any comments, thoughts, on this stock.

Stan .... elucidate please

Shares are not as risky as horse racing ect: you don't find many shares that you put money on at 2.30pm and lose it all at 3 pm. or on the spin of a wheel.

Look how many chances holders of SEO had of cutting their loses to name just one, ok then EEL, ARX, NRK....... don't remind of the ruin that was left of poor old GEC 12 down to 4p thats what price i sold at i can't believe how stupid i was .

cynic and all day traders I have lost out on this one quite badly. I bought last friday think they were cheap at 4.65. Sat on them over the weekend and on monday lost thousands. If you leave a stop loss and the price opens a lot lower ie approx. 1.65 lower. the broker will close your position at the lower price. The only way around this is to get a gauranteed stop loss. I have become a pathological gambler. To find out what this actually means have a look at website - Day traders and pathological gambling. I think you will all find this very interesting reading. the article is by Ken Search,LCSW., I thought this was excellent reading. It will only take you five mins to read this. and is very true on all comments made. let me know your views. Good luck all on monday. by they way, I did nearly buy all my nrk back on friday and double up, but did not. I did not want to put myself through the stress over the weekend after the last weekend result.

couldn't believe friday...went long thursday and up 20pts early friday only to crash back through my stop loss and end up 10pts down in about 3 mins...managed to buy long again at 183 and get some of my losses back but overall on the week about 50pts down...nevermind made it back with CART and SBT

aldwickk .... all you say is true, but why is buying shares not gambling? ..... for sure we can claim to have a "method" and study form (sorry; research!), but at the end of the day you are gambling/betting that the price will increase ...... poker players are much the same.

Well while you have all been chatting about the rights and wrongs and what is or isnt gambling, I have been pondering speculation and investment by reading some weekending press on the more delicated subject of NRK:-

FT mentions that Philip Richards of RAB Capital (now owns 6% of NRK) has called on institutions to stop lending out stock to force shorters to buy back stock. He also said that if the Bank were forced to hold a fire sale the value of equity would be destroyed only for the shorters then to move on to another subject. His views were supported by Manx Capital based in Isle of Man which bought just under 2% last week.

FT -money section mentions that NRK will refund penalties and charges incurred by savers who have withdrawn money if they are prepared to re-open their accounts and reinvest the same sum. However, ISAs will lose their tax advantage if the sum was withdrawn and not transferred to another provider.

Business Magazine- infers that the Bank can survive but the best it can hope for is to "resume life as a pebble".
Under separate comment, it mentions that National Australia Bank may be a potential suitor. Its CEO was former head of Woolwich. NAB also owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks. It goes on to say that although NRK may not be ideal to fill the gaps in the Clydesdale/Yorkshire footprint, NRK does have a significant share of mortgage market and successful online savings franchise.

Seen various mention about Darling intending to extend 100% backing to the first
100,000 in savings with any bank or building society.

I have not bothered with any political aspects as they do not deserve comment.

Please add any other comments seen which you think is of factual interest. Gus

That was the week that was.

Well that was an interesting week to go away, just back from Turkey and didnt read any news when I was away, I regretted not buying at 450p last Friday week before going away what a close shave that was.

Is it a punt now or have we all given up.

No, don't worry you have not missed all the fun. This one will run awhile yet. Plenty of blame, scapegoats and political intrique. They will be writing a book on this one day, not to mention a film!

Cynic,

I didn't say it was not gambling, just that it was a lot less risky, you could say it is gambling in slow motion with plenty of time to cut your loses unless you are a day trader. Look at the chances SEO holders had to cut and run.

Gambling is betting on the outcome of an unknown event, which could either lead to a profit, or loss of your entire stake. Investing is betting on the future of a share which may lead to an increase or a decrease in the money invested. One is a "win or lose all" at a fixed point in time, and the other is a "gain or lose some" over a rolling period of time. Both involve research, and I suspect (don't gamble so I'm guessing) that the disciplined are more successful than the undisciplined. The last point is probably where the synergy lies between gambling and investing. Gamblers and poor investors fall in love with the feeling of winning (a rising share price) or a successful bet, but don't know when to stop or cut their losses when they're losing (or profit is falling). If you are undisciplined and have no targets or goals with your investments then you are essentially gambling your money. The only difference is your money will dwindle over a long period of time instead of completely dissappearing in one hit.

