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Market Report: Morrisons on shelf after shares sell-off

The supermarket chain Morrisons enjoyed a day in the sun last week after it unveiled a 25-year, £170m licensing deal with Ocado to help it launch food online next year. But yesterday, the UK's fourth-biggest grocer was back in the shade after an institutional investor offloaded a large chunk of shares. Morrisons fell 6.7p to 282.6p, while traders waking up to mixed sales data from the supermarket might have also decided to put their money in the baskets of rivals Sainsbury's and Tesco.

Market Report: Plunge in revenues makes bwin a loser

The odds were stacked against bwin.party yesterday after a 17 per cent fall in first-quarter revenues. The FTSE 250 gambling group, which is best-known for sponsoring Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid, missed the jackpot with a lukewarm trading update that failed to inspire investors.

Market Report: Success in retail not always a good thing

Next and WH Smith were victims of their own success as scribblers at Nomura downgraded the pair.

Investment View: Reputations are at stake, but Shell is a better bet than BP

If allegations are correct, an average of £2,000 can be added to our petrol bills over the last decade

Market Report: ENRC founders get bid breathing space

The founders of troubled Kazakh miner ENRC have been given more time to come up with a better bid, but the City isn’t convinced a better offer will be made.

Market Report: Profit-taking puts brakes on Footsie

Hopes that the Footsie could match the record 11 days of gains last set in July 2009 were lost when weak US jobs data and profit-taking sent the benchmark index into negative territory. The blue-chip index has been flirting with the 6,700 barrier during trading over the past three days, but the chance to push on through this was dashed during the afternoon session. It lost 5.75 points to 6,687.8 after US jobs, manufacturing and housing data disappointed. Despite the dip it is still at levels last seen in November 2007.

Market Report: Oil giants expected to ride out 'fix' storm

While Westminster worried about the scale of an oil price-fixing scandal, the City took a more sanguine view. Tuesday's raid of the oil giants' offices by the European Commission – the start of an investigation into allegations of fixing that could have affected millions of motorists – fuelled fears that the oil majors are facing their very own version of the banks' Libor disgrace.

Market Report: Babcock backed as it 'sails ahead of pack'

Punters were tallying up the lucrative order book at Babcock International as they piled in to the engineering group yesterday. The British engineering outsourcer, which started life in 1891 when a US boiler maker opened its first UK office, reported results ahead of expectations, with profits up 30 per cent.

Market Report: StanChart off-key as activist goes short

Investors in Standard Chartered were singing the blues yesterday. The Asia-focused banking group's share price fell to the bottom of the pile after punters caught wind that the activist investor Muddy Waters was shorting the stock. Carson Block, founder of Muddy Waters, a US short-seller, said at a hedge fund conference in Las Vegas that he had bought five-year credit default swaps on Standard Chartered. He is betting against the group because of its "deteriorating" loan quality.

Investment View: One slightly sick trading statement does not make StanChart a 'sell'

Should you be standing with Standard Chartered after last week's less than stellar trading update? The market tells its own story. The shares have been on the skids since it was issued. In fact they've been trending down for a while.

Market Report: Miner Amplats digs itself into a hole

News that the world’s top platinum producer has bowed to union pressure and slashed the number of job cuts it planned has left investors worried about the future of the industry.

Investment Column: Food for thought if you want a stake in grocers

I think Tesco might look cheap by the end of the year, so it's time to take a punt and buy

Market Report: Sirius takes a big crash on its potash

A visit by inspectors from North York Moors national park caused jitters in the City yesterday for potash miner Sirius Minerals.

Market Report: Revived Halfords is pedalling in front

Shares in the bike retailer Halfords were pumped up to a two-year high yesterday on hopes in the City it is now on the right track. The analyst Georgina Johanan at JPMorgan said she thinks the bike and car accessories specialist is putting its "wheels back in motion" with better customer service, more products and a better online business.

Market Report: Trio of newcomers steal the limelight

The market's newest arrivals continued to impress, with Crest Nicholson, esure and Countrywide all making gains.

Day In a Page

National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
Sent down at the Old Bailey: A tour of the world's most famous court

Sent down at the Old Bailey

A tour of the world's most famous court
Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
British football scores an own goal

British football scores an own goal

Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

James Lawton

Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again
Dylan Hartley: Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong

Dylan Hartley talks tough

Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong
Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system'

Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

Plenty of sleaze

Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

The Freemasons’ Code

Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
Why clubs are keen to take a stand

Why clubs are keen to take a stand

There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death