[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images It has been a fantastic year overall for the UK stock market. The FTSE 100 index is up 17% so far in 2025, with just a couple of weeks left to go. When I look at the fundamental reasons for the rally, there’s a compelling argument to be made as to why 2026 could offer more of the same, with some specific stocks that could even outperform the index. Looking on the bright side Even after gains in 2025, the FTSE 100 remains cheap relative to global peers. A good example of this is the…
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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images After such a blistering run, I’m instinctively wary of the Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR) share price. It’s up 88% in the last year and an astonishing 1,157% over three. That latter figure would have turned a £10,000 investment into £125,700. It’s also the kind of performance that sucks in latecomers, keen to grab a slice of the action. The big risk is that it all blows up in their faces. High-flying FTSE 100 stock I’m surprised the Rolls-Royce share price has done so well over the last year, but that’s a familiar failing. I tend to…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images I’ve got my eye on a beaten-down FTSE 100 income stock that’s finally showing signs of life. Like the rest of its sector, housebuilder Persimmon (LSE: PSN) has been struggling for years. Are events finally turning back in its favour? Housebuilding stocks were hit hard by the shock Brexit vote in 2016, crashing 40% in the bewildered aftermath. They haven’t really bounced back since. For me, Brexit was just a sideshow. The underlying problem is that house prices soared in the era of near-zero interest rates, putting them beyond the reach of many buyers. When inflation…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images What a terrible year 2026 has been for shareholders of Greggs (LSE: GRG), the high-street bakery chain. Greggs shares have been one of the worst performers in the mid-cap FTSE 250 index this calendar year, despite surging strongly from 2022 to 2024. At one point, they had more than halved from their 2025 high, but have bounced back hard since I warned they were deeply undervalued. Ghastly Greggs First off, my family portfolio owns Greggs shares, having paid 1,683p a share in July for our holding. We bought this stock because I saw the group…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The past few years have been kind to shareholders of Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY). Over five years, the Lloyds share price has thrashed the wider FTSE 100 index, with this stock trading at levels not seen in 17 years. After such a strong run, will Lloyds shares finally break the £1 mark next year? Lloyds shares surge As I write, the Lloyds share price stands at 93.72p, valuing the Black Horse bank at £55.2bn. This stock has been a big winner in 2025, surging by 71.1%. This thrashes the FTSE 100’s gain of 18.1%…
[ad_1] After years of low yields and rising macro volatility, investors are taking renewed interest in insurance-linked securities (ILS) for their very low correlation with traditional financial markets. Despite event-driven volatility, the first half of 2025 reaffirmed the market’s strength and growing scale. According to mid-year industry data, ILS issuance reached $17.2 billion across nearly 60 transactions, making 2025 the second-largest year in the market’s history, with half the year still to go. The total market size has now surpassed $56 billion, having expanded by more than 75% since 2020. This year alone has seen 10 new issuers and three wildfire…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Investing in the stock market is a powerful way to build long-term wealth. But in the UK, we don’t do enough of it. Only 23% of Brits invest in shares (outside of their pensions), compared to 61% of Americans. That’s a depressing transatlantic divide. It’s brilliant to see that stocks were recently covered in The Martin Lewis Money Show for the first time. The personal finance guru is performing an important public service by raising awareness about the compound returns the stock market can deliver. Martin Lewis focused on index funds that track the likes…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Tesco (LSE:TSCO) shares have flown in 2025, delivering a total return above 20% factoring in price gains and dividends. That’s just above what the broader FTSE 100 has delivered since 1 January. Based simply on price action, someone who invested £5,000 at the start of the year would now have £5,915. That’s a pretty tasty result, but brokers think the Tesco share price could just be getting started. Could investors make even more money over the next 12 months? Making progress Like many FTSE stocks, Tesco is followed by a large community of institutional analysts.…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Share dividends are the best way I have found to generate passive income — money made with little ongoing effort. Aside from choosing the shares, nothing much else needs to be done apart from periodically checking on their progress. One stunning prospect has recently emerged, with all three of the key elements I want in such a stock. So, what is it, what are its three great qualities, and how much passive income could it make? Three bases are loaded The stock in question is FTSE natural gas giant Energean (LSE: ENOG). It first came to…
[ad_1] For years, Vodafone’s (LSE: VOD) share price has been weighed down by heavy debt, regulatory shocks in Germany, and underperforming Spanish and Italian marketplaces. Investors grew accustomed to dividend cuts, portfolio reshuffling, and a share price that seemed trapped near multi-year lows. But after those years of crisis management, a clearer strategy appears to be emerging. This includes exiting weaker geographies, reducing leverage, and focusing on growth engines in Africa, Turkey, and the UK. So the question is how much its earnings are set to grow and how high could this push the share price? Strategic shift reflected in…