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► Episode Notes:

Who’s been looking at trees in foreign countries? Find out on this week’s PlayingFTSE Show!

Steve and Steve have a UK theme to their show this week. But there’s always room for Nvidia, which keeps blowing the lid off things with its earnings…

In consumption news, Steve W’s been getting cross at someone who doesn’t know what the word ‘subjective’ means. And Steve D’s been googling the S&P 500’s top-performing stocks since January.

Lloyds Banking Group reported earnings this week and they were… fine. Profits were up for the year, but down in the fourth quarter – a sign of things to come?

It’s clearly been a good 2023 for Lloyds, but the question is what are they going to do with the cash? Share buybacks and a dividend boost are on the horizon, but is there a catch?

Somehow, Barclays managed to post a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2023. But that’s because there’s a huge non-cash charge for a restructuring programme they’re embarking on.

The company is looking at bringing down its head count by 20%. And those savings mean there are big shareholder returns being promised over the next few years.

NatWest posted weaker margins than either Lloyds or Barclays in 2023. But the stock is cheap and it might be getting cheaper later this year.

Jeremy Hunt is planning on selling off the 35% stake in the company that the UK government still owns. Steve W is confused, though, about whether the shares will be going cheap or not…

Rolls-Royce has been blazing ahead over the last year or so and leading the FTSE 100 higher. The company’s earnings report on Thursday offered investors a chance to check in.

Steve W has been looking at the stock and thought it had further to run. On the grounds that the business might be heading for £3bn in annual free cash flow, he thought it might be a buy…

Steve D’s been looking at Nvidia’s earnings. Analysts were pessimistic going in and at a massive P/E ratio, that was looking like a problem.

No need to worry, though – the business blazed through expectations and continued on the move. And CEO Jensen Huang thinks this is the inflection point for AI, which means there could be more to come.

Only on this week’s PlayingFTSE Podcast!

► What We Consumed This Week:

https://www.slickcharts.com/sp500/performance

https://open.spotify.com/episode/73ebW7pBua0cCVoGN0iOQD

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► Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction & Portfolio Updates!

09:00 Consumption

21:00 Lloyds Bank

37:07 Barclays Bank

51:06 Natwest

1:02:56 Rolls Royce

1:13:29 Nvidia

► Show Notes:

What’s been going on in the financial world and why should anyone care? Find out as we dive into the latest news and try to figure out what any of it means. We talk about stocks, markets, politics, and loads of other things in a way that’s accessible, light-hearted and (we hope) entertaining. For the people who know nothing, by the people who know even less. Enjoy

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