Shares in Barclays (BARC) gained 2% to 497p after the bank promised to return more than £15 billion in capital. Positive Q4 and FY results and an improved FY26 outlook also helped lift the stock out of its recent ‘fug’. Share price: 497p (+2%)PE: 11.4xMarket cap: £67.1bnYield: 1.9% Big returns in prospect For the fourth quarter, Barclays reported income of £7.1 billion, up 2% on the previous year. Its investment bank, which is the largest non-US player, posted income of $2.79 billion, beating market forecasts of $2.74 billion. For FY25, the bank reported income of £29.1 billion, an increase of…

Oil giant BP (BP.A) has announced it is suspending share buybacks to preserve cash and protect its balance sheet. The company broke the news with its Q4 results which showed cash flow marginally ahead of estimates. Share price: 457.7p (-4.2%)PE: 14.3xMarket cap: £73.4bnYield: 5.0% Goodbye to buybacks BP said the decision to suspend buybacks was to ‘accelerate’ strengthening of its balance sheet. It added: ‘This creates a strong platform to invest with discipline into our distinctive deep hopper of oil and gas opportunities.’ In November 2025, the company announced a $750 million buyback alongside its Q3 results. In total, BP…

The Dow Jones Industrials Average, the US’s second-oldest stock market index, made history last week topping 50,000 for the first time. The index is made up of 30 stocks, mostly in the financial, consumer and industrial sectors. ‘Old Economy’ The Dow is something of an oddity as far as most investors are concerned. Instead of whizzy tech stocks, it is heavily weighted to large-cap household names which are often considered ‘old economy’. First calculated in 1896, the Dow Industrials is the second-oldest US index after the Dow Transports. The index is owned and maintained today by S&P Dow Jones Indices,…

Shares in Plus500 (PLUS) hit a new all-time high after the spread betting platform issued a positive FY26 outlook. Thanks to strong FY25 trading and recent strategic deals, the board sees FY26 earnings above market expectations. Share price: £47.73 (+5.7%)PE: 16.6x Market cap: £3.3bnYield: 2.1% ‘Accelerated progress’ Reflecting on overall trading, 2025 marked ‘a year of accelerated strategic progress for Plus500’, said CEO David Zruia. ‘We successfully scaled our non-OTC business into a key growth driver and continued to deliver a strong financial performance.’ Revenue for the year rose 3% to $792 million while EBITDA rose 2% to $348 million,…

Retail bank NatWest (NWG) has announced a deal to buy wealth management firm Evelyn Partners from its private equity owners. Alongside the ‘transformative’ deal, it will buy back another £750 million worth of shares. Share price: 628p (-4.8%)PE: 10.2xMarket Cap: £52bnYield:4.9% A ‘compelling’ deal NatWest is paying £2.7 billion for Evelyn Partners, which oversees £69 billion of assets and owns the D2C platform BestInvest. NatWest’s own PBWM (private banking and wealth management) business oversees £59 billion of assets. By combining Evelyn Partners with its existing business, NatWest will become a major player in the UK market. Going forward, PBWM will…

The latest Halifax house price index showed a small uptick in average home prices in January. Notably, the average selling price topped the £300,000 level for the first time. ‘STEADY FOOTING’ Average UK house prices rose by 0.7% in January compared with December and 1% compared with the previous year. The average price touched £300,077, a new milestone for the survey. ‘The housing market entered 2026 on a steady footing’, commented Halifax head of mortgages Amanda Bryden. However, while activity levels showed a resilient market, ‘affordability remains a challenge for many would-be buyers’ added Bryden. The building society sees house…

Specialty chemicals group Victrex (VCT) maintained its FY26 financial guidance despite a drop in Q1 sales. The firm makes high-performance polymers for customers in the automotive, aerospace, healthcare, industrial and energy sectors. Share price: 654p (-6%)PE: 16.4xMarket cap: £565mYield: 8.5% SLOW START TO FY26 For the quarter to December, the firm reported a 4% drop in volumes and a 2% drop in selling prices. That resulted in a 6% drop in revenue to £858 million from £898 million the previous year. The firm said volume growth in energy and industrial markets was offset by ‘more subdued’ demand from transport and…

The world’s largest shipping company AP Moller Maersk warned it could make an operating loss next year. That was despite posting FY25 revenue and profit at the top end of market expectations. Share price: DKK 15,095 (-5.6%)PE: 12.4xMarket Cap: $36.5bnYield 2.9% RECORD FY25 RESULTS Maersk delivered a ‘strong’ performance in 2025, with growth across all its businesses, said CEO Vincent Clerc. Volume growth, sound execution and proactive cost measures helped results hit the top end of financial guidance. The Danish firm, which operates over 700 vessels, said Ocean revenue grew 4.9% last year ‘despite volatile markets’. Meanwhile, the Terminals business…

In this article we discuss three ways to reduce risk in your stock portfolio, if you feel the need. As investors, we all have different risk appetites: some people embrace it while others try to minimise it. However, all investing involves some kind of risk in order to generate a return. What you need to work out is what level of risk you personally are comfortable with. Sometimes, such as when markets are in a steady uptrend, risk is the last thing you might think about. Conversely, when markets are choppy and volatility is rising you might feel you want…

Shares in oil giant Shell (SHEL) fell 2% after the firm posted Q4 earnings which missed analysts’ forecasts. The firm blamed lower crude and LNG prices together with lower trading income and lower chemical margins for the miss. Share price: £28.00 (-2%)PE: 13.6xMarket cap: £160bnYield: 3.8% WEAKER TRADING For the three months to December, Shell reported net profit of $3.26 billion against a consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. Earnings were down 11% on the previous year and 40% on the previous quarter. The miss is surprising as Q4 earnings included a non-recurring net gain of $1.2 billion from asset sales.…