For the second week running, the most read non-Quiz, non-Tom article last week is by Malcolm Stacey, Why Lloyds Shares May Be Chirpy Chirpy Cheap Cheap and How the Black Horse Might Gallop Ahead, at No 10 or No 17 including Bearcasts.

Hello Share Fans. Sometimes laziness pays off. Having extolled the opportunities of investing in British banks, I was waiting a respectable period before I began piling into Barclays (BARC). But when I could have done so (and not broken strict Shareprophets writer's rules) I couldn't be bothered.

Hello Share Fanatics. This time last week I said I was changing from a bear to a bull. Not a moment too soon, either. Yesterday. the Footsie reached an all-time intra-day high of 7,906. More of that to come, I fancy. Here’s why.

Have you ever used Virgin Money UK plc (VMUK)? Personally, I never have but, as the group now “operates under the Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money brands”, I guess a bunch of you do (or have). How is it getting on?

The tweet below is from Halifax, part of the Lloyds (LLOY) banking group. Those who spoke out were told to take their business elsewhere. And they will. "Go woke, go broke."

Recently, a poster has appeared in railway stations, showing a young man in handcuffs with the legend ‘no excuse for abuse’. It’s aimed at fare dodgers, who are mostly young men and women, and is a clear threat: 'don’t pay your fare and you could go to jail’.

Hello, Share Creepers. This old punter rather likes all the high street banks at the moment. But Lloyds (LLOY) may be the best of the bunch if you’re looking for a rising share price. The stock reached a year high a week ago. But that was still only about 50p compared to £3 or so back in the day.

Back in April I observed that at the time it was ‘getting closer to my two quid and out share price target on Barclays (BARC)’. Well that was true at the time…and sort of still true today even if the shares today are slightly lower than it was a few months ago. There are a few reasons for that.

It is the final business day of April and from the perspective of stocks I own, there is some good and some less good news.  Let’s start with a small positive at Headlam (HEAD) the ‘Europe’s leading floorcoverings distributor’ which I have loved up for a while and last month, here, discussed ‘the rationale to get back to a 500p plus share price’.  This morning I noted the company announced ‘it has entered into an agreement to dispose of its wholly-owned Swiss business, Belcolor AG to the management team of Belcolor…As a result of the disposal, Headlam will realise approximately £12.0 million’.  Given the company’s near £400 million market cap, it is not a massive deal but a sensible one, as the key focus for the business is the evolving UK business.  It is also nice to add a little bit more cash too.  In short – along with the two readers who kindly commented on the article above last month – for me it continues to be a good core position. 

I hope that the old renamed Royal Bank of Scotland did not spend too much money on its rebranding, as calling themselves NatWest Group (NWG) did not require that many brain cells.  Sadly, a change of name did not immediately change prospects.  After all, it does not matter if you have a mortgage heavy book or not. In today’s world, you are not going to immediately change your prospects if you are a bank.  NatWest Group trades even more cheaply than Lloyds Bank (LLOY) at x0.4 price:tangible book, but then it does have the disadvantages of higher loan-to-value mortgages and the government on its shareholder register (owning a cool 62%). 

I start with one of Darren's long reads which offers a post Covid plan for the restaurant sector. The author obviously has not got a clue about what being an entrepreneur means and about how business works. But this sort of nonsense is mainstream. In a similar vein I discuss board room greed and stupidity at Lloyds (LLOY) before moving onto how you deal with serial failures & pigs, reference the main troughers at Iconic (ICON). I start with a row with my neighbout who thinks my Woodlarks training threatens her social distancing and will see her dog kidnapped. I despair. I shall be walking past her house 7 times this afternoon. As you consider that treat please donate to rogue bloggers now as we reach 29% of target. Please give HERE

At the end of last month I wrote an article noting how both Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) and Lloyds (LLOY) were wisely moving away from the sort of dividend payment seen back in 2019.  For Lloyds there was little choice as the regulators put the kibosh on dividend payments for the time being.  And - as I noted at the above link - 'a bank is a geared play on an economy and hence if you have a recession or worse, it is going to hurt', hence the writedowns the company noted last month and the reality that Lloyds shares currently trade for only a little above x0.5 price to tangible book. 

