[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Since 2026 kicked off, National Grid (LSE:NG.) shares have already jumped by over 10%, reaching a new 52-week and overall record high! But what’s driving this momentum? And can the stock continue to surge throughout the rest of the year? Inspecting double-digit gains There are a variety of forces driving National Grid shares higher right now. However, this latest rally was actually triggered by an important regulatory announcement late last year. In December, energy regulator Ofgem published its final determination for the RIIO-T3 price control framework. This is where things get a little complicated, so…
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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE:SMT) share price has delivered strong returns for shareholders over the past 12 months. And there are several reasons for this. An investment trust‘s market value (share price) is driven by supply and demand, influenced by the value of its underlying holdings. This is measured by the Net Asset Value (NAV). For trusts holding public stocks, the NAV can be updated daily, and it serves as the benchmark to determine if the trust is trading at a discount or a premium. However, Scottish Mortgage has investments in privately-held companies as well listed stocks, and this does make…
[ad_1] The 60/40 equity–bond portfolio remains a widely used benchmark for long-term asset allocation, despite ongoing debate about its optimality (Pham et al., 2025). For many households, however, the challenge lies not in the framework itself but in the amount of capital required to implement it. Limited investable assets, a desire to avoid explicit borrowing, significant exposure to residential real estate, and the need to maintain liquid reserves often constrain the ability to fully fund a traditional allocation. Leveraged ETFs offer an alternative. Rather than increasing risk, they allow households to achieve a desired risk exposure with less deployed capital,…
[ad_1] Can nothing stop Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)? Tesla stock is up 19% over the past year alone – and 53% over five years. Yet last year was hardly a banner year for the company. Its car sales volumes fell for the second year in a row – and while the prior year’s fall had been small, this time around it was a much bigger drop. Profits fell sharply. Meanwhile, the market for electric vehicles is becoming more competitive. Key US tax incentives have ended, while rivals such as BYD are growing strongly. That suggests Tesla’s problems are company-specific, rather than…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Croda International (LSE:CRDA) has been one of the FTSE 100’s most reliable dividend stocks for decades. And after crashing 75% from its highs, it’s starting to show signs of a comeback. There’s still a 3.8% dividend yield for those who buy the stock today. So with things starting to look up, should investors hunting for passive income seize the opportunity before it’s too late? Reliability Reliability is a big consideration for dividend investors. Anyone looking to live off the income generated by a stock portfolio needs to be confident that it’s going to appear on…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images UK share investors have a wealth of options when it comes to choosing income stocks. Stock markets have rallied over the last year, pulling dividend yields lower. But with a little research, it’s possible to find quality shares with attractive yields. Take Henderson Far East Income (LSE:HFEL), iShares US Equity High Income (LSE:INCU), and Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW). These British dividend shares today carry dividend yields north of 9%. To give you a flavour of what this could mean for your pocket, a £20,000 investment spread across all three will (if forecasts are accurate) provide…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images As the FTSE 100 index contains many proven, mature companies and has recently hit an all-time high, it might not seem like the obvious place to hunt for high-yield shares. Currently, the index yields 2.9%. However, with 100 companies in the index, that yield is just an average. Some FTSE 100 shares pay no dividend at all: Polar Capital Technology Trust is an example, though as its share price has more than doubled in five years, shareholders might not mind that. But, at the other end of the scale, there are high-yield shares in the…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Ever dreamed of making a substantial passive income free of tax? With the Individual Savings Account (ISA), Brits have a ready-made vehicle to make that vision a reality. A generous £20,000 annual allowance means the Cash ISA and Stocks and Shares ISA give savers and investors significant headroom to grow their wealth. That said, with compounding and the stock market’s long-term returns factored in, investing ISA is the best way for me to target a large second income. Let’s say I want to achieve an income of £700 each month on top of what I…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Earning a passive income with a Stocks and Shares ISA is a no-brainer for many people. UK shares often pay large and reliable dividends that can boost your spending power or fuel further ISA growth. But how can investors maximise their chances of a large second income? Here’s how someone could target a passive income above £43,939 in five steps. Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images US software growth stocks have been absolutely hammered recently. As a result, some of these stocks are now trading at all-time low price-to-earnings (P/E) and/or price-to-sales ratios. Could there be a rare opportunity here for long-term investors? Let’s take a look at the landscape. Are AI fears overblown? The reason these shares have tanked recently is investors have grown concerned that artificial intelligence (AI) solutions from the likes of Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (ChatGPT) are going to destroy their business models. The theory here is that enterprises will be able to create their own software…