Obama pledge drives Tanfield into the TD Waterhouse top ten

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Driving its way up the top ten this week is green vehicle manufacturer Tanfield after announcing it will be undergoing a joint US venture under the name of SEV US (Smith Electric Vehicles US).

"The company, which recently axed 200 jobs despite reporting growing the business year on year, is hoping to get a slice of Obama's $2billion of government money pledged to developing electric vehicles and is consulting with New York-based financiers Lincoln Woods to bring in investors. Although bidding is only open to majority US-owned firms, the zero-emission vehicle maker still intends to keep its headquarters in Sunderland. Meanwhile, pressure has been taken off the workers at the company's facilities in County Durham, which has recently introduced a three-day working week.

"Joining Tanfield in the top ten trades, Bank of America has seen its share price soar following Chief Executive Officer, Kennith Lewis's announcement on CNBC that the bank would not need any further government support. Despite receiving $45billion in state help, Lewis claimed the prospect of nationalisation was not even "a remote possibility".

Bank of America, the worlds' largest financial services company, completed its takeover bid of Merrill Lynch & Co in early January after being hurried into the $50billion deal by federal regulators. It bowed to government pressure despite attempting to abandon the deal in December after learning of Merrill Lynch's $21.5billion losses during the fourth quarter. Describing the losses as an underestimation of the credit meltdown, Lewis claimed that the acquisition was crucial to limiting harm done to the company and the country.

"UK banks were also up against the Government this week as four former bank chiefs at HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) faced a grilling by the Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday about their part in the near demise of both banks.

"Answering questions from 14 MPs, the bankers all made public apologies but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the crisis that had led to a £37billion government bailout. Hours later, RBS announced it will be making 2,300 job cuts even though the bank still intends to proceed with plans to pay its investment bankers bonuses amounting to almost £1billion.

"With its share price still suffering, TD Waterhouse customers seem to have been scooping up RBS shares this week, with the number of buy trades outnumbering shares sold by 31%. In contrast, Barclays, which made 4,000 redundancies last month, continues to dominate our top buys and sells tables firmly holding onto first place.

"Looking at the share price performance of both banks over the last few weeks, it is easy to understand our customers' interest. Three weeks ago, RBS and Barclays bottomed out at 10p and 47p respectively while as of today, RBS stands at 24.5p and Barclays at 105p. Even at these low prices customers would have had an opportunity to profit.

"However, it is worth noting that this time last year, RBS share price stood at £2.94 and Barclays stood at £4.55. The previous 12 months have had a huge effect on banking stock and this is a good reminder that although there is profit to be made with timely trades, share dealing does not come without its risks."