Member Info for JohnLewis79

Asian mrkts are trading higher at the start of wk 3 following positive vibes from Wall on Friday. A report showed employment in the US increased less than expected in December and consumer confidence improved more than forecast in January. The Dow is forecast to fall over 240 at Monday's opening.

Mrkts in Japan are closed for Coming of Age day. Elsewhere most Asian mrkts are up between 1% & 2% with Taiwan leading the way closing 347 ahead at the close. HK and Shanghai are up 1% respectively with Pan Pacificas mixed in listless trading. Blue chip Hong Kong Land ($7•90) led the gainers on strong leasing demand and share buybacks (190,000) were purchased on Friday for cancellation.

In Sydney the ASX200 is notably higher moving above the ASX200 8750 level with gains across most sectors led by tech and energy. The broader All Ordinaries trades 60 ahead though major miners BHP & Rio T are down 1% on overseas factors. In RTZ case its possible take over / merger with Glencore has not seen much enthusiasm from investors. The shares fell 183 to 6011 on Friday. Banks are seeing renewed interest with the 4 majors up c.1%-2%. Aussie banks are strong and profitable. The Govt prevent mergers among the big 4 to ensure stability under the "4 Pillars" policy.

In other news shares in Light & Wonder surged 16% after the company settled a lawsuit with Aristocrat Leisure. PWR Holdings added 6% after a announcing a US $9•1m follow on defence and aerospace contract to supply advanced cooling solutions for the US Govt. Bigest gainer on the session was Imricor Medical (AUD 1•85) up over 17% after the US Food and Drug Administration granted clearance for its Vision MR Diagnostic Catheter.

Gold and silver continue their price rises on safe haven demand, tight supply issues and the prospect of lower rates (if Trump gets his way). UBS management forecast gold to rally to $5000 by the end of Q1.

Latest :- Vix 14. Brent $63.

Gold $4574. Copper $5•986.

Palm $976. Silver $84•000.

$1•343. €1•151.

FF -8. DF -205.

Morning all.

Less than £3 a pint for some beers! No wonder non spoons pubs are closing down. Pre covid my local on a Sat afternoon would by mid'day have 30+ in the pub. Today i left at 1:00 pm and only 5 others were drinking. Tells you something!

Yes I support Palace since I moved to the area back in the 80s. However i'm a Rugby man through and through but this part of South London is 100% football. I wasn't in the least surprised we got turned over by Macclesfield and well done to them. As long as we're in the 12-15 place position in the Prem, all is well. Our ambitions are limited by a lack of serious cash which is probably a good thing.

Quite right Roger dont know how I arrived at 40.....

Wall St ended wk 2 on a strong note as all 4 major indexes posted new or near new rounds of record closes. In % terms the Russell 2000 led the way with a ytd gain of 5% followed by the Dow up 3%, the S&P at 2% & the Nsdq 2%.

On the big board 16 companies posted advances on the session led by Home Depot up $15 to $375 followed by Boeing, Sherwin Williams & Chevron. In the red corner Amgen & UH propped up the decliners with Amex the main loser off $7 to $376.

Of special note Google ($338) overtook Apple as the 2nd most valuable global company closing the week with a mrkt cap of $3•973tn against Apple $3•888tn. Google has risen 66% in the past year and was the top 'Mag 7' performer of 2025.

Apple has fallen for the last 7 successive sessions. While the pull back is relatively modest (-5%) it represents its longest losing streak since an 8 day skid in May '25. For the Q ended Dec'25, Apple is expected to report a strong financial performance on Jan 29th.

However on the global list of the 11 largest companies 9 of which are American Nvidia retained its No1 ranking with a value of $4•500tn. All have mrkt caps in excess of $1tn. Only Saudi Aramco (9) & TSMC (6) appear from the overseas ranks.

Nyse data

Issues 2826

Advances 1751

Declines 998

U/c 77

NH 212

NL 21

T/vol(tn) 1•130

-------------

DJ +238 (49,504) R

SP +45 (6966) R

NS +259 (25,766) R

R2 +12 (1544) R

WTI $59

10ytb 4•175%

----------

MSCI(W) +27 (4511)

Gold Bugs +10 (763) R

----------------

Close :- Vix 14. Brent $63.

