Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. Company operates in over 60 countries and employs over 78,000 people.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

The following is interesting!!

The Dutch commercial court ruled yesterday that the sale of the US bank LaSalle should be put in front of shareholders and it therefore froze the deal with Bank of America. This was a major blow to the agreed merger between Barclays and ABN Amro and has significantly undermined the position of ABN Amro's Chief Executive, Rijkman Groenink to lead negotiations. As we had stated before it did look like the LaSalle sale was arranged to make alternative approaches, to the agreed merger with Barclays, less attractive and was ultimately not in shareholders best interest. But yesterday's Dutch court ruling still took the majority by surprise.

Under the terms of the LaSalle sale the deal was due to close at Midnight on Sunday but it is unclear what relevance this still has. The deadline was thought to be the catalyst for an offer today from the RBS consortium but as of yet there is no announcement. With ABN Amro's management and agreement with Barclays looking undermined and the LaSalle deadline looking null and void perhaps the RBS consortium feels that it has more time and leverage to approach ABN Amro's board with their counter offer. ABN has stated this morning that it will "work constructively" with the RBS consortium.

One thing is for certain; this court ruling has made matters more complicated rather than less. This is for a number of reasons but the main one is that Bank of America is almost certain to file a claim in the US for significant damages against ABN Amro for breaching the sale contract. Bank of America has stated that the LaSalle deal is a 'binding contract' and that it intends to take 'all necessary steps to protect its legal rights'. How this plays out is likely to be crucial to who gets ABN Amro.

What is also clear is that as the probability of Barclays merger increases its share price falls back and vice versa. Barclays share price rose by 3-4% in late trading yesterday after the Dutch court decision was announced, as a failed merger will mean it is more likely to become prey itself. With RBS the share price correlation with events is lower as it, so far, has not tabled its offer. The market is waiting to see how any RBS consortium offer were to be structured and to assess the business and regulatory risks associated with the unprecedented deconstruction of such a large bank.

On a fundamental basis the stocks both remain cheap with Barclays and RBS trading on 10.0x and 9.1x 2007 earnings respectively. Our current recommendation on both stocks is Buy. However, we stress these recommendations are under review as we recognise that the risk of holding these stocks has increased markedly. It is likely that the share price of the bank that has to walk away empty handed will benefit from a marked uplift in its share price and it is not inconceivable that this could happen to both banks if a successful third party were to enter the fray. Things should become clearer in the next week with the offer expected to be announced by the RBS consortium and, significantly, the legal response from Bank of America regarding LaSalle.

Price on chart above at the moment 714. Just seen this on Yahoo finance:-
"The market is slightly oversold and without a clearly defined short term trend. A price recovery to the 732.75 level can as well be expected."

This thread has been very quiet bearing in mind all the banking news recently. BARC seems to be recovering - 639 today much better that the 570's some days ago.

any thoughts on this one?

With the current debt uncertainty I would not touch any of the banks until all the bad news is out. How long that will be I don't think anyone knows.

If you own some well I'll leave the decision to you -):

After the UBS announcement today I agree - don't think everyone's come clean yet. I'm currently 20 down, so easy enough to get out with min loss...

Looks like a bloodbath for the banks. Not seen a heatmap like it before, all the \'banking big names\' in the -2+% range whilst the oilies, including BP, BG and TLW are motoring.

I’ve held BARC for years some thing tells me I should be adding at this price.

well I'd 'expect' a swing of some 30-40% on some high risk shares, but many of the banks have lost at least 30% since the beginning of the year (not including the NRK type disasters). Might be worth considering topping up on a few for next year.

An impressive day for Barclays today with a good climb against a backdrop of another sea of red on the markets. The news that consumer bad debts haven't reason must be a relief to many.

barc a steal at 510 Pe 10.17 div 4.24%
to match analyst expectations
purchase of own shares for cancellation
takeover possible china india russia america awash with money looking to get in.
HAS TO BE A STEAL

Agreed jt, especially as missing out on ABN was with hindsight a blessing in disguise.

am in at 509p, onwards and upwards
Alex

in @502p , will stay in for divi , stop loss @ 440p

heavy resistance likely at 530 .... see below

agreed , will be tested sooner than i imagined

I think this share is way oversold and could be a good time to buy now? Anyone has got the same opinion?

The market seems to think their are more problems hidden in the "woodwork", but all will be revealed on 19th February 2008.

I thought so as well looking at citi and merrill. Having said that, I think the volume is pretty heavy today and may well cross 100m by the end of the day. Interesting...

I suspect that those new CEOs (citi & merrill) have pushed the mark real low with recent results release and blame it on the former, so that they may have a comfortable margin to perform well from the low.. I reckon its not that bad after all. What do you think?