The Barclays share price is hovering near the highest point on December 2019 a day before its first-quarter earnings. BARC shares are trading at 180 pence in London while its publicly traded shares in New York ended the day at $10.63.
Barclays news: This week, most publicly traded banks in the UK are releasing their quarterly results. HSBC, the Asian-focused and London-headquartered bank, reported strong earnings. And on Wednesday, Lloyds reported strong results, helped by its mortgage business. Today, NatWest also reported strong earnings but it warned about the ongoing FCA investigation.
Tomorrow, Barclays is expected to publish relatively strong results. Unlike HSBC, NatWest, and Lloyds, Barclays has a different business model. It offers consumer products in the UK and around the world. It also has one of the biggest trading businesses in the world.
Therefore, like other hybrid banks like JP Morgan and Bank of America, we expect that the two divisions will have strong results in the first quarter. The consumer business is expected to do well as the company brings its provisions forward. Also, because of the recent volatility, the trading division is expected to do well also.
Turning to the daily chart, we see that the Barclays share price has been in a strong upward trend recently. However, the stock has found a major resistance at 190p, where it has struggled to move above many times before. The shares have also formed what looks like a bullish flag pattern and is still being supported by the 25-day and 15-day moving averages.
Therefore, in my view, the stock may continue soaring as bulls target the next key resistance level at 200p. This bullish breakout will likely happen tomorrow after earnings. However, a move below the support at 178p will invalidate this trend.
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