The FTSE 100 snapped back on Thursday, mirroring a global relief rally after US President Donald Trump paused the rollout of new tariffs. China, on the other hand, has urged the US to meet it 'halfway' after Trump said he was raising tariffs on China to 125% from an earlier 104%. These took effect at the same time as retaliatory levies of 84% slapped on by Beijing on US imports. China's...

Given the depressed valuation of the UK stock market ? and the even more depressed valuation of UK commercial property ? it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a fund to seize on the opportunities on offer.Enter Special Opportunities REIT, a new internally-managed real estate investment trust aimed at capitalising on the abundance of value in the UK commercial property sector...

Office market has upside potentialPrime rents set to keep risingHelical and Shaftesbury rated BuyThe London REIT (real estate investment trust) sector may be ?under attack?, according to analysts at Berenberg, but there are reasons to be cheerful.While the companies ?may have issues?, London property still has a place in the market, but in a different format, meaning firms will need to...

Jefferies cuts stocks to 'hold' or 'sell'Analysts see 'recession' in officesMorgan Stanley takes a more positive viewShares in four of the UK's biggest property companies fell after analysts at investment bank Jefferies cut their recommendations on the basis office rents in the capital are headed for recession.British Land (BLND) shares eased 1.9% to 320p, Derwent London (DLN) shares were 1.6%...

Inflation rises at slowest pace this yearBonds and interest-rate sensitive stocks chased higherBank rates still set to go up next monthShares in downtrodden housebuilders and property companies were chased higher after the latest inflation data for June came in below expectations, raising hopes the Bank of England might slow the pace of interest rate increases.Leading the FTSE 100 higher were...

Energy services giant John Wood (WG.) has bagged a contract to support one of the world's biggest offshore oil and gas projects in Russia.Sadly it doesn't seem enough to win over the market as the shares trade 4.5p easier at 774.5p, given the wider oil services industry remains problematic amid volatile commodity prices.From Russia with loveSakhalin Energy, which runs the Sakhalin-2 project,...

The top 10 best-performing investment trusts have delivered an average 12.1% compound annual return* over the past 25 years, illustrating the power of investing in the stock market. This is according to new data from the Association of Investment Trusts (AIC).This article looks at the leaders over this period, and the best performers on a 10-year basis. This list of winners can give you a good...

Fashion-to-furnishings firm Laura Ashley (ALY) falls 14.3% to 22.5p on poor figures for the first half to 27 July. Blaming the impact of changeable weather on fashion and home furnishing sales, the small cap reports a £500,000 drop in taxable profits to £7.8 million on total sales down 5.6% to £137.3 million. Alarmingly, both like-for-like retail sales and e-commerce revenues went...