The Lloyds share price is paring back some of the losses it made last week. It is trading at 43.65p, which is more than 2% above its lowest level last week. It is also a few points below its year-to-date high of 44.9p.
What happened: Lloyds Bank has performed relatively well this year. The shares have jumped by more than 27% year-to-date, becoming the second-best performing bank in the UK after Barclays.
This performance is driven by the fact that investors are generally optimistic that the UK economy will continue rebounding. Furthermore, the government is ramping up its vaccination drive. It has already vaccinated more than 48% of its population.
Lloyds is closely tied to the UK economy since it does not have major operations outside the country. Also, it does not have an investment bank business, meaning that its performance is seen as a reflection of the economy, where it is the biggest mortgage lender.
Lloyds share price has also risen after some recent bullish calls. In a report released last week, analysts at Deutsche Bank said that the bank is well-positioned to grow. It increased its target from 39p to 50p. JP Morgan has also boosted its target to 51p. In a separate report, analysts at Barclays wrote:
“We remain positive on UK banks with the runway clearing and look for an activity-driven rebound to deliver above-consensus earnings for a number of our banks alongside positive rates optionality at undemanding valuations.”
Most importantly, analysts are optimistic that Lloyds will transfer some of its last year’s losses to this year’s profit. Indeed, all US banks that published their results last week did that.
The Lloyds share price has been in an overall bullish trend recently. Along the way, it has formed an ascending channel that is shown in red. It is currently attempting to bounce above the lower line of this channel. It is also slightly above the 25-day moving average.
Also, the price is above the important support at 40.80. Therefore, while 50p is still evasive, I predict that the shares will keep rising ahead of its next earnings. However, a drop below the ascending trendline will invalidate this prediction.
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