NatWest Group followed up their announcement earlier this week that it was buying wealth manager Evelyn Partners for £2.7bn with a solid set of full year results, although that wasn’t enough to prevent its shares from falling to their lowest levels since October 2025, testing the 200-day SMA in the process, having started February well above th…[Read more]

Which of these would you rather own right now? and for the long-term?

I am happy to stick with Walmart WMT US myself.

I picked them out 18 months or so ago and I am happy with how they have performed and their prospects going forward

They day it will all change is not far away!

I spent a lot of yesterday looking at the sectors and industries that have outperformed the S&P 500 over the year to date what was very clear is that many of these outperforming groups have their roots in the old economy ( see table 1) rather than the new economies of software and technology.…[Read more]

Surprise, surprise – UK utility stocks breaking out

One thing AI can’t really replicate is the provision of basic utilities. Can it, for example, provide clean water, electricity and install nation-wide power grid? No. So while AI may automate bookkeeping or chat with you online nonstop, it doesn’t pull copper wires to your property.

Perhaps for…[Read more]

Are housebuilders making a comeback?

While macro-data coming out of the UK economy these days is generally ‘subdue’ (latest GDP +0.1% in 4Q25), investors seem to be warming up to the housebuilding sector.

Yesterday, a few property instruments broke out to the upside.

One major speculation is that the beleaguered Labour government may rev…[Read more]

The shares of financial adviser St James ‘s Place sold off by -13.39% yesterday. The reason the emergence in the US of a new platform that will allow financial advisors to create bespoke tax efficient planning for their clients.

In other words Ai is helping to automate and speed up, and personalize the advisors job, and that wasn’t seen a…[Read more]

Modest decline in BP shares today from 20-month high, after management axed the buyback. Not a moment too soon IMO. The company has been poorly run for years and it would appear new management are drawing a line under the old regime with Meg O’Neil due to start as CEO in April.…[Read more]

JP Morgan wrote on Equity Strategy yesterday and kindly published a list of their top European stock picks as they did so see below.

They also posted a very useful valuations framework for European Equity sectors, out to 2027. So there is plenty to get your teeth into here

The action is in Asia once more.

US markets are unable to form a consensus right now when it comes to direction, and the most important narratives. Will AI eat software? Or will its gargantuan Capex requirements bankrupt the Mag 7 and Co before it reaches singularity?

South Korea and Japan, or at least their equity indices seen…[Read more]

Dow at 50,000!

The US Dow Jones Industrials Index bucked the rout in the tech sector by reaching the 50k milestone last Friday.

In particular, the blue-chip index surged 2.5% to break the range resistance and closed at 50,115. This is the highest close ever.

While many software stocks are wilting from growing fears of Anthropic’s AI o…[Read more]

Time to take a look at US Treasuries?

Market recap

– Bitcoin tanking. In yesterday’s post, I highlighted that $70k may be not the ultimate support that everyone was looking for. Indeed, Bitcoin smashed that level with relative ease and touched lows $60k in a bout of panic selling. But Bitcoin’s steep decline is now quite oversold. I ant…[Read more]

Its been a difficult couple of days for equity investors, particularly if you are exposed to technology stocks and given the weighting of the Mag 7, on a global basis, that’s pretty much everybody.

In times like this I find it useful to look at things from a top down perspective, tables like those shown below are helpful in this…[Read more]

Is Bitcoin slipping into a ‘Crypto Winter’?

Both gold – digital and real – have fared badly over the past week.

As gold crashed from $5,600 to $4,600 in a matter of hours, Bitcoin took its time. Still, the direction of its travel recently mirrors that of the precious metals: Down.

On Wednesday, Bitcoin slumped to its lowest level since lat…[Read more]

Two days ago I suggested that Unilever ULVR LN (or UNA NA), might benefit from the strength in US Consumer Staples.

see https://invesdaq.com/members/fatdaz/activity/515/.

The chart below shows the percentage change in both listings of Unilever, over two days.

And by my math they are up +4.0% that may not sound much but its more than…[Read more]