any one got a feelling in their water how far LLoyds will go looking to to buy but just dont know when they are low enough

DYOR - you could ask some of the TA people to give you some analysis (highly doubt anyone can tell you an entry point in this market though)

It's all guesswork, make your own mind up as to where you want to buy, I have 3.50 or much less, based on a desire rather than a fact!

LLoyds is afflicted by the general market panic in financial stocks globally, if interest rates rise bank dividend yields will have to rise if interest rates fall bank shares will rise. Certainly market forces in US are going to force the FED to cut interest rates otherwise the repercussions will damage the whole economy not just the housing market. The same applies in the UK, just watch the unemployment stats.

Lloyds is predominantly a UK bank - it doesn't have the direct exposure of some of the other UK banks. Therefore unless (or until) the 'credit crunch' affects the uk economy itself it is difficult to see (IMHO) a long term down on this share.
The recent increase in dividend was masterful in terms of timing, (if more by luck than judgement), in that investors have hope of a recovery.
Only RBS has similar good prospects at present, but they have more global exposure - which might be good or bad depending on your slant.
one possible downside to Lloy is that I think that they own around 6% of Northern Rock - which must be hurting a bit, but to Lloyds a 200 m investment is small fry. In fact, with NRK in its current position Lloyds could well pick them up very cheap. Barc and RBS/Natwest are too busy elsewhere, so only really the foreigners, (who probably couldn't make it stack up) and RBOS as serious competition. Lloyds access to funding would wipe out NRK's financial problems overnight, and they could then merge the C&G franchise and the NRK franchise very successfully I imagine.
Ps. If Lloyds take me up on this - will I get a fee :-)
Oh sorry, forgot the point of the thread. I am buying Lloyds at the present level which has to be right in the medium/long term - I think they're well supported in terms of dividend and will be a good recovery play when things calm down and the bargain & income hunters go shopping.

Shares rag today says sell LTSB, BARC and HBOS buy RBS and HSBC, what do they know?

As a former reader of Shares - I'm somewhat surprised that they remember what FTSE 100 companies look like - for 11 of the 12 months of my subscription it was no more than a pimp for penny share :-)

Thanks for all your input I will go for LLoyds and R B S at some point in the morning after the market sorts its self out

It is not how quickly the market goes down that worries me, but how slowly the B. goes up that is the problem.

If I was in cash I would hide it under the mattress.

tell me about it i have some share's that i wont live long enough to even get my money back, under the mattress isnt the best place to hide money, i had a bit left over after a good run, and then the market went mad, and i had to work away for a year so i put it in p bonds for 10 months had three half not bad wins in the first 6 months then draged it out . felt quite good about that

got in and got out very nice thank you

A good set of results bearing in mind the current situation:

Lloyds TSB reported a 6 pct increase in its full-year profit, with strong growth in its core UK retail banking business offsetting a downturn at the wholesale banking division as the credit crunch took its toll. Lloyds said its underlying pretax profit came in at 3.91 bln stg, up from 3.71 bln stg the previous year, and slightly ahead of the 3.89 bln stg pencilled in by analysts, according to a consensus forecast supplied by the company.

The improvement partly reflected strong growth at the core UK retail bank, which attracted 1 mln new account holders, consolidating its position as the UK's biggest current account provider, and boosting profit by 17 pct to 1.80 bln stg. That outweighed a downturn at the wholesale and international division, where profits fell 12 pct on the year to 1.44 bln stg largely as a result of a 280 mln stg asset write-down in the wake of the credit crunch.

The 280 mln stg charge for 2007 as a whole compares with the previously-disclosed 200 mln stg write-down for the first ten months of the year.

Lloyds lacks a strong presence in investment banking, and is therefore less exposed to the credit crunch than rivals Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, which have so far reported write-downs of 1.6 and 1.2 bln stg respectively.

The results also included information on a 5% increase in the final dividend to 24.7 pence, taking the total payout for the year to 35.9 pence, also up 5%.

Lloyds said it also benefited from tight cost controls, with operating expenses rising just 1 pct to 5.491 bln stg, while total income rose 5 pct to 11.206 bln stg.

Lloyds added that it remains confident of its future prospects, despite signs of a global economic slowdown and recent financial market turmoil. 'Despite these challenges, we are well positioned to deliver further growth and to take advantage of the opportunities that the current environment offers,' the group said in a statement.

Even at 462 I make the yield 7.7% why worry about Rock?

Lloyds TSB is too cheap now...413p...it is a strong BUY.

Tell the shorters, banks are a one way street at the moment.

It is an excellent chance to top up at 413p.

I'm looking for sub 400 but it is day after day at the moment .... very hard to watch

Lloyds TSB is the bank to buy.

LLOY has already rise to 418p now.
BARC is the next excellent buy at 418p. It's too cheap now.

Read the article in Daily Express on 5/3/2008 on LLOY and BARC.

Tipton, I told you to buy yesterday, did u take my advice?

Had to buy some at 396p, yield 9% ! could not resist.