Barclays Share Discussion Threads

[isis] 10/4/2009 11:45

'Us Human Beings, that's me and you by the way, all breathe, that's inhale and exhale when we walk, that's stride up and down on your legs'

The blokes a prattt.

[gcom2] 10/4/2009 11:42

Notice how Peston always patronises his readers, he must think they are thick, he always says "the taxpaypers, thats us", or "the taxpayers thats you and me" ...he's a plonker of the highest order and he hangs round gents toilets trying to get his latest piece of gossip.

[isis] 10/4/2009 11:41

I think he changed his name to 'Dusty' Chen.

[veryhappy] 10/4/2009 11:34

I threw Sandy Chen out of my house when he came with a begging bowl.

:>

[sr2day] 10/4/2009 11:25

more importantly it would be interesting to know whether sandy chen still stand by his prediction of 40p or has changed his stance.i feel he is responsible for a lot of the damage to the share price he is due a reappearance.

[alexgc] 10/4/2009 10:44

Robert Peston does not mention that all banks share price went up yesterday.

[hillbrown] 10/4/2009 10:31

Toggle,

Do you think the 41% dilution is already in the price?

H

[capricious] 10/4/2009 10:11

Thanks Theta

[isis] 10/4/2009 09:48

Preston has his own agenda, not sure what it is though!

[nfranks] 10/4/2009 09:42

He doesn't even mention the Wells Fargo results which caused the whole banking sector have a good day. To imply the 12% increase was because of the ishares deal is just plain wrong.

[mack7heknife] 10/4/2009 09:25

I would sugest robert peston read's the details of the ishares deal because he obviously has'nt or has failed to understand it .

[togglebrush] 10/4/2009 09:21

I know that, in the current market, half a day is a long term investment to some, but looking half a year ahead and a possible dividend, my rough calculation looks like this.

Arabs Invested £5,300,000,000 in October 2008
This converts to shares at 153.276p

Arabs receive Shares __3,457,814,661 in July 2009
Current issued ________8,372,000,000
Total_________________11,829,814,661 in time for October Dividend

Interim dividend ________£1,000,000,000 to be announced in August and paid in October
£2bn Main dividend is being withheld. It was due for payment in April and will enhance the Balance sheet. See RNS 13 Oct 08.

If that interim is paid it could be per share 8.45p (last years 11.50p but reduced due to dilution)

Interims 6th August
Ex Dividend 19th August ... Paid 7th October

[robertfaulkner] 10/4/2009 07:57

FROM BBC, Barclays and bank's friend R Preston


Barclays' painful deal


Robert Peston | 17:50 UK time, Thursday, 9 April 2009

Barclays says that it has sold iShares - a provider of specialist stock-market funds - for £3bn.

But it's not a sale in the sense that most of us would recognise. Because it has lent the buyer, the private-equity house CVC, £2.1bn of the purchase price.

In fact Barclays' continued exposure to iShares seems even greater than just those loans, in that the deal adds £2.7bn to what the bank shows on its balance sheet as its so-called risk weighted assets.

That said, Barclays says that through the miracle of how banks do their accounting there will be a useful addition to its capital resources, its buffer against losses on lending.

Some would argue that extra bit of buffer has been acquired at the steep price of selling a growing business at a knockdown price into a buyer's market.

Which only goes to show quite how desperately Barclays - like most banks - needs capital, even if it has avoided the indignity suffered by Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland of getting that capital from us, from taxpayers.

What's even more delightful for the purchaser, Barclays will pay CVC £120m if it rats on the deal by securing better terms from another bidder (there's also provision for both Barclays and CVC to receive between £34m and £120m if either side walks away for other reasons).

And for some Barclays employees who have stakes in a subsidiary of the bank, BGI, there's a lovely windfall from the deal, in the form of a cash dividend and a more than doubling of their holding in BGI.

Barclays' president, Bob Diamond, will receive £4.7m in cash and a substantial increase in his interest in BGI.

