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Barclays Direct Investing has scrapped its annual charge, meaning it is now one of the cheapest platforms on the market. 

Previously, it charged a 0.25 per cent fee on balances up to 拢200,000 and 0.5 per cent on amounts over 拢200,000, with no annual cap. Investors with medium-sized portfolios were particularly disadvantaged by this structure.

However, with no platform fee, Barclays Direct Investing now competes on price with challenger fintechs such as Freetrade. An investor with a 拢20,000 portfolio of funds held in an Isa, who makes two trades a year, will now hold their platform for free, as they would on Freetrade. In contrast, the same portfolio held with banking peers HSBC or Santander would cost 拢50 and 拢70. Meanwhile, mainstream provider Hargreaves Lansdown would charge 拢73.90 for the same portfolio, while Interactive Investor would cost 拢79.86 and AJ Bell 拢53. 

The rest of the platform鈥檚 pricing remains unchanged. Barclays Direct investing has no fund dealing fees, but there is a 拢6 dealing fee for buying or selling shares, investment trusts or ETFs. 

Holly Mackay, CEO and founder of Boring Money, said: 鈥淏arclays is drawing a bold line in the sand which will take the fight to challenger fintechs. It will also result in some soul searching amongst more established large rivals who have been delivered a pricing headache which I think they will have to respond to.鈥�

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By most standards, Broadcom (US:AVGO) produced a more than decent set of half-year figures, detailing a 48 per cent rise in second quarter (Q2) revenue to a record $22.2bn (拢16.4bn), including an eye-catching 143 per cent rise in year-on-year semiconductor sales to $10.8bn. But the fact that the digital tech group鈥檚 shares lost ground in after-hours trading on Wall Street shows that there are some heady expectations baked into the share price.

Nearly $300bn was wiped off the company鈥檚 valuation with shares falling 14 per cent in after-hours trading, making it one of the largest single-day falls in market cap for any company.

Third quarter (Q3) revenue guidance has been pitched at $29.4bn, an 84 per cent increase on the 2025 comparator, and in advance of analyst forecasts. Cash generation also impressed, with free cash flows of approximately $10.3bn in Q2, representing just under half of group revenues.

But the group鈥檚 valuation came under pressure because of slower than expected growth in infrastructure software revenue, while doubts emerged as to whether the Q3 forecast justified the recent run-up in the share price.

Investors took a shine to shares in trading platform CMC Markets (CMCX), sending the shares 16 per cent higher in morning trading, on the back of big upgrades for 2027 in the company鈥檚 full year results. 

Paradoxically, the reported results came below market expectations with pre-tax profit of 拢101mn lagging consensus forecasts by 5 per cent, due to higher than expected operating costs.

What grabbed the market鈥檚 attention was management鈥檚 forecast that net operating income for 2027 would range from 拢460mn-拢480mn, representing a 17-22 per cent year-on-year increase. Prior consensus for next year stood at 拢385mn, implying a roughly 19 per cent upgrade.

Crucially, the company鈥檚 revenues seem to be shifting from being tied to volatile trading patterns to more stable business-to-business investment income.  

The new guidance meant the brokers had to aggressively hike numbers. RBC Capital Markets Ben Bathurst immediately upgraded adjusted EPS forecasts by 23 per cent to 34.4p for 2027 and 30 per cent to 36.6p for 2028.