Member Info for hardup

Falky
"Walker, Trump has the sense to withdraw from NATO then.
What is the point of been a member of useless force which only
Used to have a go at 3rd world countries ??.... only against the weak."

America will not leave NATO...........a quote I seem to recall from a lot of years back from either an American politician or Army general, I can't remember......"the first world war was fought in Europe, the second world war was fought in Europe, and if you dummies let us, the third world war will be fought in Europe"

"FTSE down 1.2% out of hours. Any educated guesses for the bottom? Interested to hear opinions or if anyone has a crystal ball :)"
The DOW recovered some of its earlier losses last night, was down -1.57% at lowest point, to close down -0.53%, so maybe FTSE will fare better on Monday.

US jobs growth accelerated sharply last month, bolstering the Federal Reserve’s case to push ahead with a series of interest rate increases this year.

Employers in the world’s largest economy added 678,000 jobs in February, eclipsing economists’ expectations and building on an upwardly revised 481,000 positions created in January. That pushed the unemployment rate to 3.8 per cent, after it increased marginally at the start of the year.

The report, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, showed monthly wage growth flatlining, following a 0.6 per cent jump in average hourly earnings in January. Over the past year, hourly earnings are up 5.1 per cent.

“We’re seeing a stronger return to the workforce, stronger than even we were expecting, some of which is a bounce-back from Omicron and bad weather, ‘’ said Michael Gapen, chief economist at Barclays.

Friday’s report showed the labour force participation rate, which tracks the share of Americans employed or looking for a job, marginally improved to 62.3 per cent.

Eric Winograd, senior economist for fixed income at AllianceBernstein, said the combination of strong hiring, easing wage pressure and improving participation is exactly the kind of jobs report people should hope to see going forward.

https://techilive.in/us-economy-added-678000-jobs-in-february-cementing-case-for-rate-rises/

lti
"should have been £147,146,337.60"
I think I see how you are deriving that cost, it is the total that I said £146,414,266.27, +0.5% stamp duty, correct?
I was under the impression "Volume weighted average price paid per share (pence)" had the 0.5% stamp taken into consideration included?

lti
"hu
Total cost of buyback so far........= £146,414,266.27
I make it £146,503,789.04"

Here are my calculations.
Date............No shares........average price.......cost
25/02/22....36,644,604........48.86p................. £17,904,553.51
28/02/22....55,271,232........47.85p... ..............£26,447,284.51
01/03/22....59,991,853........47.46p... ..............£28,472,133.43
02/03/22....46,476,839........45.95p................. £21,356,107.52
03/03/22....55,642,094........46.04p................. £25,617,620.08
04/03/22....61,243,827........43.46p................. £26,616,567.21

Total cost..........£146,414,266.27

BlackRock has suspended the purchase of all Russian securities in its active and index funds, while also seeking to push index providers to remove Russian holdings from broad-based indices.

According to a statement seen by Citywire Selector, Rich Kushel, head of portfolio management, and Salim Ramji, global head of iShares and index investments, implemented the measures on 28 February.

The note said 0.01% of client assets were currently exposed to Russian securities. The company announced it had more than $10tn in assets in January 2022, which means the level of client assets exposed to Russia would be in the vicinity of $1bn.

In a comment, the group said: ‘In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, BlackRock on Monday, February 28, suspended the purchase of all Russian securities in our active and index funds. We also have proactively advocated with our index providers to remove Russian securities from broad-based indices.

‘A number of our major index providers have since announced removal of Russian securities from their indices, which will begin to take effect next week.

https://citywire.com/investment-trust-insider/news/blackrock-suspends-all-russia-purchases-in-active-and-index-funds/a2381423?

Surprising quote from this article given US taking the lead in imposing sanctions against Russia?

“The U.S. has made it clear it does not intend to impose direct sanctions on Russia’s oil exports. We are seeing slowdowns in Russian crude purchases. Until payment terms are clarified, further tightening in the supply and demand balance is expected,” Wood Mackenzie stated.

https://www.rigzone.com/news/russian_energy_reliability_now_a_market_driver-28-feb-2022-168074-article/

If anyone is interested.
Total shares buyback since start = 315,270,449
Total cost of buyback so far........= £146,414,266.27
Percentage buyback complete ..= 7.32%

After BP, Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies and Chevron shed more light on their stances relating to Russia, ExxonMobil has made its position known.

In an update posted on its website late Tuesday, the company revealed that it will discontinue operations at Sakhalin-1 and make no new investments in Russia.

“ExxonMobil operates the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of an international consortium of Japanese, Indian and Russian companies. In response to recent events, we are beginning the process to discontinue operations and developing steps to exit the Sakhalin-1 venture,” ExxonMobil said in a company statement.

https://www.rigzone.com/news/exxonmobil_makes_russia_stance_known-02-mar-2022-168103-article/

sc
The BOE MPC have been slated for delaying interest rate rise previously citing COVID allowing inflation to soar to current levels. Will they risk not raising them at next meeting allowing inflation to soar even further out of control into double digits? We be in a right pickle then.

Brixton
Found a clip of you and your son playing scrabble. lol

https://www.facebook.com/ClassicComedyUK/videos/steptoe-son/313632415919265/

MarkGo
Agree interest rate rise will be catalyst for Lloyds to rise but where will SP be by that time?

DAVB
Alternatively could stay and keep Plato company. lol

Ukraine have put a ban on men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. They have to stay to be available to fight.

China-backed bank STOPS lending to Russia and Belarus as Beijing’s support for Putin grows weaker in wake of Ukraine war.
The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has said it will suspend business related to Russia and Belarus in a sign of the two countries' deepening pariah status over the war in Ukraine.

In a statement issued Thursday, the AIIB said that 'in the best interests of the bank, management has decided that all activities relating to Russia and Belarus are on hold and under review'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10576923/China-backed-bank-STOPS-lending-Russia-Belarus-Beijings-support-Putin-grows-weaker.html

"watch this rally"
What one, Monte Carlo or Dakar?

RUSSIA has now passed a law making it a criminal offence to "disseminate false information" about the Ukraine invasion, restraining freedom of speech in Moscow.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1575478/Russia-news-Vladimir-Putin-law-press-freedom-of-speech-misinformation-Ukraine-war

Brixton
The Hardup Bank will take a cash donation

Let's hope it's not a dead moggy bounce! LOL

Don't panic.....latest broker update today.....
"Goldman Sachs cuts Lloyds Banking price target to 63 (64) pence - 'neutral'"
LOL