So to summarise: Barclays is providing the buyer of iShares most of the finance to "buy" iShares; the purchaser will receive £120m, if Barclays secures a better offer; and the transaction has triggered handsome rewards for some Barclays' employees.

In normal times, that would be seen as a deal so bad for the bank that shareholders would be volunteering to throw themselves off Beachy Head.

But Barclays' share price rose more than 12 per cent today.

To state the obvious, these are not normal times, these are credit-crunch times: and, I guess, if a bank can raise capital in any way at all without tapping taxpayers, that's seen as good news.

[isis] 10/4/2009 07:28

Banks Expect to Swing to a Profit
Stocks Rebound From Their Lows as Hopeful Investors Wait for Earnings to Roll In

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 10, 2009; Page A12

Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, said yesterday that it expected to earn $3 billion in the first three months of the year, its highest quarterly profit ever, generating investor hopes that the battered banking sector will show improvement next week when the nation's biggest banks start reporting earnings.
This Story

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Signs of Revival In Retail, Banks
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Banks Expect to Swing to a Profit

The report, which came ahead of the bank's official financial filing set for April 22, followed upbeat comments in recent weeks by Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup. Shares of banking companies jumped sharply yesterday; Wells Fargo rose 32 percent, to $19.61.

Banking stocks have rebounded far from their lows, which some analysts say is a reflection that banks are turning a corner as a result of the massive federal bailout programs, significant restructuring and layoffs, and an economy showing signs of stabilizing.

Bank stocks have "stopped discounting an end-of-the-world scenario," said Nancy Bush, an independent banking analyst based in New Jersey.

But many analysts cautioned that the industry still faces significant hurdles. Results of government stress tests to determine whether the largest 19 banks will need more federal money are expected in coming weeks. There's debate about how quickly and effectively a new federal program to relieve banks of troubled assets will work. And several prominent analysts have warned that banks face big losses on loans.
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"The value of assets basically depends on borrowers being able to make payments on their homes," said Jakub W. Jurek, an assistant professor of economics at Princeton University. "It's difficult to believe that has improved with the increasing unemployment rate."

Wells Fargo, which has received $25 billion from the federal government, said that its traditional and investment banking businesses grew and that the results in its mortgage business were "exceptionally strong."

The company said it put $4.6 billion away to cover losses, less than many analysts expected. It also said Wachovia, a large Charlotte bank that Wells Fargo bought last fall, was contributing more in sales and profit than expected to the combined company's bottom line.

As a result, the company said its earnings would be more than twice what a consensus of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had anticipated.

But some analysts were skeptical of the unexpectedly big boost in earnings. Analysts at Arlington investment bank FBR Capital Markets asked in a research report yesterday whether Wells Fargo benefited from recent changes in mark-to-market accounting rules. Banks now can value troubled assets at a higher price than the market is willing to pay. A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo declined to say.

The FBR analysts also doubted that Wells Fargo was accurately assessing its losses on loans. "We believe that credit quality materially deteriorated in the first quarter and that Wells Fargo is under-reserving for expected future losses," the analysts wrote.

Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, questioned how Wells Fargo could have a slower rate of defaults, or charge-offs, this year than last, given the worsening state of the economy.

"I just don't think that, where we are in the credit cycle, it's credible for a bank with their portfolio composition to tell me their charge-off rate fell," he said.

In the coming weeks, other major banks will report earnings, including J.P. Morgan Chase on Thursday, Citigroup next Friday and Bank of America on April 20. The banks or their chief executives have all said in recent weeks that they'd made a profit in the first few months of this year, after tens of billions of dollars in losses last year.

And their stocks also rose yesterday -- J.P. Morgan rose 19 percent, to $32.75; Citigroup rose 13 percent, to $3.04; and Bank of America rose 35 percent, to $9.55.

The U.S. government has invested $239 billion in banks since October and pledged hundreds of billions of dollars more to absorb losses and help the economy.

In a report that rattled the markets earlier this week, prominent banking analyst Mike Mayo wrote that total loan losses "should increase to levels that exceed the Great Depression" by late 2010. Mayo also was skeptical that government programs would help as much as hoped.

