BARC

We like this stock’s chart and the stock seems to like us too. We went short on the UK bank for 12 weeks this spring and made a lovely 6% return, we then made another 1.73% going long in June and now we reckon it’s time to sell.

Banks are not exactly the most defensive stocks in the face of a credit crunch and while there’s still uncertainty about the extent of individual losses from sub-prime debt products, all the banking stocks will have a hell of a hard time. Plus, it looks like the price has tested the 680p level three times in the last year, always bouncing off it, but now it has broken through that barrier on the way down.

Note that the shares go ex dividend before Shares hits the shops (Thursday) and beware, it’s not a play for the faint-hearted but adjust your stop loss wisely and we hope you will enjoy a riskier punt.

Action: SELL Barclays • Target 580p • Stop Loss 710p

TIME TARGET 5 WEEKS