When Liz Truss became Prime Minister one of the first things she did was to reverse the moratorium on fracking in England, and now just a short while later we have seen another U-turn by the Conservatives, with Rishi Sunak reintroducing that ban.

Oil has been showing signs of weakness in recent months after hitting highs of nearly $140/barrel – for Brent – earlier this year, and has suffered over concerns about the economic situation in many countries in the coming months.

Hello Share Collectors. A year ago I supported construction companies as governments, including the USA and Blighty, planned to start more big projects in the hope the extra spending would boost a jobs market hit by Covid. But the story has changed since then as politicians lean towards austerity instead. Nevertheless, some construction giants look to have been over-pummelled by these shaky times and their share prices look undervalued now.

Cake decoration and food ingredients company Real Good Food (RGD) commences a trading update with that it “entered its seasonally busier second half of the year in good shape”… so why a share price more than 14.5% lower today at 2.35p?…

Hello Share Rattlers. I’ve commended Strix Group (KETL) to you before but lately this maker of kettle bits has not been one of my more illustrious calls. It’s down by a third compared to the second half of last year. But the fall, connected to perceived supply and transport issues together with the rising cost of raw materials, seems to me unjustified.

Whilst I do think there are some interesting travel plays, I am far away from excited by either TUI (TUI) (which reminds me of a German equivalent of Thomas Cook) or SSP Group (SSPG) (where you will not be seeing me buying something from an Upper Crust store at a railway station or an airport). I am a bit intrigued though to see that the Taylor Wimpey (TW.) CEO has decided to move on, especially as we saw last weekend rumours that private equity players may be buying a stake. I wonder if the rumours around this have had an influence, although serving as its CEO for 14 years is a decent innings. I don’t think though I have ever written about McColl’s (MCLS), the convenience shop and newsagent operator with trading names Morrisons Daily and (naturally) McColl’s.

The oil price is panning out largely as I expected when I last drafted on this matter back in March. We are now at $84 as I type, compared to the $67 when I last commented. I saw a high probability of $100 by year end, and so far, I see little to change my mind. Oil and Gas equity prices lag the commodity prices, and oil lags gas. I see real opportunity here, but not without some downside risk.

Gold and silver have been extremely weak in recent weeks and investors, certainly retail, seem to be moving away from these metals, but I would question whether that is the right decision to make at this time.

Hello, Share Twiddlers. The house builder formed from a merger between an arm of Galliford Try and Bovis has reported a big Covid hit. But now the pandemic approaches its final months, we can expect better from now on. Especially as the Chancellor has extended the stamp duty holiday…

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past week or so, you can’t but fail to have noticed the news around a massive ‘short squeeze’ on a number of heavily shorted US stocks, with GameStop ($GME) and AMC Entertainment ($AMC) attracting particular attention.

Over the past couple of months it has generally been a good idea to avoid resource stocks unless you’re either buying for the long term or are happy to try and trade high volatility, but one metal that is showing signs of strength is copper.

At the moment most of the focus on commodities that I have been seeing has been on gold and oil, and what people are forecasting for the coming months and longer term. But I suggest we are missing a great opportunity here.

Oil prices have taken an absolute battering this week, but I suspect that what we have seen is somewhat of an over-reaction.

Bushveld Minerals (BMN) has turned out to be my best performing mining tip ever and shows that it is possible for a small AIM outfit to become a successful producer.

Silver has performed very badly in recent months and has hit the lowest levels that we have seen since the start of 2016, but there are plenty of reasons why you should have some exposure to the metal in your portfolio. 

Berkeley Energia (BKY) was once one of the more popular shares on AIM, and there was plenty of interest as its share price rose steadily on speculation.

When it comes to precious metals, all the attention has seemingly been on gold and silver recently, but I think that people are making a mistake if they ignore platinum and the possible upside there.

Copper prices have remained volatile but continue to push higher, and if this continues it will be a very bullish signal for both producers and those looking to bring new projects online.

Having previously, early this year, concluded on GAME Digital (GMD) it early days in the ‘diversification’ and I continue to consider it far from certain that there is a sustainable proposition here; avoid/sell, I note a “Trading Update” announcement from the company today...

Having recently noted boardroom change aplenty but questioned trading change at Goals Soccer Centres (GOAL), the company has now announced completion of a strategic review, resulting in that “four strategic priorities have now been set”, and a 100p per share, £16.75 million (gross) placing. These are targeted to “help strengthen the group's market leading position, improve ROCE and increase value for shareholders over the longer term”. Hmmm...