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.

confess i had taken my off BARC since i got out of them 3 months ago at 720 ..... perhaps worth looking again

cynic
Why sell the long term chart looks good I have been holding for years.

because 720 was the target at the time .... it was hit so i sold and moved on ...... shall contemplate whether or not to re-enter

cynic
I just had a look at the chart and there is a case to trade this share you could have been right to sell when you did.

and have just been told by "my man" that the portfolio he also runs for me (as opposed to my own stuff) got back in on 20/12 at 724 ...... Next target is apparently 828, so with that in mind have just bought a lump at 739.

by the way, am now looking closely again at gold (haven't been in for a while) ...... always a difficult one to time, but may be about right now.

if it is, then POG may also be worth considering if they really have resolved their differences with Putin's "environmental thugs" ...... first class company with top quality reserves and prob the cheapest producer in the world

cynic
Got back more heavy yesterday (goo) but now hold a bit less than I use to, its less hart stopping on the ups and downs I will now just leave alone long term.

i too got back into GOO (9p), purely out of greed and crossness at having done my dosh before ...... damn fool logic!

gold was a good call this morning!

partridge .... have read your thread of 20/2 but replied on this to avoid have too many BARC threads running .... am afraid you are asking the wrong guy here! .... my reading of balance sheets and the ilk is barely at the Spot the Dog level

Thanks Cynic - I suspect you have as good knowledge as some of the BARC board. Apologies for the duplicate thread - my original query could apply to any of the large banks, just that BARC is the one I hold and they seem to have the largest exposures in these areas.

Is the proposed merger with ABN holding the price down. Most targets are well above the present price. If the merger fails will the price go up as Barclays itself may become a takeover target?

BARCLAYS TARGET PRICES.
660 Citybank 21/02/07
590 Evolution 28/11/06
650 HSBC 29/11/06
670 SG Securities 29/11/06
760 Dresdner Kleinwort Wasser 26/03/07
770 J P Morgan
750 Credit Suisse 29/11/06
890 Deutsche Bank 21/02/07
750 KBN 28/11/06
846 ING 20/03/07
900 UBS 14/02/07
840 Morgan Stanley
893 Collins Stewart 13/02/07
850 ABN 04/10/06
890 Lehman Brothers 29/11/06 (Overweight 21/02/07)
930 Merrill 09/03/07
930 Bear Stearns 20/12/06
1010 Sanford Bernstein.

Evolution Securities Reduce - 20/02/07
Panmure Gordon Hold 20/02/07
NCB Buy 17/01/07

i am still holding BARC, though i confess without too much enthusiasm ..... impact of a successful BARC bid for ABN is probably mainly factored in ..... if BARC get booted into touch, then i guess the impact on sp should still be positive ..... whether or not BARC is a genuine t/o target as has been mooted, is pretty tenuous ..... if you recollect, we still await the "definite + imminent" bid for ICI!

Agreed cynic.

Copied from "over the road".


Does any one know what time today the Dutch court will decide on the sale of La Salle.




3pm UK time.

I would bet that the judge will allow the sale to go ahead.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY though.

RBOS is then allowed to make a formal bid after the 7 day rule lapses.

With Egos at play here i think RBS and possibly another suitor who may come out of the woodwork will make a bid for La Salle tomorrow.

If The judge stops the deal then ABN faces a 220 billion dollar law suit.
No company is going to want to merge or buy a company with that hanging over them.

Barclays may then pull out and ABN amro is then left on its own.

Their shareholders will then have to face the consequences of their actions.

Tomorrow i see RBS bidding for La Salle at a price they think Bank Of America wont match.
Bank Of America has already been told that they are over paying for the asset, will they want to go 30% higher. DEont think so.

Barclays share price indicates that the market thinks the judge will rule for the deal and RBOS share price indicates they wont bid.

What will Barclays shre price do once this news comes out.
Fall further or actually rise with the uncertainty out of the way.

Any vies

As you chaps have stated, lots of unanserewered questions on this bank now.

Until some of those questions are answered, one to avoid in my view.

BARC very cative today. We will probably see many days like this until everything is sorted out re ABN merger or takeover/ LaSalle sale.

Has anyone any idea which way BARC price will go today?

No reply so looks as if nobody has a clue what might happen.

That's exactly right Druid2. No-one knows. If they did they'd be very rich people and not populating BBs!

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.