[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Like many other FTSE 100 stocks, 2025’s been a truly terrific year for Lloyds (LSE:LLOY) shares after them treading water for some time. The leading UK banking stock has seen its market-cap expand by over 62% since January, driven by a combination of factors. This includes: Impressive net interest margins as the bank capitalises on higher interest rates to bolster lending profitability Legal clarity regarding the ongoing motor financing mis-selling scandal courtesy of the UK Supreme Court Improved free cash flow generation supporting a higher return on tangible equity (RoTE) of 14.6% (excluding motor financing…
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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The S&P 500 has been on quite an impressive growth streak in 2025. Despite tariff uncertainty spooking the market in April, exceptional artificial intelligence (AI) spending has lifted the US economy and helped drive its flagship stock market index up by double digits. In fact, even with all the recent volatility, index investors have nonetheless earned a robust 15.6% return since the start of the year, including dividends. As such, a £7,000 investment at the start of January is now worth roughly £8,092. And yet some stock pickers have generated even more explosive gains. In…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Analysts and investors spent most of November worrying about a stock market crash. This was meant to be the big one, as the AI bubble burst. Except it didn’t. So what have we learned? November ended on a surprisingly upbeat note. Bloomberg called it an “everything rally”, with shares, bonds, commodities and Bitcoin all lifting. The FTSE 100 and the S&P 500 both ended marginally higher, defying the gloom merchants once again. There’s always a bout of doom every autumn as the Cassandras insist the sky is about to fall. Yet from September to November, the FTSE 100 climbed…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) stock fell 16% in the S&P 500 in November, marking its worst month for over two years. However, had an investor taken advantage of that dip back in August 2023, they would have made more than 10 times their money, even after November’s pullback. Nice. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to add Palantir to my Stocks and Shares ISA for quite a while now. But it has just marched higher and higher, rarely pausing for breath. Has November provided me with the perfect opportunity? What the firm does Palantir’s software pulls huge…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images UK investors have been piling into Meta (NASDAQ: META) stock recently. And I get it – the Magnificent 7 stock is down 20% from its highs and is currently trading on a below-market-average price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 20. I’m just wondering if investors have a full understanding of the backdrop here though? Because there are a few important things to know about this tech company. Profit uncertainty The first thing to understand about Meta is that the company is spending tens of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure. This could really slow profit growth…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images With December already upon us, many people may be thinking about spending money rather than investing it. Even some people who might want to start investing in shares could decide that that may be a resolution for the new year rather than something to do in December. But it can be easy to keep procrastinating when it comes to investing – perhaps forever. In reality, getting started in the stock market does not necessarily take a lot of money. So, even with a few hundred pounds, someone who has no stock market experience could start…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) remains of the FTSE 100‘s most popular dividend stocks. It’s a phenomenon I’m struggling to understand given the collapse in the bank’s dividend yield this year. Lloyds’ share price has rocketed 73% since 1 January. And so its forward dividend yield has dropped to 3.8%, way below the 10-year average of 6%. This figure is also just a shade above the 3.2% for the broader FTSE index. On the plus side, 2025’s full-year dividend is tipped to rise an impressive 14% from last year’s levels. Yet I’m doubtful the bank can…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Many of us (including myself) worry about the level of support the State Pension will offer in retirement. How large will it be, and at what age will I be able to claim it? In fact, will the State Pension even be around two to three decades from now? These aren’t worries I’m prepared to sit back and accept while I have time to do something about it. I’m taking steps today to help me become totally financially independent in later life. Want to see what I’m doing? Targeting a million To my mind, saving…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Because it’s not possible to withdraw any funds until retirement age, I reckon a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) is the perfect vehicle for income stocks. It means there’s no temptation to spend any dividends received. Instead, they can be reinvested buying more shares, a method known as compounding. Here are three high-yielding stocks that recently caught my eye. Work and leisure Land Securities Group (LSE:LAND) is a real estate investment trust. It must therefore return at least 90% of its annual tax-exempt property income to shareholders. Currently (28 November), it’s yielding 6.7%. The group specialises…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images I recently asked ChatGPT: “Which bargain stock should I put in my ISA?” After congratulating me on asking a good question, it came up with a list of six very different UK companies. I already own two of them – BP and JD Sports Fashion. In business for 177 years Of the other four, M&G (LSE:MNG) is the most familiar to me. Although it can trace its origins back to 1848, it only became a listed company in October 2019, having been de-merged from Prudential. Since then, it’s increased its dividend every year since. And…