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4 days ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Greencore (GNC), which supplies supermarkets with pre-packed foods, has topped a second mid-cap Alpha screen in a week as it heads the quality screen. The business is in the middle of a proposed takeover of Bakkavor (BAKK). It is worth watching institutional activity around this stock before buying. On the UK large cap screen, Auto Trader (AUTO), Experian (EXPN) and Sage (SGE) lead the way, passing all the tests.
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1 week ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Markets have shown a strong desire to look beyond geopolitical ructions: Brent crude oil futures may be volatile, but highs have only gone a bit past retracing falls since President Trump’s “liberation day” announcement and its attempt to re-set global trade. There aren’t yet serious signs of an energy crunch like in 1973 (after the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur war), 1990 (when Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait) or even 2022 when Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine heinously escalated.
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1 week ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Top of the Alpha earnings upgrade momentum screen for UK mid-caps is pre-packed food-to-go company Greencore (GNC) which supplies sandwiches and salads to supermarkets. The company reported healthy growth in operating profit at its half-year stage, but the big recent news is the proposed £1.2bn cash and shares offer for Bakkavor (BAKK), which also supplies supermarkets but with more of a focus on heat at home type foods.
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1 week ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
You always have choices with what to do with your money. Therefore, it makes sense to consider the return on a company’s shares with reference to investors’ opportunity cost of capital. Valuation models based on the economic profit of investments refer to companies’ residual income (RI), which essentially means the profit a company makes less a charge for the cost of investors’ equity.
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2 weeks ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear programme and military leadership caused a spike in the price of oil and haven assets. The geopolitical turmoil has arrested the decline in the US dollar index (abbreviated to DXY, this measures the value of USD against a basket of other major developed market currencies) and reminds investors of one of the most brutal reasons to hold some dollars as part of their asset allocation. The dollar index has a close to three-fifths weighting towards the euro.
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2 weeks ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Healthcare stocks in the US have seriously lagged the S&P 500 index since the pandemic days: while the market benchmark has made 51 per cent total returns in four years, the sector index for healthcare has made just 14 per cent. Since 2022 lows, much of the positive performance of the US market has been down to the march of technology companies benefiting from cloud computing rollout and of course the optimism for artificial intelligence.
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2 weeks ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Progress on US-China trade talks could lift risk appetite and support both bond and equity marketsPublished on June 11, 2025Auctions of US Treasury bonds have gone from mundane events to crucial signs of investors’ confidence in the world’s largest economy. Furthermore, with Elon Musk bemoaning all the “disgusting pork” in the so-called “big, beautiful bill” (the budget Donald Trump’s allies are working to get approved in the Senate), America’s fiscal policy has become a soap opera.
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3 weeks ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
June has got off to a face-palming start for politics in the UK and it’s even worse in America. Investors can’t ignore the soap opera between President Trump and Elon Musk — most seriously the spats over Starlink could compromise western defence at a time of geopolitical tension — but they should limit worrying to things they can control.
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3 weeks ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Buying and profiting from stock market fear is possible thanks to exchange traded products that track (and in some cases leverage) spikes in the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, better known as the ‘Vix’. Whether retail investors should be doing this is another matter given that volatility can drop back rapidly, too. Skilled traders in financial derivatives know how to diversify across timeframes and product structures, as well as asset classes.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | James Norrington
Investors can position smartly as negotiations play outPublished on May 1, 2025Polarisation is a theme of 21st century life. It’s not original to proclaim middle ground has become scorched earth, but it’s interesting to observe how investment strategy signals also reflect a necessity to position for extremes. Political risk has become a frustrating presence for investors, especially with tariff policy up ending the global economic order.