[isis] 10/4/2009 07:25

mack - Can't see them being weak as they already said they had performed strongly so far this year. The problem will only be if Analysts expectations have become to high and they come in slightly less.
Obviously there will be a sell off at some point and that's what we all try and predict - out too early is just as frustrating as leaving it too late!

[mack7heknife] 10/4/2009 07:19

thanks for that isis , as much as I want this rally to continue as I am for want of a better word " nacker deep " in barclays

"Some banks report results next week and, if they are weak, markets could fall back."

I fear the reality .

[isis] 10/4/2009 06:58

Banks drive US stocks up sharply
The New York Stock Exchange
Sharp rises in banking stocks boosted confidence on Wall Street

Big gains in banking stocks have pushed Wall Street sharply higher after one of the biggest banks in the US said it would make record profits this quarter.

Wells Fargo announced on Thursday it would make a profit of $3bn (£2bn) in the first three months of 2009.

The news sparked a significant bounce in financial stocks, led by Bank of America, which jumped 35%, and Wells Fargo itself, which climbed 32%.

As a result, the Dow Jones index rose 246 points, or 3.1%, to 8083.4.

'Record profits'

Other financial stocks also climbed sharply.

American Express closed up 19.8%, JP Morgan Chase climbed 19.4% and Citigroup gained 12.6%.

European markets also closed up, with the UK's FTSE 100 index rising 1.5%, Germany's Dax gaining 3.1% and France's Cac 40 climbing 1.8%.

The surge on Wall Street was largely down to the Wells Fargo announcement.

"The fact that Wells Fargo can have record profits despite the troubles facing the banking system tells you something. It's very good news," said Rick Campagna at 300 North Capital.

The troubles of the banking sector are seen as one of the root causes of the global economic downturn.

'Outstanding franchise'

Governments all over the world are focusing efforts to stimulate their economies on banks, primarily by trying to get them to start lending again.

Some banks have been nationalised, while governments have taken large stakes in others.

Investors were, therefore, delighted to hear that one of the biggest banks in the US is on course to record profitability.

Wells Fargo said it expected revenue of $20bn for the first quarter of this year, translating into "another quarter of double-digit revenue growth" of 16%.

Part of the strong performance was due to the bank's acquisition of Wachovia, which was the fourth-largest US bank, after it almost collapsed last year.

"Wachovia's outstanding franchise has proven to be everything we thought it would," Wells Fargo said.

Markets were also buoyed by better than expected March sales figures from some of the biggest retailers in the US.

The pressure is now on other banks to post strong results.

"I'm not sure everyone will be as successful, but we'd like to hope that the success will spill over," said Ted Aronson at Aronson-Johnson-Ortiz.

Some banks report results next week and, if they are weak, markets could fall back.

[thetatrader] 09/4/2009 22:09

capricious - 9 Apr'09 - 22:26 - 20887 of 20887
"What trailing stop strategies do you use ..."
=====================================================
I hedge in the opposite direction, with other stocks.
I'm bearish on Barc, and trade against my Barc position with other Banks.
When it gets hot, like now, I trade Barc on the long side.
I don't mind closing a losing position, I do most weeks.
For me as long as I make more wins than losses I'm doing ok.
good luck

[capricious] 09/4/2009 21:26

Chuffin, Theta, sorry guys, yes 18% and double top not triple.

What trailing stop strategies do you use - and thanks for the resistance level - I'd planned to profit take around 185 with buy back before we get into further Q1 reporting.


And does anyone elses advfn charts crash frequently?

[chuffin] 09/4/2009 21:13

capricious, aren't you wrong re CGT, I thought it was now a flat 18%.

[thetatrader] 09/4/2009 21:12

187 next major resistance.

[thetatrader] 09/4/2009 20:49

capricious - 9 Apr'09 - 21:37 - 20882 of 20882
==============================================
If you are talking PnF then I can see double top breakouts but not triple top breakouts.

[jibba_jabba] 09/4/2009 20:45

Let's hope the yanks continue upwards monday.