Gold $4509. Copper $5•890.

Palm $965. Silver $79•790.

Yen 158. Yuan 6•98.

$1•340. €1•152.

FF +8. DF +5.

Morning all.

Thanx phamhall for your MSi views which are in the ballpark park area im sure. Lets hope the company have managed to find a buyer for our petrol stations etc.....

Newcomers to the stock have been pushing up MSi shares to 'toppy' levels today. At 1560 that's equivalent to c.40x earnings more in line with US defence stock valuations. Not saying it's unwarranted but perhaps unrealistic as Cohort in the same sector rates a p/e of c.21x earnings on eps of 53.

Trying to value one companies earnings against another is a zero sum game. Why investors are prepared to pay £40 for every £1 of MSi earnings versus £21 for Cohort's is a mystery without going much deeper into the companies balance sheet for an explanation.

Cohort has c.3x more shares outstanding than MSi which makes the them more marketable to investors. Most stocks have their fanbase so it might be as simple as that. Must admit if I had any 'spare' I'd buy Cohort above mrkt leader BAE Systems in a sector that has sprung to life recently.

Overnight US stocks ended mixed in directionless trade as big tech & semi conductor stocks were sold off'setting gains in the defense sector after Trump demanded a $500bn increase in annual defense spending. Venezuela cont to dominate mrkt chatter by releasing large nos of political prisoners in a peace

gesture to the US after Trump ousted Maduro. As part of the deal he expects Caracas to give Washington access to it's oil reserves.

The Nsdq closed down for the first time in 3 sessions dropping 146 as the big board were led higher by Nike, Home Depot & Honeywell. Going down Amgen led the 10 decliners losing $12 at $330 followed by Nvidia, Salesforce & Msoft.

Savvy investors are calling this the year of the underdog as the 'Mag 7' struggle up only 0•1% the small cap focused Russell 2000 is up c.5% to a new all-time high as investors seek new opportunities in overlooked parts of the market. There are around 6000 publicly traded stocks in the US at anyone time where quoted company values range from $250m to the likes of Nvidia at $4•505tn.

Stocks will face their first real test of '26 with Friday's pivotal jobs report and potentially a Supreme Court decision on the legality of most of Trump's layoffs. In economic news, data showed first time claims for unemployment benefits rose moderately due to a low nos

of layoffs at the end of 2025. American consumers are alive, well and continue to spend in US malls despite Trump 'tweets' having an unprecedented influence over financial markets.

Nyse data

Issues 2833

Advances 1890

Declines 848

U/c 95

NH 165

NL 28

T/vol(tn) 1•23

-------------

DJ +270 (49,266) R

SP +1 (6921) R

NS -146 (25,507)

R2 +21 (1532) R

WTI $58

10ytb 4•180%

----------

MSCI(W) -6 (4484)

Gold Bugs +3 (753)

---------------

Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $62.

Gold $4474. Copper $5•824.

Palm $981. Silver $76•295.

$1•343. €1•153.

FF +28. DF +33.

Morning all.

MSi shares have started the year on a strong note ahead of the delayed H/Y results expected on the 14th Jan. Currently c.76p up ytd on increased buy/sell ovolume. Not sure what to expect but 1650p must be on the cards given no impairment shocks.

Last year HI profits of £8.77m, eps 39•8 and cash £50m. Expectations are for those nos to be exceeded by as much as £2-£3m to £10m+? Pharmhall will have a better analysis of what the market is looking for.

Overnight US stocks fluctuated before ending mixed to lower with banks, healthcare & tech the main losers. The Dow dipped 466 after hitting a record high on Tuesday but is off to its best start since 2018.

Investors also digested uneven US economic data ahead of the release of crucial jobs nos as well as a Supreme Court ruling on Trump's global tariffs for further direction. T/bills held overnight gains and the USD was steady against major currencies amid bets the Fed will deliver at least 2 rate cuts this year. Oils were unchanged after 2 days of declines and Gold ($4420) and silver ($75) were subdued as profit takers cont to sell into any price increases.

