Barclays PLC (ADR) (BCS) Looks for a Path Out of the Murk

The next steps for Barclays
With so much up in the air, it’s no surprise that Barclays shares are bouncing around. The newest fundraising news hit the markets hard, and the stock has fallen more than 10% this week. CEO Antony Jenkins is still hopeful, though, and believes that once the capital has been raised to meet the June 2014 deadline, things should begin growing again. He has also said that some of the damage to the share prices of Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:LYG), and other U.K. banks comes from the uncertainty around the future of regulation. His hope is that with this round of fundraising, those issues will begin to be resolved, helping lift stock prices.

Overall, there is still clearly risk in investing in Barclays. The bank has committed to increasing its dividend in order to make the newly issued shares more palatable, but that raises the risk that Barclays won’t be able to hold on to as much capital in the future — or that it has to renege on its dividend commitment. I still like Jenkins and the plan he has for Barclays, but things just refuse to settle down into a new normal. Until they do, I’ll be nervous.

The article Barclays Looks for a Path Out of the Murk originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Andrew Marder.

Fool contributor Andrew Marder owns shares of Barclays. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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