In a mere five days, Donald Trump becomes president of the United States. In 90 days or so, Theresa May promises to pull the plug on the world's largest trade bloc.

Hats off to top broker CSFB for daring to publish a negative note on a blue chip company. The 33 page missive on Pennon (PNN) - formerly South West Water. The note flags up the huge losses being racked up by a 75% owned joint venture, Peninsular, which appears to be held off balance sheet. CSFB rates the shares underperform. I'd go one further and say sell. This reads very badly indeed. If this jv was consolidated, reported earnings would be 30% lower. Why is it not? Pennon needs to clear this matter up at once.

I have an awful cold so cannot speak properly and the Mrs is giving me grounds for divorce (again) with awful TV choices as I suffer from my ailments. In the podcast I cover insider dealing (ref Logica), buying after a profits warning (ref Red Rock & SpaceandPeople) and why the bulls are wrong even though the FTSE 100 is at a record high (ref Malcolm Stacey)

UK value footwear retailer, Shoe Zone (SHOE) has announced results for its year ended 1^st October 2016, that it has made a “solid start” to its current year and that “the board remains positive for the outlook of the group”.

Well that is the assertion of George Glasier the guest in this week's podcast with Palisade Capital. He spends much of the podcast talking his own book but on the bull case for uranium which seems to be getting stronger he is fairly persuasive.

Red Rock Resources (RRR) has seen its shares slide back to 0.5-0.55p ( we tipped this at a 0.5p offer in November and the shares were 0.7p+) after admittedly disappointing news from Shoats Creek, its US oil asset. But the market has over-reacted big time.

A “Pre-Close Trading Update” announcement from Secure Trust Bank (STB) sees the company note that “a year of excellent progress ended with a very busy and productive final quarter… anticipates the full year results will be in line with market expectations… (with) substantial capital resources”. However, of possibly greater interest are the wider points on its market and the economy that the UK bank makes…

From the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, the following shows the shorted AIM shares with positions from 2016 and thus far in 2017 (by net short position %) - and if this position has increased (red), reduced (green) or remained unchanged (black) since last week...

Hello Share Ticklers. I’ve just bought a bit of the City of London Investment Group (CLIG). Those of you with long memories may remember I’ve previously a piece or two commending this holding company to your further researches.

We were not planning to serve up our next share tip until the end of the month. But shares can move fast on AIM and we have identified a stock where something really is bubbling. And so our next hot share tip is out TODAY (Friday 13th) at 2 PM. we are working hard on it now.

Following Foxtons earlier this week, Countrywide (CWD) has now updated for the 2016 calendar year with CEO Alison Platt claiming “it is pleasing to report modest full year revenue growth”. Hmmm…

I was watching an old video today in which the great bear Marc Cohodes was interviewed about Concordia a fraud he called as a fraud. The shares were just over $100. They were c$37 when this interview went live. They are now sub $3. Listen to what he says about how investors and fraud companies react to him. This sounds very familiar to me as I discuss in the bearcast below which compares Cloudtag (CTAG) and my life to that of Marc and Concordia.

Concepta (CPT) has announced that it has secured ISO13485 accreditation which is a key step in attaining its CE marking for its 'myLotus' product for unexplained infertility.

And so the guy delivering a package for next door said "Hello Tom". He is a keen reader and owns shares in UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), ScotGold (SGZ) and Xtract Resources (XTR). He must be a big fan of Big Dave Lenigas as well. It was a good chat. In this podcast I look at how quickly sentiment can change ref Nostra Terra (NTOG) and Optibiotix (OPTI). I cover Iofina (IOF) and Strat Aero (AERO) and reflect on how the curse of the Sheriff of AIM has fallen on Dolphin Capital (DCI). It took a while!

Sorry if my good friend Jim Mellon feels if I am picking on him today but moving on from Port Erin (PEBI), the old boy (60 in a few weeks) has also been active at Condor Gold (CNR), the dog where he sits as a NED. Hang on tight folks, this related party trail is getting confusing.

Shares in building products distributor SIG plc (SHI) are currently recovering approaching 11%, above 100p, on the back of a “Trading Update” announcement…

And so after its website disappeared at least as early as late November last year and two failed efforts at getting a replacement available so as to comply with AIM Rule 26, ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Taihua (TAIH) has finally issued some Jackanory of a statement saying it now won’t be complying until Monday next week. The explanation may seem reasonable, but in context they’re ‘avin’ a bubble.

Flustered by the shock revelations about Diabetic Boot Company HERE, Jim Mellon's Port Erin (PEBI) published a December 31 NAV. Given that it published full year numbers when no-one was watching on 22 December this whiffs of panic. Unfortunately the statement begs more questions than it answers.

A trading update from Robinson plc (RBN) includes that “the directors anticipate trading profits for 2016 will be slightly below market expectations”. So why are the shares approaching 10% higher?...

Hello Share Crushers. I’ve long held that travel operators are not an ideal choice for investment these days. This is based on the view that as people become more internet savvy, they see the economies of arranging their own holidays - thus eliminating the middle man. This makes it very hard to attain growth, and that’s what really drives share prices. And there are now other concerns on the horizon.