Taking Stock - After The Bell

Jonathan Raymond and James Hughes discuss recent moves in markets including the latest wobble in certain areas of financial markets and we discuss the diverging outlook for 2026. James is looking forward to Silly season.

QC's Head of Technology Research Ben Barringer joins James and I for an update on developments in the tech sector following the release of earnings from the major players. We discuss AI enterprise adoption and productivity improvements, continued capex growth, competitive dynamics amongst the major players and valuations and comparisons to past episodes of technology adoption.

Are we in a bubble? James and I discuss this as well as touch on a few other issues that are keeping us interested here at QC HQ, including why does everyone seem to hate the UK?

With UK equities among the best performers, we chat with Alex Wright, manager of Fidelity Special Values, for his take on what lies behind the UK’s outperformance, as well as ask the contrarian investor which areas he has been investing in and what he looks for in a stock.

Now that the children are back at school and Hughesy and I are back at our desks, we discuss strong US earnings reports and the pleasing performance of the UK stock market despite the evident economic headwinds.