On the big board 7 of 30 constituents gained led by Amgen, J&J and Salesforce while Cat, Nike & JPMC declined. On Wall St forecasts for the year ahead remain elevated for the S&P 500 and vary from Oppenheimers 8100 to BOA's 7100 for a median 7700.

In a shock move Trump took aim at US Defence companies as his administration looks to dramatically ramp up spending on the armed forces to $1•5tn. On a Truth Social post he said he will not permit them to issue dividends or stock buybacks until those companies address his complaints about the industry and speed up production of military equipment. He also took Aim a defence contractors executive pay packages calling them 'exorbitant and unjustifiable'. Shares of Gen Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon which was signalled out as the least responsive fell around 3%.

Nyse data

Issues 2836

Advances 997

Declines 1751

U/c 88

NH 137

NL 41

T/vol(tn) 1•20

-------------

DJ -466 (48,996)

SP -24 (6921)

NS +14 (25,654)

R2 -13 (1510)

WTI $56

10ytb 4•146%

----------

MSCI(W) -16 (4490)

Gold Bugs -4 (749)

---------------

Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $60.

Gold $4433. Copper $5•854.

Palm $970. Silver $76•778.

$1•345. €1•152.

FF -44. DF -144.

Morning all.

Record gains by tech stocks pushed US mrkts to records on Tuesday. Techs led the rally but several other sectors assisted in the broader advance, healthcare, retailers and industrials all gained ground as 3/4 stocks on the 500 index rose. The S&P 500 rose 43 setting a record on the 3rd day of the year and small caps outpaced the rest of the market settling just below their Dec record high.

The most notable actions remained in the tech sector. Amazon which has reach in retail and technology leapt $11 to $241. AWS (Amazon web services) has collaborated with German automative hardware supplier Aumovio to ease the use of self driving cars and freight trucks which are expected to be ready to go in 2027.

Micron Tech a disc memory stock added $31 to $343 in a sector wide advance but Nvidia which is often the bigest force behind the mrkts direction slipped to $187 on pis selling. Apple also stalled on profit taking falling $8 to $262. Sandisk a computer disc memory company was the leading gainer. The stock has risen 800% since spinning off from Western Digital last February gaining $75 to $350.

Commodities were mixed as WTI fell 2% to $57 and Brent closed at $61 a barrel.

Gold & Silver continued to see profit taking but on the ytd gold is up 3% and silver 12%. Later today the US Govt will release several reports on the state of the economy inc job nos, unemployment data and consumer confidence nos none of which will surprise investors.

Finally this years Santa Claus rally (based on the 500 index) failed to live up to the historic gains of 1•3% averaged since 1950 by slipping 30 points to 6902.

Nyse data

Issues 2835

Advances 1787

Declines 971

U/c 77

NH 227

NL 39

T/vol(tn) 1•340

-------------

DJ +485 (49,462) R

SP +43 (6945) R

NS +238 (25,640) R

R2 +23 (1523) R

WTI $56

10ytb 4•168%

----------

MSCI(W) +28 (4507)

Gold Bugs +30 (754)

Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $60.

Gold $4447. Copper $6•004.

Palm $971. Silver $78.50.

$1•351. €1•155.

FF -25. DF +50.

Morning all.

Ftse All Share Index Rankings as at 30/12/2025.

1) AZN £213•2bn

2) HSBC £202•0bn

3) Shell £156•0bn

4) Sant £131•0bn

5) BHP £115•6bn

100) Croda £3•85bn

200) Grainger £1•35bn

438) MSi £237•8m

500) Pantheon £112•2m

563) RTC grp £12•2m

The Dow closed at a new record high ending the session just below 49,000.

Twelve of the top 30 ended lower on the day led by Apple, Amgen and Coca Cola. Chevron ($164) up 5%, led the risers followed by GS, Cat & Amazon.

Wall St analysts expect that falling interest rates and strong corporate earnings will be enough to see one more year of gains despite posting double-digit % increases for 3 straight years. Stocks have started the new year with a boost from oil, banks & energy but geo politics remain volatile after upheavals in Venezuela.

