The FTSE

[worsleyweb]

Markets generally seem to rise to me in most years between now and the end of the year. Simple theory but has worked well for me in the past.

 

[manchester blue]

Markets generally seem to rise to me in most years between now and the end of the year. Simple theory but has worked well for me in the past.

Hope you’re right. September to now has been an utter disaster.

 

[west didsblue]

Hope you’re right. September to now has been an utter disaster.

Yes it’s been a bit grim. Would have been worse without oil and gas companies benefitting from exorbitant wholesale prices. Shell and BP both up over 20% in the last month for example, which have mitigated the downside in other areas to some extent.

 

[manchester blue]

Today looks much better. All USA main markets up 1.5%, Japan same, China slightly down and Europe and FTSE around 1% higher than yesterday. Need a few more days like this please.

CNBC calling this the earnings season. Hope they're right as I have an awful lot to make up lol.

 

[AlgarveBlu]

Yes it’s been a bit grim. Would have been worse without oil and gas companies benefitting from exorbitant wholesale prices. Shell and BP both up over 20% in the last month for example, which have mitigated the downside in other areas to some extent.

Bought BP at the beginning of the year as part of a dividend income portfolio which with has done considerable better than a few stocks I also bought for a growth play - shows what I know - Think a nice Santa rally takes this to 4.00 as they are literally printing money now with current oil prices and share buyback programme is helping.

 

[west didsblue]

Bought BP at the beginning of the year as part of a dividend income portfolio which with has done considerable better than a few stocks I also bought for a growth play - shows what I know - Think a nice Santa rally takes this to 4.00 as they are literally printing money now with current oil prices and share buyback programme is helping.

Wish I’d topped up my BP when they were under £2 a year ago. I doubled my RDSB holdings though which are up nearly 100% since I bought them. Didn’t realise until the other day that RDSB took over BG plc in the 2000s, which originally was the part of the old British Gas that was privatised in the 80s that owned a lot of production facilities and gas fields. It’s no wonder they’re doing well at the moment.

Today’s British Gas are the gas retailing subsidiary of Centrica, and in spite of presumably losing money hand over fist the Centrica SP is doing well which I assume is because they’ve also got gas production facilities that would cover the retail losses and are likely to pick up a lot of customers from the failed gas retailers, so will be well placed with a larger customer base when wholesale prices come down to sustainable levels.

 

[manchester blue]

Wish I’d topped up my BP when they were under £2 a year ago. I doubled my RDSB holdings though which are up nearly 100% since I bought them. Didn’t realise until the other day that RDSB took over BG plc in the 2000s, which originally was the part of the old British Gas that was privatised in the 80s that owned a lot of production facilities and gas fields. It’s no wonder they’re doing well at the moment.

Today’s British Gas are the gas retailing subsidiary of Centrica, and in spite of presumably losing money hand over fist the Centrica SP is doing well which I assume is because they’ve also got gas production facilities that would cover the retail losses and are likely to pick up a lot of customers from the failed gas retailers, so will be well placed with a larger customer base when wholesale prices come down to sustainable levels.

Centrica is not really doing well. It’s gone up 10p in three months but sunk from highs of £4 to 60p over ten or so years, maybe more. Only a few years back it was trading at £2.

It’s been a disaster in fact.

 

[west didsblue]

Centrica is not really doing well. It’s gone up 10p in three months but sunk from highs of £4 to 60p over ten or so years, maybe more. Only a few years back it was trading at £2.

It’s been a disaster in fact.

I meant in the last couple of months. I know it’s been a disaster for anyone whose had the shares for more than 18 months.

 

[Blue Coop]

There’s going to be some big winners and losers on the short squeezes, but it won’t all be the hedge funds. It’s fun to watch but I haven’t been getting involved there. There’s some really good value out there at the minute in the FTSE. I like defence, with everything going on they still announced the biggest commitment to the sector ever last year.

- Babcock is extremely low (recovered from 200 to about 233 already) but there market cap of 1.1bn puts them in takeover territory - 603 a year ago today. Profit warnings on some of their programmes though.

- BAE systems is down at 462 and still managed to 23.2p dividend in 2020. They delayed the final 2019 dividend but caught up. Nearly a 5% return on the dividend alone and I’d expect the price to recover too. They’ve steadily dropped from 500 along with the FTSE in the last two weeks.

- Rolls Royce - 92! A little more cautious about Rolls because of they’re cash issues but the price is so volatile there’s good money to be made short-term for traders and you’d expect long-term for investors they’ll still be around. Less defence I suppose and more impacted by civil flying but the vaccine really should see it it. Perhaps a safer bet is IAG because of their Qatar backing and access to cash? Fun to watch at least.

Wasn't the worst sector/selection to jump into - good movers since this post;

- BAE now up at 599p +30% (plus dividend)
- Babcock up at 341p +46%
- Rolls up at 144p +56%

 

[dickie davies]

Anyone know where I can buy stocks in the zebra trousers factory?
I think there's a surge in demand coming soon