Whilst there may be no regulatory news items to ponder today, I want to go back a couple of days and look at the latest disclosure from that perma dog Metro Bank (MTRO), an announcement which has led cumulatively to a 7% fall in the company's share price.  Yes, more losses! 

Quelle surprise. The big five banks; Lloyds (LLOY), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC (HSBA), Standard Chartered (STAN) and Barclays (BARC) have all done the decent thing and cancelled/postponed dividends and buybacks for the next couple of quarters…

Unless you were Warren Buffett with a bunch of cash ready to put in and a billionaire status, that was not fun yesterday. All longer-term investors know that a day like yesterday (or a period like the last few weeks) goes with the territory but each crisis is different and just because you have racked up honing in on twenty-five years kicking around the professional investor game, it does not mean you have seen it all. Naturally, events make my philosophical…

Hello, Share Turners. My conscience has nagged me lately. It’s over the ethical nature of my shares. I described myself as a socially responsible investor. But am I really? As previously pointed out on this delicious website, my holding in Diageo (DGE) the drinks firm would raise questions with some.

Hello, Share Walkers. Horrified I was when I checked on the price of my Lloyds (LLOY) shares and found a hefty slice of my money gone - on paper. There’s little doubt in my mind that these shares are being cruelly treated by the City. The numbers support this view and the best reason I can think why Lloyds is not more buoyant is the uncertainty of Brexit...

Hello Share Chewers. Turning on the radio the morning after the big vote, I heard an American say that he was shorting three British banks. I presume they might be Lloyds (LLOY), RBS (RBS) and Barclays (BARC). Though I suppose the Asian-slewed bank Honkers Bonkers (HSBA) might be one of them, too. This was no ordinary investor, as anyone who saw that great film The Big Short will know...

It was probably a good thing that I had a long standing engagement that soaked up a lot of my time yesterday - albeit that I had to evolve my presentation on global financial market prospects just a tad following the various omnishambles that afflicted the UK markets and political backdrop. So what do we do?

Despite a series of strong earnings announcements, it’s been a disappointing few months for holders of London-listed bank shares. Tip activity spiked in the banking sector this week, spurred on by third quarter results announced by Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) and Barclays (BARC) in recent days. This week, we take a look at recent tip activity in the sector, and see how tipster sentiment towards banking firms currently differs from brokers.

Well what a last week with fear - for once in recent years - in ascendancy and lots of 'worst week since February' statistics being quoted.  As Tom Winnifrith noted in a recent bearcast the big honking issue is debt around the world, although tactically you can throw in a supporting cast of world trade angst, a bit of inflation bubbling up and a firm US dollar.  

Hello Share Wishers. What a thundering disappointment banks have been. You would have thought that the huge recovery most Footsie shares have seen since the 2008 crash, would have catapulted banks back where they were pre-disaster. But are they Buckland Abbey!

I enjoyed Nigel's update article on his mini 'dividend munchers' ideas portfolio earlier today.  I would completely concur with the Vodafone (VOD) call and came to a similar conclusion myself a few weeks back (see here). 

Hello Share Pushers. Another week's gone by. Another seven days in a very long, but rather slow bull market. Actually, the Footsie's performance recently has been poor, so should we see that as a sign of a ne w bear market? Must we change at least a few of our shares into cash? I would say ' yes' for the following reasons.

Hello, Share Miners. The four big British banks are still avoided like rattlesnakes by many share shifters. But there will come a time when everybody finally forgets what happened in 2008 - and most of the other banking shocks, since.

Putting a portfolio together involves making decisions by comparing and contrasting one company against many others and wrapping it all up in some overriding sector/macro strategy. Simples, right?! For reasons too obvious to state, the financial sector had a shocker during the global financial crisis and which, in due course, led to the creation of a new competitive grouping - the 'challenger banks'. As one traditional name (Lloyds Bank - LLOY) and one new challenger name (Metro Bank - MTRO) have both reported today, let's compare and contrast and see if either pass muster. Prepare the cage...

News today was released by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in relation to its investigation into KPMG’s audit of HBOS’s FY2007 accounts. Here we are almost ten years on, and we are told all was well after all. Well, sort of.

Hello, Share Mixers. As you may have gathered, I favour investment in all four big British banks at the mo. My main reason is that each time one of them announces new figures, its balance sheet seems to have improved nicely and the share price usually shoots up.

Hello, Share Sippers. My Honkers Bonkers (HSBA) shares are rising nicely. But at much less than 800p, they are still way short of previous bests of 1200p. And that was so long ago that Shakespeare was still a lad.

Hello Share Smirkers. Normally I favour Lloyds (LLOY) when commending banks to your further inspection. But progress on that bank’s share price has been hesitant on days when its rival RBS (RBS) motors ahead. Though of late, RBS has weakened too - a casualty of the political uncertainty which becomes even more uncertain as the days roll by.

Hello Share Planters. Here I am again, risking a commendation to look at the shares of one of the major British banks. This time Lloyds (LLOY) seems to me a worthwhile proposition. I am heavily over-exposed to this lot, so I personally hope so.

Hello Share Trundlers. It’s only with extreme caution that I commend any British banks to your eagle eye, having lost a stack of my own money on them even since 2007. But I am rather more hopeful about all of the big British ones now.

Hello Share Plodders. For a year or two now I've been saying that British banks are worth a re-look, if only because the number of fines and compensatory payments are bound to diminish soon. Now it looks as though the bank shares I've been suggesting most are set to rattle ahead even faster than the last few weeks. And their recent progress has already been encouraging.

Hello Share Baiters. That awful share to hold, Lloyds Group (LLOY) may be getting less arduous. There is some optimism in the City that the current disappointing share price may rise 20% or so to beat 75p. Presently it’s around 66p.

Hello Share Jumpers. When I suggested we take another look at the four British banks this week, I got a rather predictable comment from one of Shareprophets' most entertaining members, Wild Rides. You may have discovered from some of his other posts that Wilders dislikes the UK banks after burning his fingers on Lloyds Group (LLOY). 

Hello Share Plungers. As usual, when raising the thorny issue of whether banks are ever going to get back on track after the trauma of 2008, I am attacked by the symptoms of nervousness. But I still think all British banks will see fairly hefty share rises over the next few years. This is partly because outrageous fines issued by interfering busybodies and compensation claims will surely start to dry up.

Hello Share Shakers. If, like me, you enjoy old-fashioned goodie versus baddie Westerns, then you’ll enjoy the rollicking remake of the Magnificent Seven. Not the same calibre of stars as the old 1957 classic, though. No Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson or Steve McQueen, but very entertaining nonetheless. The film has inspired me to choose my own Magnificent Seven.

You can do a lot in 100 days. Back in April I was musing about the large UK banks and puckered up some ‘geek analysis’ on Lloyds (LLOY) which basically suggested a double digit trading opportunity was apparent…and so it came to pass over the next four to six week.  A month or so later Brexit and the shares fell out of favour. Despite the grumblings in Lloyds statement last week I am getting similar feelings about an investing opportunity here again. What did I conclude last time?

Hello Share Sponsors. As I write the price of Brent crude is $43  a barrel. That’s a lot worse than the $51 dollars it reached a few months ago. And the fall has been reflected in the share price of nearly all oil companies. For example, the share price of Royal Dutch Sell (RSDA) is off by about 5%.

Hello Share Scrummers. In my humble opinion, British banks are among the biggest bargains in Shareland at the mo. Though I was in two minds about foisting this opinion on you, as banks have a marvellous talent for letting us down. They’ve been doing that steadily since the big crashes of 2007 and 8. But I really do think the shares have been oversold since the result of the Brexit vote. They fell a heck of a lot. Without their failure, the Footsie which eventually rocketed on the decision to leave the EU, would have been near the elusive 7000 level by now.

Hello Share Chippers. I rate my large number of oil stocks in the same bracket I consider banks - a real solid gold let down. As I mainly invested in oil and banks because I once thought the sectors were relatively safe, I am even more disappointed. Banks of course have been a drain on our pockets ever since the big crunch of 2007. Whereas oil has only recently taken a nasty dive.

Hello Share Screamers. I was going to sell my bulky haul of RBS (RBS) shares - until I saw the latest set of results. Of course, I should have sold them a few years ago when the price was around 500p. Now it’s around 220p. But I dare to think that things may improve now.

Hello Share Scrimpers. Here I go again - recommending a bank for your scrutiny. I sometimes wonder why I bother, as the big British banks have an eight-year-old habit of letting us down.

With Santa apparently due to make his big arrival at my local garden centre next Saturday the starting gun has been fired for the rundown to the end of the year. And for the medium-term investor in me this only means one thing: which sectors, themes and stocks are looking interesting for 2016?

Hello Share Putters. One thing that really stops us making as much as we should - and worse, can put us off buying penny shares altogether - is the obscene size of some of the spreads.

Hello Share Scrunchers. The four big British banks are looking like bargains to me. And I know that as soon as I say something like that, the many who take an opposite view will be sharpening their pencils.

Lloyds Bank (LLOY) is a real letdown for private investors, these days. And I wonder why. My view is that the government are, behind closed doors, flooding the market with their own shares. Obviously, if two many buns are knocking about the cafe, the public appetite wains.

Hello Share Pals, it's a thrilling time for my 21-year-old son, Jack. He has opened his very first share account with Traders Own. Being a student, he hasn't got much spare cash, but he has interred £1,000 into his golden fund. Now he needs five companies to dive into. I've got some suggestions for him below

Hello Share Scrunchers. Nobody likes getting junk mail. Except me, who rather likes a big dollop of mail every morning and no longer gets it from friends and family. They’re not dead; they’ve just gone onto email. Lazy beggars! But one firm which does junk post - they prefer to call it direct mail - is Communisis (CMS).

Hello Share Twitchers. There’s not much of an appetite to buy shares at the mo. The Greek vote was a step into the unknown, and that’s for sure.

Hello Share Stalkers. You may have gathered that I favour investing in the big British banks. My main reason is that they were great once, with yummy share values - and that even if we get half way back to the days of glory, our purchases now will be quids in later on.

Hello Share Splashers. I’ve been trying to de-clutter my over-stuffed home by selling at a car boot sales. After three hours of just sitting on my car seat, I made an easy 60 quid. All very enjoyable in the sunshine.

Hello Share Shooters. While this Greek farrago continues to make investments in the Footsie and mid cap range a bit scary, I’ll continue with my trilogy on how to handle shares, which are not likely to be affected by the Euro crisis. So I make a few more observations about the best way to dabble in penny shares.

Hello Share Twirlers. So George of the Treasury Jungle has decreed that its Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shares are to be sold off, probably at a loss to the tax-payer. You’ll recall that the shares have to go for about £5 each to recoup the money - that’s nearly £1.50p more than the present market price.

The Depression era US President Franklin Roosevelt is probably not often mentioned on this site but his dictum that ‘there is nothing to fear but fear itself’ is inadvertently one of the best pieces of stock market advice you are likely to read. Let’s consider this in respect of some of Britain’s best loved bank shares Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds (LLOY).

The only story of real interest in UK larger cap shares today is a strategy update by the banking behemoth HSBC (HSBA) which has finally got some focus on what they it wants its business to look like in a few years time.  I noted a little over a month ago that:

Hello Share Plinkers. A share which rises strongly over three days, nearly always drops back. We saw this with Lloyds Group (LLOY) over the last few weeks. It also happened to that darling of the bully boards, Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) over the last six weeks.

Hello Share Tweekers.  I recently wrote about RBS (RBS), the old Royal Bank of Scotland, observing that the share price now is still only 4% of its previous high. That previous high was over £9 and was reached just before the bank crisis of 2007/8.

Hello Share Shapers. While composing an essay about RBS (RBS), I found myself writing that their shares are now only worth 4% of what they used to fetch before the great credit crunch of 2008.

Hello Share Squidgers. Just where is the Lloyds share going? May I humbly opine that it will go a lot further than it has already done in the last week or so – even if the latest rise in value has been pretty remarkable.

Well this article certainly has made quite an impact! I can let you know that before it was even published I had a writer who I like and respect contact me telling me I was wrong to say it. This was solely from reading the title of the article on Twitter.

