Investing Features

April in the stock market - Fred gets shredded

If the banks were strapped with cash in April the same couldn't be said of the oil majors - Royal Dutch Shell and BP - both of whom posted record profits as the price of crude headed north of $115 a barrel. Royal Dutch Shell made profits of £3.9 billion in Q1, while BP posted £3.38 billion - up 48%.

Demystifying fund management - how those clever men and women make money

Many books have been written on the techniques fund managers use but you don't necessarily require a maths degree to understand their basic strategies. Above and beyond the number-crunching there are several approaches most managers favour depending on the type and objective of their funds.

Investment Commentary: Sell in May and go away? No!

The $64,000 question is whether we should treat this as a suckers' rally and take advantage of it to bale out. At least one experienced fund manager of my acquaintance believes this to be the case. He has been investigating taking out an out-of-the-money put option on the Footsie. Will I be joining him? Despite my concern that the credit crunch still has some unpleasant tales to tell, my answer must be - not on this occasion.

Savings accounts - what's in a name?

Do you really know what you earn on your savings accounts? If so, is it the best interest rate return you can achieve for your money or have you been sidelined, left behind to languish on a lower rate while a super duper Mark 2 version of the account offers a better deal to newer savers? It seems that savers are being mislead (intentionally?) by certain banks in their zeal to attract cash in these credit crunching times.

Plan your tax-efficient ISA savings for this year now

Saving in an ISA (individual savings account) is one tax break too good to miss out on. We are now a couple of weeks in to the new tax year. Traditionally the so-called "ISA season" is at the end of the tax year, as savers and investors rush to take up the tax allowance before they lose it for good once the year-end has passed. However, it makes a lot of sense to save from the beginning of the year because you get a whole year's extra tax saving by doing it that way.