Chevron is the only US oil company currently operating there. It is thought US oil companies will need to spend in excess of $100bn to revive the run down infrastructure in a country with the bigest global oil reserves.

As the Dow eyes the (50,000) level and the S&P (7000) a solid Q1 is expected by investors.

Nyse data

Issues 2844

Advances 1910

Declines 860

U/c 74

NH 207

NL 31

T/vol(tn) 1•35

------------

DJ +595 (48,977)

SP +44 (6902)

NS +195 (25,401)

R2 +18 (1500)

WTI $58

10ytb 4•184%

----------

MSCI(W) +15 (4445)

Gold Bugs +23 (724)

----------------

Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $62.

Gold $4462. Copper $6•072.

Palm $973. Silver $78•875.

$1•355. €1•155.

FF +41. DF +21.

Morning all.

Stocks in Asia opened wk2 ignoring the military action in Venezuela to concentrate on upcoming economic data and corporate earnings. The USD traded higher after the arrest and removal of President Maduro. Asian markets extended gains for the 5th consecutive session in a solid start to the New Year. In early dealings on the Hong Kong Gold Exchange Gold bounced over $70 to a new intra-day day high of $4407 and silver cont to post gains climbing over $76.

Stocks in Shanghai climbed from the bell gaining 40 at 4021 to a new 52 & all-time high despite fresh signs of slowing business growth, and a struggling services sector expanding at its slowest pace in 6 months.

The Nikkei 225 was closed for business. In Hong Kong trading is flat wirh the Hang Seng unchanged at 26,639 in late pm trading. Over in Soeul the KOSPI continued its good start to the New Year jumping c.3% as the leaders from China and S. Korea agree to seek closer ties between the 2 countries. The KOSPI closed at a new record high of 4454 and the TAIEX put on 755 at 30,105.

In Australia Stocks prices were little changed in a quiet start to New Year. Paladin Energy a second line counter was the days bigest winner closing up 7% at $10:85 while the main ASX200 closed u/c at 8729.

Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $60.

Gold $4420. Copper $5•868.

Palm $981. Silver $75•285.

$1•343. €1•149.

FF +55. DF +49.

Morning all.

Markets had a quiet start to the New Year with tech stocks driving most of the action. Msoft & Tesla weighed down the big board in particular Msoft fell $12 to $473 on lay over profit taking and Tesla fell to $435 on reports of falling sales for the 2nd year in a row before recovering to $453. Tesla also saw China's BYD become the world's top EV seller by annual sales volume outpacing Tesla by 2•26m deliveries to 1•63m on the year. Overseas mrkts saw records.

E-commerce giant Alibaba gained 4% while Baidu jumped 9% in HK after it said it plans to spin off its Ai computer chip unit Kunluxin in 2027. Furniture makers had a good day after Trump moved to delay tariffs on upholstered goods. On a shortened week of trading investors were generally positive about the year ahead with several brokers pricing the Dow above 6000 and the S&P over 8000.

WTI was stable at $57•32 and Brent at $61. Gold saw a bit of profit taking at $4330 while 10yr T/bills held steady in the bond mrkt at c.4•19%. Next week will see mrkts back to their usual 5 day trading and will include reports on the services sector, consumer sentiment and the US jobs report. The Fed is expected to hold rates steady at their Jan meeting.

On the Dow 14/30 stocks closed lower led by Salesforce off $11 at $254, Msoft and Amazon. Boeing up $11 at $228 topped the leaders board which included Caterpillar, GS & Chevron. Overseas mrkts saw records, the UK'S ftse 100 hit an intra-day record of 10,046 and S.Korea's

KOSPI index closed at a new all-time peak of 4314.

Nyse data

Issues 2838

Advances 1882

Declines 882

U/c 74

NH 75

NL 45

T/Vol(tn) 1•03

-------------

DJ +319 (48,382)

SP +13 (6858)

NS -44 (25,206)

R2 +15 (1482)

WTI $57

10ytb 4•195%

-----------

Close :- Vix 15. Brent $61.

Gold $4330. Copper $5•698.

Palm $975. Silver $72•250.

Yen 157. Yuan 6•99.

$1•346. €1•148

FF +41. DF -15.

Morning all.

