Member Info for Alas_Smith

FWIW, my purchase today for one of my sons is showing as a sell.

You can re-assure your father-in-law that this "corporate action" is likely to be the RNS giving advance notice of results. This is pretty typical of the sort of urgent email delivered by companies managed under the AJ Bell umbrella.

The nomenclature used has different connotations for all. I held account for a few months with AJ Bell - they were hopeless in 2012 and their website collapsed with monotonous recurrence. Security on their site was appalling and it was not helped with the sort of alarming emails triggered automatically.

Hope this helps.

From a technical perspective, I have found that using both the 50 day and 200 day simple moving averages (SMA) is a good general indicator of the time to buy and sell. My understanding of a Golden Cross is when both the 200 day SMA and 50 day SMA are rising and occurs when the 50 day SMA crosses above the 200day line.

It rather looks as if we saw that on 23 December. The two lines have been rising since then and although the share price has occasionally dipped below both, the share price is finally in recovery. At least that is what I determine from the chart.

Coupled with the guidence published by the Prime Minister the mood of the country seems to have perked up again - the last times were the announcement of viable vaccine followed a few weeks later with the vaccination program beginning. Time will determine the outcome, but I am looking forward to shaking off the gloom and misery of a damp winter.

As these are index linked and with the early whispers of inflation, I am tempted to add a few more. I began buying in June last year - prematurely it transpires. Hindsight is such a valuable betrayer of mistakes.

Whether there is news or not today or next week, momentum suggests that the trend will continue. Additionally, hygiene whether in healthcare or other sector for that matter, is in close focus so its product lineup and sales should be in high demand. This should translate to, at worst, stable income but possibly increased margin. My hunch is on a lift in both margin and revenue.

News, of course will bring all investors up to date financially and we can make adjustments to our holdings with the same information.

Broker has upgraded FEVR to "buy" which might help the share price.

Substantial drops might mean there is a worked deal in the background - perhaps a buy order to fill (and flushing out investors locking in an gains) or a sell order that needs to be at an attractive price to encourage buyers.

Since there is neither regulatory news nor obvious reason other than perhaps sector or market sentiment I am as bewildered as you.

CME is listed on the NASDAQ. It is a derivatives exchange.

SONG is an investment trust recurring revenues from bands, producers and those in the music industry.

Buy the rumours and sell the facts

Seems that it is a Swedish one, Gronhult, to generate 67 MW.

I expect there will be an announcement once the AGM is over though I doubt there will be anything much to report.

My hunch is that there is a general air of weariness over the restrictions in place but that the NHS is really getting on with the job of rolling out vaccine as fast as possible and to as many as possible. At some point (probably late Spring is my best guess) over 50% population over 35 will have received first dose. That will, I hope begin to mark the point of herd immunity and lives can begin to return to more normal behaviour.

Doubt that international travel will be practical for this summer, but more probably return with a vengeance from the Winter. Interesting to see that forward bookings for flights on some of the low cost carriers that are usually only cover 3 months are covering 14 months at the moment. I guess it is to encourage cashflow to mitigate repayments from cancelled plans.

Brief report on Citywire today

https://citywire.co.uk/investment-trust-insider/news/ipads-macbooks-and-doubling-steel-companies-vietnam-remains-rare-outpost-of-growth/a1461152

My rationale to buy at or close to 196p was very simple. For the last year, the share price has tried to break that resistance point many times. Eventually it did and has tested the same price at least 3 times since so that it has become the support price. The spike has been ignored.

Right now, the shares seem to be range bound with roughly a 10% upside. News is expected in the next 6 weeks which will, I hope, co-incide with favourable financial press commentary. Broker opinion has low valuation at 225 (the 10% to which I referred) and an upper valuation at 300p, a 50% uplift. As 7 of the 8 brokers at 4 Feb have either a buy or outperform note andthe 8th with a hold, it made sense (to me) to chuck some more cash into this equity.

Oddly enough the Trust received a write up in the IC last week which caused a little spike in activity. I felt that the price has settled back a little and have chucked some money at this today on behalf of one of my children whose portfolio I am managing to buy a few hundred shares. Somewhat unusually, the dealing platform (HL) to execute the bargain asked a series of questions that might be off-putting to many retail investors.

Markets are closed for a week or so in Vietnam so the price will only move through shareholder pressure rather than from the underlying assets.

Oldsid, don't forget also that an Investment Trust (IT) is structured differently from funds which are peddled by the major supermarkets such as Hargreaves Lansdown. IT's are closed ended which means that there is a finite number of shares. This is important - remember the Woodford fiasco? - his funds were gated so investors could neither buy nor sell shares in his funds.

With funds, the manager has to attract new cash from existing or new investors if there is insufficient cash generated from dividends. This provides the underlying liquidity for those selling shares in the fund or buying new assets. If there is an exodus as happenned with Woodford, he had to create liquidity by realising assets which in turn had a commpounding effect as a firesale. There was fast erosion in the valuation of assets as the easy disposals were for quoted companies. MM's knew this and market the price down accordingly. The rest is history.

Shares in IT's are quoted by MM's and while you might not like the price offered, you can still deal in the shares as the underlying assets do not need to be sold to meet liquidity for the trust to survive and the underlying assets remain under management.

Does that make sense?