In my opinion anyway...

Strawbs.

You have all missed the point that for many people and funds buying and selling shares is about investing in the future perceived growth of companies in anticipation of sharing in their profits. It is not gambling!

"perceived growth" = hoping for the best as do all gamblers!

Guscavalier.
Interesting read. thank you.
My only factual statement, not yet covered is to comment that ALL lenders have now virtually withdrawn from anything other than prime lending.
Not factual anymore, but this leads me to believe that all major lending institutions are facing similar problems to NRK, albeit on a smaller scale.
Industry sources are advising me that this will persist at least to the new year, with the more optimistic saying normal service will start to resume in the mortgage and loan market no earlier than March, even if November sees a significant cut in BoE base rate.
If this is the case, then bank balance sheets may look healthier but next years P&L may be a bit off colour. The entire sector looks a little bit of a gamble at the moment, for we do not really know how far the inter bank lending crisis has dug into the pockets of other banks. All we know is NRK breached FSA liquidity rules. Other banks could have come within a farthing of that, and we will never know, but that hardly makes them an inviting investment.
On NRK, I have chosen to keep out. If it gets around the 150p mark, I might revisit my choice.
Alan

This is too much intense debate on NRK we all know that if some one comes sniffing around for a takeover this will head north sharply to 400-500p even on a rumour of a takeover.

The only debate should be where is the bottom.

much obliged for your comment hewittalan6. Sorry driver - should have realised that it would be too taxing after the Turkey trip

Janet. Interesting article. I think day trading is addictive. Feelings can be similar to supporting a football team (Fever pitch) with all the highs and lows. The fact that you admirably admit to losses on Nrk is healthy for you, many others implode. I lost a 4 figure sum shorting the Dow last week unable to believe that it could climb higher with oil at 80 dollars, housing in freefall potential war with Iran etc. but the market can remain irrational longer than solvency as they say especially with an interest rate drop! I think DMA access reduce those scary losses as much of the fall happens during the auction ie with partygaming so if you can off load then it helps!

Doesn't look good if true.

Telegraph: Hedge funds plot Northern Rock Raid

The Times: Banks Shun Northern Rescue

Strawbs.

Good read, Strawbs.
For my part, I think the more likely end result for NRK is a fire sale of its mortgage book, or at least a large part of it at a knock down price to secure its liquidity.
It can do this if it sells the more profitable areas, such as its lifetime trackers and equity release products, and its higher rate 100%+ products.
These would be more attractive to potential suitors, particularly if rates look to have topped out. It would retain its less profitable, but more secure long term fixes and the cash realised would saisfy liquidity requirements.
It would then retain its deposit business and its Internet model too, and continue by providing loans and mortgages based on its sub prime model of brokering other peoples money.
This should be acceptable to every party, investors, depositors and government and allow them to continue as what NRK always was, before its delusions of grandeur. A provincial bank.
BTW. One company who do not seem to be mentioned who I think may have a sniff at NRK is Lehman Bros. I admit they are no bank, but they have had very close links with NRK and are known to be very keen on the UK securitisation market at prime levels. If they were to be seen with a major bank interested in NRK deposits, that might be a sign of things to come.
All IMO.
Alan

I think the most telling part (if true) is how many big banks have avoided bailing out Northern Rock. It shows how much the climate has changed. I'm sure they, and private equity, would've been fighting each other a few years ago for the business. Now anyone in trouble is left to sink or float on their own.

Strawbs.

NRK's mortgage lending model was "built on sand" they have only 70 branches. Just imagine if say BARC or HSBC with their thousands of branches had copied them the mess we are recovering from would have been huge.All along sensible lenders saw the danger inherent in NRK's lending strategy even if the FSA didnt.