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Royal Mail goes electric

Royal Mail goes electric Trials of fully electric vans and trucks will soon begin in London as Royal Mail goes electric.  The new electric vehicles, manufactured by arrival in the UK, will operate from Royal Mails central London depot. This is a great achievement for the quiet electric vehicle revolution. Congratulations …

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Markets

Wall Street slides

Wall Street slides. At the bell yesterday (23/08/17) the DOW Jones Industrial Average, The S&P 500 and NASDAQ where all down. Much of the uncertainty stems from Donald Trump’s threat to ‘shut down government’ if funds are not secured to build the Mexico/US wall! Doesn’t inspire much confidence does it …

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News

Identity theft – protect yourself

Identity theft – protect yourself. There are a number of very simple measures we can all take to protect ourselves online. Here is a generalised list of measures we can all follow:- Create strong passwords. Keep your passwords safe. Change your passwords. Install anti-virus protection. Install internet security software. Update …

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Markets

Sterling stumbles

Sterling stumbles The pound fell both against the Euro and dollar yesterday (23/08/17) and continues to struggle. The pound fell to an eight low yesterday at $1.2782 Will the pound come under more pressure from ECB president Mario Draghi when he makes his speech at Jackson Hole on Friday? Fed …

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News

Central bankers head to Jackson Hole

Central bankers head to Jackson Hole. Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi et al, will be meeting this Friday to make their eagerly anticipated speeches at Jackson Hole. Debate about QE roll back, interest rates and inflation will presumably take centre stage. The US …

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News

Google and Walmart go shopping

Google and Walmart go shopping. Walmart and Google are joining forces using voice enabled shopping technology to take on Amazon’s dominance in voice activated shopping. From next month US shoppers will be able to buy Walmart goods using Google Assistant. Amazon dominate online retail and now use their voice technology …

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News

Artificial intelligence based voice shopping

Artificial intelligence based voice shopping. Voice activated and voice recognition software has moved on at a remarkable speed. I remember my first introduction to this technology when I used a product called, ‘Dragon NaturallySpeaking’. Back then it consisted of a headset, microphone, training CD and software.  It was designed to …

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Markets

Hong Kong stock markets closed

Hong Kong stock markets closed As a powerful Typhoon category 10 storm Hato hit Hong Kong on Wednesday.

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Markets

Stock market movements

Stock market movements – today 22/08/17 The DOW Jones Industrial Average closed at 21899 after gaining nearly 200 points today. S&P 500 closed up at 2452 gaining 24 points. The NASAQ closed at 6297. The DAX index was up 1.4% to 12229 – adding 163 points The FTSE 100 closed …

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Markets

German business confidence falls

German business confidence falls. A survey taken of German investors suggests confidence has fallen –  from a score of 17.5 to 10 in July. Looking at the performance of the DAX today you wouldn’t have thought so. The DAX closed up today at 12229 a 1.4% increase.  

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Markets
FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week

FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week on 28th September 2017… Worldpay Group PLC (WPG) Intertek Group PLC (ITRK) Smurfit Kappa Group PLC (SKG) Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets PLC Hargreaves Lansdown PLC  

Markets
Federal Reserve meeting update

Federal Reserve meeting update. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday (20/09/17) announced it will start reducing the size of its balance sheet. At something like $4.5 trillion it will now, after nine years finally start reducing the balance in October 2017 on a monthly basis. US interest rates were held at …

Markets
Dow Jones Industrial Average up again

Dow Jones Industrial Average up again I don’t know how many more times I will report on the rise of the Dow but it did it yet again yesterday (19/09/17). A new high was reached and at close the DJIA was: 22370 The outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting …

Markets
Record breakers

Record breakers. The record breaking highs just keep on coming as the Dow Jones Industrial Average yet again sets another record high on 18/09/17. The Dow Jones closed up at: 22331 The S&P 500 closed up at: 2503 The NASDAQ closed up at: 6454 For how much longer can these …

Markets
Dow Jones flying high again

Dow Jones flying high again New record high set by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The DJIA closed up at: 22268 – yet another new record high!

Markets
FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week

FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week on Thursday 21st September 2017 Old Mutual PLC (OML) Taylor Wimpey PLC (TW.    

Markets
Sterling continues upward march

Sterling continues upward march. The pound bashed through $1.36 against the dollar on Friday (am 15/09/17) as the FTSE 100 falls back. Will it hold on to these gains?  

Investing
J D Wetherspoon reports

J D Wetherspoon reports. End of year accounts from J D Wetherspoon report sales and profits up! Profit before tax is reported at: £102.8 million (up from £80.60 million in 2016). Sales up by: 4% (like-for-like). Where else can you get such good value? J D Wetherspoon PLC (JDW) is …

Markets
Asian stock markets end the week subdued

Asian stock markets end the week subdued Investors appear to largely shrug off the latest provocation from North Korea as another missile is fired over Japan. Japan’s NIKKEI index closed up to end the week at: 19909 and South Korea’s KOSPI index closed up at: 2386. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng …