I have never admitted this publicly before, but when I was 18 and setting up a university bank account I wanted one at Lloyds Bank (LLOY). However, it never worked out and I ended up with one of its competitors (absolutely nothing to do with the extra ten quid offered as a “joining bonus”). And, funnily enough, I have never owned Lloyds Bank plc shares either during my investment life, as there was always something potentially better or more interesting or something else. Nevertheless, I listened to the group’s conference call earlier today for a bit of light corporate earnings season excitement. What did I make of the “fast evolving and uncertain environment”, where apparently “the group is performing well”?

Hello, Share Plungers. You know how you get a feeling that a share is going to start a bull run? The value of such a premonition often depends on how long you’ve been pursuing our golden game. As someone who began shifting shares in King Solomon’s reign, perhaps my view, based on a lifetime of subconscious financial considerations, is worth a bit more than most. Or perhaps not. In any event I have a nagging feeling that the big high street banks will start to pile on share value. And I rate Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) higher than the other four.

Hello, Share Slickers. Perhaps it might be an idea to look at a few companies I’ve commended recently to see how they’re doing. Progress has been slow but sure. All ships rise or fall with the tide and as the Footsie has been moribund, any rise might be regarded as encouraging. And as many of us expect many stocks to rise with an accelerating economy, perhaps we should be hanging onto our hats.

Thursday is always a busy day for investors and this week is certainly no different. It’s all good fun! I was pleased to see a short update from one of my top five pension holdings DS Smith (SMDS) – the packaging-focused business I previously wrote on HERE and which has made me good returns over the last 18 months.

Hello, Share Starers. Banks are responsible for some of my biggest losses over the years. I still have holdings in most of the big British ones and, as I expect something of a resurgence, I will continue to hold them. Why am I optimistic?

Goodness it has been busy over the last couple of days in the corporate earnings world! Yesterday I really wanted to get an opportunity to make more comments about the condom business of Reckitt (RKT), which I positively wrote up here back in February. Anyhow for various reasons or another – absolutely nothing to do with condoms! – I never got around to it. However, despite the positive share price move since February, I still remain a buyer with an over 7500p target.

Hello, Share Mashers. António Horta-Osório, Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), is standing down, saying he views the bank with pride. Though he’s presided over a big fall in share price during his reign. Never mind, he’s been a good head honcho and nobody saw the pandemic coming. And the latest trading statement is encouraging, with the share price rising 5% on it, a rare jump for a Footsie giant.

Hello Share Trundlers. Ever since the big crash of 2007-8, it takes a brave bunny to suggest you look at British bank shares. But as a big holder of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), I’ve been heartened in the last few days at the jumps this difficult share is making. It’s all to do with the roll-out of the vaccines, of course. But is that optimism justified?

By my reckoning, today is the biggest day of the global quarterly corporate earnings results season. Even before we get to a bunch of Silicon Valley’s finest this evening, global investors will already have waded through a bunch of Eastern Time American reporting names, far too many eurozone corporate names and apparently – so I heard this morning – up to 1,000 Chinese companies also putting up their numbers for review. What fun! Naturally, the UK market feels obligated to join in…so forgive me for folding three big FTSE-100 entities in…

Three months ago here, I discussed how at least Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) were starting to chomp down on the reality pills being given to them by trading realities. I stand by my assertion after today’s heavily red ink-influenced Shell numbers that this is not one I am excited about. I do not think it is anywhere close in working out how to effectively and efficiently invest in areas that could be attractive to shareholders who have cashed dividends for years and years thrown off by ‘black gold’ (which now is perceived – correctly in my view – as the black sludge it always technically was). It is not that oil demand is disappearing, it is that the costs of playing the game are getting higher…

Monday morning…and changes at the top of a couple of the largest UK financial sector stocks. Well - technically - only one change today and one to come. Let us deal with the latter first...

I know some dividend munchers will be crying into their cornflakes this morning, but the first Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) dividend reduction in the post WW2 period is an overdue and sensible move. You may recall earlier in the week I chastised the new BP (BP.) CEO for seemingly kicking this decision out to a September capital markets day, despite clear evidence that it was required. I was listening to the Shell CEO on a financial TV channel earlier today and his comments around the twin impacts on the company from the coronavirus and the oil sector demand/supply imbalance issues are equally striking and kind of obvious...

Hello Share Nudgers. When I heard the financial news on Radio Four my heart sank. I hold a lot of shares in Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) and the latest full-year results showed a third drop on last time’s profits. But as so often happens, the share price actually rose – by about 3%...

Too many corporate updates of interest out today, but a review of three which particularly talked to me…

Hello Share Mashers. Please pity poor analysts like me in these peculiar times. I spend more time looking for firms which have exciting potential than actually writing about one each day. I plough through lots of material and nearly always reject a number of companies before choosing one to bring to your attention. So currently finding few new possibilities, allow me to revisit a few shares which I have chosen recently...

If you are a global larger cap investor like me, this time of year is a bit of a gird your loins moment with too many different companies reporting results at the same time. A busy but exciting time...so let us dive straight in and look at some UK-listed names worthy of observation this morning. First up is the oil behemoth Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB)…

I felt a bit of a fool yesterday morning. No doubt there are some who argue that this should be a perpetual state of affairs for me, but the specific reason was that on Friday someone had asked me about Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) shares and in the light of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and shocking CYBG (CYBG) PPI updates, I said something along the lines that 'if Lloyds had something material to say then surely it would have said it by now'…

Time to confess an unpopular opinion. I do actually believe that some of the large banks are cheap. Obviously that does not include bad boy Metro Bank (MTRO), which is now neither large nor credible as discussed in a bunch of articles by me on this website. No, I was rather thinking about Lloyds (LLOY), whose shares slipped below tangible book value yesterday following PPI claim-influenced results, or Barclays (BARC), which reported earlier today…

Hello, Share Twizzlers. This old punter generally finds that if the Footsie is rising in spectacular fashion, as it is now, then we might as well put penny shares on the back burner. That’s because most traders realise you don't have to attach big risk to your money if you can still make dosh from the (usually) safer jumbos...

Hello, Share Hitters. Shares in Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) have been pounded of late. This often happens to our big banks after improving results cause a share jump, though are soon forgotten. The shares are also down on Brexit fears and a falling pound. But they are beginning to look cheap to some. And it’s a hard thing to sell shares which pay a dividend of over 5%...

Hello, Share Gatherers. The share price of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) has been creeping up. At Christmas, it was around 50p and it’s now around 63p. And how has its big rival Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) done in the same period? Its Yule price was 206p and now it’s 263p...

I called Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) shares 'boring' and 'worthy' a year ago... but even adding back the dividend I am still down about 10% over the last year from that comment. So far from the greatest call, even if most of the rest of the financial sector has fared worse. As an old boss once said to me 'you can't eat relative performance'…

Last October I talked positively about Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) versus one of its challenger peers, noting:

Hello Share Dredgers. Once again I bring to you Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) as a share worth considering. This simple statement will draw flak from my good friend Wildrides, but the case for Lloyds is getting better.

Premium lifestyle brand Joules (JOUL) is one of the freshest arrivals to the AIM market. Along with Hotel Chocolat (HOTC), Joules has been recognised as one of the higher-quality names to opt for AIM in recent months, and a sign that the junior market is still capable of attracting highly investable companies.

Shareprophets has been at the forefront of exposing the AIM cesspit and crony capitalism, but I'm afraid there is another scandal about to break at one of the UK's largest banks, owned in part by the tax payer. If you thought that the reputation of bankers couldn't get much lower, read on. They have clearly learned nothing about the way that we expect them to behave and, despite being involved in scandal after scandal, they still don't seem to be able to determine right from wrong.

Lloyds (LLOY) is a bank which deserves a better share price. Its shares reached 86p in 2014, which was a huge improvement on its best performance in the year before.

Fresh from its successful pass of the stress test more of Lloyds (LLOY) is going to be sold off by the UK government. As I’ve mentioned, the UK government currently owns around 24% of Lloyds Banking Group, but this figure could be reduced to around 20%.

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) has been quite a volatile stock lately, but its shares enjoyed a slight Friday rise to 76.74p. Although these reports are not confirmed yet, mainstream news channels have been reporting that they Lloyds aims to cut 9,000 jobs, approximately a tenth of its staff.