No national security, and more social security, buying the votes of non-working people, Labour’s most loyal voting bloc. Another £20bn of tax rises, adding to the £70bn since the government came to power. Given the sorry state of most households these days, £100 to ease the cost of living crisis is not going to go a long way.
Cost Of Taxation Crisis
Indeed, it is not a cost of living crisis, it is a cost of taxation crisis. It was illustrated well by London Mayoral hopeful James Cleverly l by the way that after all the taxes and costs are added up, a pub only makes 16p a pint. Or Jeremy Hunt’s video on social media which underlines that a shoe shop has to sell 828 shoes in order to employ one new person. It is a shame that both these former Conservative Cabinet ministers did not address such issues when in power.
US Tech Meltdown
As far as the stock market has been concerned, the UK market managed to miss most of the meltdown in US tech stocks and AI, largely because in this country we are too rubbish to have a meaningful tech sector. Indeed, the FTSE 100 was actually slightly up on the week. In contrast, there has been a fresh rout in the small cap area, with the AIM All Share down 5% in October, and nearly 10% off its highs of the summer. Perhaps this was down to the marvel of the cash ISA now remaining at £20,000? It currently seems to be the safest option, at least in terms of getting some money back in rip off Britain.
Heavy Markdowns
Looking at the table of the week’s losing shares, we have something of a bloodbath on our hands. Part of this was bad luck, a duster for Predator (PRD) , the company that specialises in saying it latest fundraise is its last, and a letter of claim at GCM Resources . But chunky double digital percentage losses across the board this week in small caps is not a good look. The hope is that we are just at the end of the traditional October weakness in the market, and that getting the Midterms out of the way in the US will deliver a turnaround. After all, my buy Bonfire Night / Sell Valentine’s Day, reminds us that we are heading towards what is usually the best time of the year for the stock market.
Belated Rebounds
On the upside it was pleasing to see Hamak Strategy (HAMA) continue to rise after recent $4.5m asset disposal news. One would also consider that the prospect of news regarding a Preliminary Economic Assessment at Akoko will be supportive to the share price in coming weeks. After a rather rocky ride, positive funding news at Pensana (PRE) ensured that the feeling that the shares had bottomed out in the 40p zone earlier in October proved to be correct. Hopefully, now the shares can resume the extended rally we saw last year, which in that case saw a move from 20p to 180p.
It has been a tough couple of months for keenly followed Mkango (MKA) . However, this week in the wake of news that announces that HyProMag has entered into an agreement with Professor Carlo Burkhardt to acquire his 10 per cent interest in HyProMag GmbH has triggered a share price revival of over 30%. The market clearly likes the sound of the deal given that HyProMag is currently commissioning a rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing plant in Pforzheim and was recently selected as a Strategic Project under the European Union Critical Raw Materials Act.
Stocks In Focus
It was pleasing to see that at least one of the recent stock market darlings was continuing its bull run. East Star (EST) was clearly still in the afterglow of the Rulikha Copper Project drilling update. The shares now look fully capable of retesting last month’s 11p plus peak.
While we wait for helium companies to actually produced, we have the spectacle of companies like Helix (HEX) continuing to find / prove up assets. Given that the shares have rallied nearly 40% over the past month, it would appear that the appreciation and the momentum behind the company is back. The same can be said of Atlantic Lithium (ALL) in the wake of the company’s Quarterly Activities and Cash Flow Report. ALL said, "During the period, the Company made further progress towards de-risking the funding and development of its Ewoyaa Lithium Project in Ghana.”
A company ending an extended bear run this week was Quadrise (QED). It has to be said that all the way down the shares delivered false dawn rallies. But on this occasion, the manufacturer of biofuels for shipping and heavy industry, announced its audited results for the year ended 30 June 2026 and the launch of a Strategic Review. Presumably, the latter part of the announcement, with the Strategic Review has the market hoping that things will be turned around positively. Above the latest chart gap at 1.2p one would consider a journey to the area of the 200-day moving average at 1.75p could be on its way by the end of next November.
Finally, one of the brightest prospects of the year amongst growth companies has been RentGuarantor (RGG). One would imagine that the company has been especially in focus given the Chancellor’s addition punishment of landlords, as well as the company’ being able to boast, “Revenue reached £13 million for the Period, with £4.5 million generated in September alone, demonstrating a substantial increase in trading momentum during Q3. Concurrently, adjusted EBITDA reached £5.85 million for the Period, and adjusted net profit reached £5.93 million, compared with losses in the prior-year period (excluding costs associated with admission to AIM).”
Moving to AIM has clearly been a winner, as we wait on the company coming up with a big national counter-party, something which seems inevitable in the present environment. It really would be something to set off a fresh rally for the shares, to build on the 3x rally we have been treated to since July.