Cheers WOE, MSi is my longest holding stock since the days of Rodime! Upcoming (14/1) delayed H1 nos should provide a better view into 2026. A dividend increase would please income holders. Yielding 1•6% could 2% be on the cards?

The shares (1440) have drifted back since late Oct and with little coverage from analysts its going to need a much better performance to see the stock trade over £16 let alone the 1705 intra-day high of Nov 17th.

Stocks in Asia are mostly higher at the start of 2026 having ended last year on a subdued note due to year end book squaring, holidays in Japan, China & Pacificas. Investors await the release of US payrolls and jobs data next week which may hold the key for int rate cuts by the Fed. Markets are looking for at least 2 more cuts this year despite Trump pushing Powell to cut to 1% from 3•5%.

With no lead from Japan Australian mrkts were little changed the ASX200 ending up 16 at 8730 as miners and gold slipped. The ASX200 gained 6% on the year the worst perfomer among major exchanges and not much above the near 4% inflation rate. In other Asian mrkts S. Korea and Taiwan were both ahead in thin trading mostly on retail buying and Hong Kong was up over 500 at mid session as pis sought overlooked stocks. Hong Kong had a very good year the main Hang Seng index gaining 5520 points (27%).

In the commodity sector silver outshined every other asset in 2025 gaining $41 to $71 (137%) followed by gold up $700 to $4318 (64%) and copper closing 43% ahead. All 3 absorbed bouts of profit taking during the year and have started 2026 on an upbeat note.

Asia 2025 closes.

TK +26%

HK +34%

SH +18%

SK +80%

TAX +29%

DJK +23%

KL +2%

SP +23%

ASX +6%

Latest -: Vix 15. Brent $61.

Gold $4376. Copper $5•741.

Palm $986. Silver $73•585.

$1•348. €1•146. 10ytb 4•16%

FF +18. DF +120.

Morning all.

Lets look at the 3 year uptrend chart from here. Can't say im very bullish but I like buying stocks when the consensus says sell and am prepared to add to a losing stock (on this occasion) which i rarely do! I'm making an exception in Diageo's case as i think the upside has a lot more scope than the downside. I'll reassess in 6 months.

MSi has kept me nicely in the plus column in 2025 with a few of my 'joints' doing reasonably well, so no complaints from me! I dont intend to sell MSi but may add to the bombed out Diageo which at 1600 has a lot of catching up to do with sentiment against it and shorters having a field day of easy pickings.

No idea if this is the bottom or 1400 on the cards? Lewis has a poisoned chalice on his hands which might tempt braver souls to buy on a 2-3 year view. I'm very tempted.......though I have swerved the drinks/leisure sector since the Grand Met days. On such a lowly p/e of 13x you have a decent margin of safety with brokers recommending the shares.

Assuming America bounces back where 40% of Diageo sales are earned this could turn out to be a diamond in the rough as Lewis plans selling off non core assets to lower borrowings of £22 bn. Current dividend yield is c.4•70% for income seekers while you wait for a recovery.

MSi closed at 1440-1460 for a very satisfactory gain of 544p (c.60%) on the year having hit an intra-day record high of 1705 in Nov. UK mrkts had a very good year with all the major indexes climbing to near record highs led by the Ftse 100 gaining 22%, the All Share 20%, the 250 +9% and Aim 6%.

The $/£ started the year at $1•27 & the Euro 1•206. The NYSE Gold Bugs index opened at 279 surging 155% to 701 principally due to physical demand and falling interest rates.

Wk1 close

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Nyse data

Issues 2835

Advances 703

Declines 2042

U/c 90

NH 34

NL 40

T/vol(bn) 0•93

-------------

DJ -304 (48,063)

SP -51 (6845)

NS -213 (25,250)

R2 -19 (1468)

WTI $57

10ytb 4•172%

----------

MSCI(W) -28 (4430)

Gold Bugs -10 (701)

----------------

Close :- Vix 15. Brent $61.

Gold $4318. Copper $5•694.

Palm $984. Silver $70•980.

$1•347. €1•147.

Yen 157. Yuan 7•00

FF -17. DF +14.

Morning all.