Image source: Getty Images Barclays’ (LSE: BARC) and Lloyds’ (LSE: LLOY) shares have done well for investors lately. Fuelled by investor interest in cheap UK stocks, both have stormed higher in 2025. Is one bank stock a better investment than the other today? Let’s take a look at the set-up for each and compare the two blue-chip bank stocks. Opportunities and risks Before looking at valuation metrics and dividend yields, I think it’s worth looking at the business models of each. Because this will provide some insight into the opportunities and risks for each institution. Today, Barclays is quite a…
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Seattle’s human population is growing fast, but its car population has stalled out. Between 2017 and 2023, Seattle added 35,000 households, but just 3,300 cars, new Census data has revealed — in news that is music to urbanist ears.“Census data shows the number of vehicles in the city has been effectively unchanged for years, even as the number of households has grown,” Gene Balk wrote in his most recent “FYI Guy” column in the Seattle Times. “Because the number of cars has basically plateaued while the number of households has grown, the rate of car ownership has declined.”In fact, the rate of car…
Image source: Getty Images Sometimes, the best stocks to buy are among those that are performing the worst. That’s because negative catalysts can trigger a lot of rapid selling from investors. But this reaction can also be overblown. And the result is a buying opportunity that smarter investors can exploit. We’ve already seen the power of a comeback story with Rolls-Royce. The engineering giant has surged more than 1,700% in the last five years after being one of the worst-performing UK stocks in 2020. Skip ahead to 2025, and Mobico Group (LSE:MCG) now finds itself on the list of worst…
Image source: Getty Images Penny stocks can be both thrilling and terrifying. One day they’re languishing at fractions of a penny, the next they’re surging hundreds of percent and grabbing headlines. This year, one AIM-listed energy firm has done just that. Borders & Southern Petroleum (LSE: BOR) has rocketed 388% in 2025 alone, despite having no revenue to its name. That begs the question — is there more to come, or has the ship already left the harbour? Speculative prospects Borders & Southern’s a London-based independent oil and gas exploration company. Its flagship Darwin project, located in the Falkland Islands,…
Image source: Getty Images UK shares are well known for their dividend-paying potential. The London Stock Exchange is home to some of the most generously high-yielding stocks in the world. And in 2025, even after impressive share price gains, there remain plenty of income opportunities to exploit. Among those is Speedy Hire (LSE:SDY) and Reach (LSE:RCH), both offering a tempting 11% dividend yield today. The question is, can this level of payout be maintained? Or are these UK shares luring investors into a trap? Equipement rental Starting with Speedy Hire, the business is a UK- and Ireland-based supplier of tools…
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is back in the headlines. On 12 September, Elon Musk disclosed he had purchased more than 2.5m shares, worth just over $1bn. The purchase, one of the largest insider buys in US market history, has helped propel Tesla stock higher once again. But after such a strong rally, has the window closed for UK investors looking to buy into the technology giant? Valuation remains dubious Tesla’s market capitalisation has now climbed past $1.4trn, making it one of the world’s most valuable companies. Yet the fundamentals don’t appear to justify the valuation. On a trailing basis, the shares…
Image source: Getty Images One of the great appeals of investing is the potential to build a portfolio that generates passive income. For many UK investors, the default route has often been dividend-rich FTSE 100 shares in industries such as banking, energy, or consumer goods. Yet across the Atlantic, some of the most exciting opportunities for future passive income could come from the US technology sector — even if many of its biggest names don’t yet pay meaningful dividends. There’s a simple reason for this. Today’s growth engines can become tomorrow’s income giants. Tech companies that are currently reinvesting heavily…
Image source: Getty Images The government has released its latest annual data on Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs). And broadly speaking, it’s shown a rise in the number of subscriptions to these tax-efficient savings and investment products. Source: HM Revenue and Customs Subscriptions to Cash ISAs spiked 26% in the 2023/24 tax year, according to HMRC. Stocks and Shares ISA subscriptions rose 7%, while Lifetime ISA subscriptions leapt 27%. A whopping £69bn was held in Cash ISAs in 2023/24 compared to £31bn in Stocks and Shares ISAs. Given their simplicity and safety, the popularity of these cash products is obvious. But…
Image source: Getty Images Looking for top dividend shares to buy? Here are two offering excellent payout growth and large yields to consider. In recovery The housing sector’s steady recovery suggests that Springfield Properties (LSE:SPR) may be an attractive dividend share to think about. Helped by recent interest rate cuts and a mortgage market price war, buyer affordability is steadily improving and boosting demand for newbuild homes. The pace of interest rates cuts remains uncertain. On the one hand, policymakers may feel compelled to cut interest rates to stimulate the weak UK economy. But their appetite to cut could be…
5.5K The report explores the economic impact on the UK scrap steel sector as the steel industry transitions to low-carbon electric arc furnaces (EAF), which is set to significantly increase domestic demand for British scrap steel. It finds that an export ban to non-OECD countries would lead to nearly £5bn lost in GVA and costing over 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. Unlike traditional blast furnaces, EAF’s material mix can consist of 100% scrap steel, prompting forecasts of increased demand. To ostensibly ensure supply can meet demand the steel industry has been advocating to restrict British scrap steel exports. However, today’s…