TRADER TIPS

What City insiders are recommending . . .

BUY THIS: Royal Bank of Scotland

RBS shares have been raised from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ by HSBC analysts, who bumped its target price from 280p to 290p, compared to 240.9p at the end of Friday. They expect modest revenue growth if no major changes hit the economy. Its shares were underperforming because of a sell-off by hedge funds. But HSBC said it expected RBS to be able to start buying back shares next year.

SELL THIS: Card Factory

BERENBERG urged clients to dump these shares as it downgraded the greetings card firm from ‘hold’ to ‘sell’ after weak first-half trading. The firm issued a profit warning this month, blaming the weather for low footfall. But the broker said it was ‘struggling to find momentum’, and slashed its target price to 150p from 190p. It added: ‘We believe footfall will continue to decline.’