in 2025. Shares in the FTSE 100 insurer and asset manager seem an unlikely winner of a popularity contest, having slumped 23% over five years and 8% over 12 months. Yet I’m glad they’re in demand, because I hold them too. We can assume that Stocks and Shares ISA investors who’ve hit millionaire status know what they’re doing. Kate Marshall, lead investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, which compiled the figures, thinks so. This FTSE…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images I’ve been looking at the outlook for dividend stocks in 2025, and it has to depend a fair bit on how total 2024 dividends turn out. And that picture looks a bit mixed. According to the most recent Dividend Dashboard from AJ Bell, analysts expect a total of £78.5bn in FTSE 100 dividends for 2024. And that should be backed by total pre-tax profit for the index coming close to beating the all-time record set in 2022. But against that, forecasts suggest almost no dividend gain over 2023. And cover by earnings looks likely to…

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[ad_1] Investment performance is assessed on a risk-adjusted basis. But with financial markets growing ever more competitive, private capital fund managers have developed tools to reduce risk while protecting or even boosting their returns. These tools are aligned across two parameters: controls and economics. So, how do the control mechanisms function? Portfolio Oversight The reduction of investment risk through tight portfolio monitoring is a core feature of private capital. Minority shareholders of publicly listed companies can only achieve this by indirect means. Traditional asset managers have limited influence on public corporate executives. Often they have little recourse beyond nagging. The…

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[ad_1] US stocks gained steam on Thursday afternoon as investors digested megacap tech earnings and waited for Apple (AAPL) results for more clues on prospects for Big Tech. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose nearly 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was up nearly 0.3%. Right ahead of the closing bell, President Donald Trump once again teased looming 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. The US dollar (DX=F) index spiked on the news, reversing earlier losses to close near flat. After the Federal Reserve stood pat on interest rates as expected, investors…

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[ad_1] (Bloomberg) — Slowing inflation and policy-easing prospects are luring bumper investment flows to Turkey’s bond markets, putting longer-dated debt on track for the best monthly showing in almost two years. Most Read from Bloomberg Yields on five-year lira-denominated government bonds have slid 295 basis points in January, while 10-year borrowing costs are down 213 basis points, the biggest declines since May 2023. The rally in two-year securities is the biggest since last May, with yields dropping 247 basis points. Turkey’s central bank has now cut rates two months in a row, having kicked off its easing cycle in December…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Dividends from mining shares can flow like a river when the global economy’s booming. Glencore (LSE:GLEN) shares have a rich history of delivering huge cash rewards when broader commodities demand takes off. But cash rewards can conversely sink sharply when times get tough. This was also the case at Glencore in 2023, as falling earnings saw it slash 2023’s dividend 71% year on year to 13 US cents per share. Phenomena including China’s cooling economy and possible new trade tariffs pose threats to earnings going forwards. Yet City analysts believe dividends on Glencore shares will…

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