With the announcement by General Motors that it is their intention to exclusively offer electic cars by 2035 there really is no point in trying to fight the path that vehicle manufacturers are taking. Shell have ditched their involvement I gather in Velocys (I used to have shares in that outfit but in a nutshell, the technology is nothing like ready for commercial deployment) and will need to expand its portfolio of tie-ups and partnerships with fringe companies developing tomorrows technology for energy supply.

FWIW, ******Copper, I have been steadily buying shares in Varta (batteries), AFC (fuel cell technology), and "green" infrastructure investment trusts (TRIG and 3in) with the proceeds from my disposals. I'll continue to add in those sectors to bring my weighting closer to 6% than the 3% that they currently have. RDSB represents less that 1% portfolio

Pokerchips, I am not a trader, but, based on the LONG term chart, the SP seems to me to be gradually falling. Many draw a comparison between crude price and the SP for Shell. I don't give it much thought in truth. The best spin that I can put is that the SP is range bound (albeit in a falling band) between 1225 and 1450. Sure there are going to be some up days but the broad trend is away from oil.

RetiredCopper, FWIW today was a down day for me overall and my portfolio has its capital value reduced by the equivalent of 9 months starting salary for a constable. Am I angry about this and throwing my toys out of my pram? Nope - it is part of the game and what is more I increased my tolerence to risk from Medium High to High in November last year. I expect it will be recovered in the next few weeks.

If you had been say a traffic copper, it is a bit like having a dump of snow and watching those struggling to navigate an icy slope. I am prepared for this as I have 4wd, winter tyres and snow chains for all 4 wheels. It does not mean I will make it up the hill easily as I have to avoid the obstacles in my way and could easily be hit by a vehicle descending or sliding backwards.

There is a wall of money that is being or about to be, thrown into markets to keep economies alive. This "money" will be used to build infrastructure like roads, ports and rail electrification and in turn those that can deliver these big projects will have solid revenues.

Portfolio growth is not just about dividends but total return. If you can expand your thoughts beyond your current comprehension, I'm sure your portfolio will benefit.

When you get off your high horse, would you please stop being quite so defensive. At no time have I ever suggested that the work undertaken by those in the service was easy nor have I suggested pensions to be undeserving.

When you have calmed down, I have deliberately stated that your thought process is rooted in the past insofar as dividends are concerned. Since you seem to jump to conclusions (and are wrong on most aspects thus far) you are simply betraying a naive approach to investment and, properly are taken as a mug. You might not have heard of the adage that a fool and money deserve to be parted. You are displaying all the attributes of a simpleton and perhaps investing in equities really is not your metier.

Since I fully expect you to ignore this, note that I have NEVER claimed to be an expert on Shell, I have owned shares in the company for more than 40 years so I think I understand how the business is put together. I have also stated that I have been reducing my holding for the last 5 years in the company - I used to post on ADVFN as Erogenous Jones - and although I still own a few shares in RDSB ( under 2,000 now ), I will continue to reduce my holding but sell into strength.

The prospects for RDSB in the short term (under 12 months) are poor. The share price is reflecting the prospects for the company for the period June-December 2021 at the moment. IMO, the medium term (24-60 months) is one of consolidation, which is dependent on the deals being done now.

And before you write the board off, you might also wish to note that the BoD know that the RULES for supplying energy is changing. For a company that pays £25bn in taxes each year, it is impossible to grow organically in a contracting environment. The ONLY way they can continue as a business is to evolve to meet the challenges that they face now - green issues. And for the company to not just keep pace with the changed market to PAY dividends investment needs to be made through acquisition. And that is precisely what the BoD are doing.

Now, I do not believe they are doing this fast enough, either to stifle the competition that they face or to gain advantage - that is why I am selling. I'll let you have the final words, but I might not be quite so generous in articulating my intent to help you to survive and prosper in a difficult market.

RC. You wrote "I dont mind Oilers chasing a green strategy at a time when the world Economies and companies themselves are in a good shape to do it , and as long as Share holders are made 100% aware of any financial consequences in advance.!!!"

Your thought process, I suggest is rooted in the past. In the same way that there can always be doubt on the timing of a decision, decisions need to be made and implemented. Time will determine whether such decision was good or poor.

You continue banging on about the injustice of a cut in dividend. At a time when the average FTSE dividend was 3.3% and climbing to have Shell at 10% surely would have rung an alarm bell? ".... suddenly bam Covid hits Feb/March20 and all of a sudden slash the dividend 66% !!! " It was obvious, I would have thought even to a copper that it was going to be cut. There was enough in the press to suggest as much. But you do concede that a "....25-50% % cut may be prudent in a pandemic..."

Well, the pandemic is NOT yet over. We have many months left to run (my hunch is 18 incidentally) before there are sufficient people vaccinated to prevent the qty of deaths that are happenning.

hey, I am with you in that I am not a fan of the emphasis that is being given in the press and media for green issues, but it does not mean that either oil will cease to be used or that you have to accept everything that is claimed by environmentalists. If you are reliant on your portfolio as I will be on mine when I come to retire in a few years time, then there is no reason why you shold be blikered to making money from businesses involved in green issues. Since the coppers that I know received a whopping bonus on retirement after 30 years service plus a generous pension, I confess I am not too inclined to give you much sympathy for your obstinacy.

As the long term (200 day) moving average for the share price has turned up and the share price has a habit of bouncing off the 150 moving average, I have bunged a little more money into the pot to round up my holding. No point getting excited as I remain a little underwater with this but it maintains my % exposure to 1% wealth.