Lloyds (LLOY) has passed the recent ‘stress test’ imposed by Prudential Regulation Authority, the Bank of England’s regulator. This test examined whether banks could cope with a severe economic downturn. The woes included a 35% drop in house prices, a hike in interest rates and unemployment reaching a high of 12%.

Barclays (BARC) revealed third quarter profits above forecasts today, at £1.59 billion, up 14% from the £1.39 billion last year. It wasn’t all good news however, as a Saudi businessman is suing the company for $10 billion in damages, and a £670 million pounds provision was made for rigging forex and PPI mis-selling.

Thankfully all the UK Banks have passed their stress tests, however Lloyds only just managed to. The tests were implemented by the European Central Bank, and were designed to see if they could cope with a three year downturn. 130 banks in all were tested, with 25 failing, a large proportion of which were Italian. Monte dei Paschi was a notable Italian failure, and its shares have tumbled down 20% today. Regulators have banned all short selling of its stock.

Hello Share Pickers. So the all the big British banks passed the big stress test of the European Banking Authority. That's jolly good isn't it?

Please note that this article is not meant to be an attack on any individual Labour supporter, but I believe the consequences of a Labour government for British shares would be terrible. Ed Miliband delighted the United Kingdom with his 65 minute speech yesterday. The word ‘together’ was used 51 times. I guess it sounds better than socialism.

Just when I thought it was safe to get back into the Tesco  (TSCO) water, another big whammy hits the supermarket chain. The latest is, of course, a massive set-back.

The market certainly liked the Scottish ‘No’ vote on Friday! In fact, my father’s prediction about what would happen in the day came true. He advised me to watch the market and perhaps sell some shares which spiked up after the vote. And indeed, shares did spike. SSE (SSE) shares were up to above 1560p at one stage. They finished at 1523p. Lloyds (LLOY) shares  rose above 77.5p, although they ended at 76.82[. TSB (TSB) shares reached 297p at one stage, before finishing the day at 291.75p. I followed my usual philosophy of just holding onto the shares.

Lloyds, RBS, HSBC, Shell, Asda... they can’t all be wrong. All these business people would be screaming for Scotland to be independent if it would make them more money. But it will lose them a lot of money, which is why they are speaking out. The most convincing statement for me was from Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC. You don’t get to be chairman of HSBC unless you know about money.

Barclays (BARC) shares are trading at 224.95p on a PE which is hard to determine and a yield of 2.89%.  Buy, sell or hold?

Banco Santander (BNC) shares are currently trading at 631p with a yield of 5.94% and a PE of 19.54. Banco Santander is the largest bank in the eurozone by market value, and one of the biggest banks in the world.

Shares in HSBC (HSBA) are currently trading at 657.8p, offering a yield of 4.59% and on a PE of 12.89. So are the shares a buy, sell or hold?

Hello Share Shakers: The banks have had a hard time of it. Yes, I know that's a kind way of putting it. No sooner do they overcome one set-back than the next one raises an ugly head. At the moment, the big worry is that some overbearing authority will bang in another ludicrously big fine.

Hello Share Fans: I'm a great fan of government-led initial public offerings. This is when a Whitehall set-up like the Royal Mail (RMG) decides to sell shares to the public for the first time. Obviously, the Royal Mail offering was a success. They pitched the price of the shares too low. But wouldn't you, if you wanted to grab some money from the man and woman in the street to shore up the Treasury?

These British banks are a bummer, aren’t they? Why can’t they do something positive for shareholders like us? The price just won’t rise. Even though they seemed to be out of the mire now. The trouble is nobody trusts them. So, though their price to earnings ratios are very low now, the big buyers are staying away.

Hello Share Folks. A week or so ago, we were all considering whether to invest in the TSB (TSB) float. In fact, the sale was a massive 10 times over-subscribed

Hello Share Tweakers: Not too long ago - which could be years, given my failing memory – I commended to you a little share called Communisis (CMS). At the risk of turning down the corners of your mouth by telling you that they include junk mail in their services, I think they are an even better bet these days.

​Hello Share Mates: It's gratifying to find that my view expressed on this magnificent website that it was worth stagging TSB shares turns out to be on the button.

Hello Share Polishers: There are some people who only ever invest in Footsie shares. This is not a sensible approach. Here are a few reasons why shares in the big 100 can be poor value.