All articles tagged with #barclays
The UK Court of Appeal has overturned the convictions of five former Barclays traders for manipulating interest-rate benchmarks, following a 2025 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the conviction of Tom Hayes. The Serious Fraud Office did not oppose the appeals, marking a significant collapse in the Libor prosecutions.
The UK Court of Appeal has overturned the convictions of five former Barclays traders for manipulating interest rates. The ruling follows a 2025 Supreme Court decision that invalidated the conviction of Tom Hayes, citing unfair jury directions. The Serious Fraud Office did not oppose the appeals, marking a significant collapse of the Libor prosecutions.
Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley told US lawmakers he did not have sex with a woman dressed as Snow White, addressing transcripts tied to Jeffrey Epstein. The panel highlighted 2010 emails about Disney princesses in which Staley and Epstein exchanged suggestive lines; Staley said any contact was limited to possibly seeing the woman at Epstein’s apartment and prompting an email, not sexual activity. Lawmakers also questioned whether Disney characters were used as code names for encounters. Staley’s Epstein ties have followed him since JPMorgan, and he was banned from UK banking for downplaying those links, a ban he has sought to overturn.
Five Palestine Action activists who vandalised a Burnley Barclays branch were found guilty of criminal damage exceeding £200,000, but the court ruled the act did not meet the threshold for a terrorist sentence. They will be sentenced next month for criminal damage with shorter terms. The decision follows debate over the use of counter-terror powers after Palestine Action was proscribed and linked to the incident by prosecutors during the trial. Amnesty International welcomed the ruling, calling for the proscription to be lifted and an end to sweeping terrorism powers against protesters.
Five Palestine Action activists convicted of criminal damage at a Barclays branch in Burnley in 2024 will not be sentenced under terrorism laws; the Preston Crown Court judge set their sentencing for September 4 for criminal damage, amid supporters’ cheers. The activists protested Barclays’ shareholdings in Israeli weapons maker Elbit Systems.
Samsung announced the Galaxy Card, its first U.S. credit card issued by Barclays. The Visa card integrates into Samsung Wallet (with a black metal physical card to ship later) and offers 5% cash back on purchases made directly from Samsung, 3% on Samsung Wallet purchases, 2% on streaming services, and 1% on everything else, plus a $200 bonus after $2,000 in 90 days and a 20% discount on Samsung VIP Advantage when using the card. Apple Card is cited for comparison (3% on Apple purchases, 2% on Apple Pay, 1% elsewhere). Barclays says the Galaxy Card is wallet-native, while Apple Card’s issuer transition from Goldman Sachs to JPMorgan Chase runs through 2027. Availability begins July 22 at Samsung stores and online, timed with Samsung’s Unpacked event.
Barclays moves to upgrade Lumentum to Overweight and downgrades Allegro MicroSystems to Equal Weight and Penguin Solutions to Underweight ahead of the second-quarter earnings season, saying AI infrastructure spending has boosted demand and valuations, but visions of AI-driven growth are already priced in for many semis. The firm remains optimistic about AI networking exposure and memory/optics cycles, while cautioning that near-term fundamentals may not justify lofty prices across the sector, making earnings results pivotal.
A strong May jobs report cooled fears of weakness but sent markets into a wobble as the 10-year yield neared 4.6% and the 30-year crossed 5%, helping drive a Nasdaq drop of about 4% and a S&P slide of around 1%. Barclays warns we’re entering a “warning zone” for valuations as higher rates compress the value of future profits, especially for AI-related stocks, prompting a rotation into near-term earnings plays. Inflation pressures persist due to strong demand, supply bottlenecks, oil/shock risks, and tariffs, while an active IPO pipeline (SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI) looms as one of the market’s recent bright spots. Trump even chimed in on Truth Social, saying great jobs data should lift stocks.
Barclays initiated coverage on IBM with an Overweight rating and a $350 price target, praising IBM's shift toward software and its hybrid-cloud platform as key growth drivers, and expects mid-single-digit organic revenue growth with improving margins as AI (WatsonX), data products, and quantum computing opportunities support the business.
IBM shares jumped about 10% after Barclays initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $350 price target, praising IBM’s software unit (roughly half of revenue) and steady infrastructure software demand as less AI-disrupted than peers. Barclays also highlighted IBM’s ongoing quantum computing push, including a government-backed $1 billion quantum foundry project in which IBM would contribute cash and IP, and IBM’s plan to invest more than $10 billion in quantum computing and $5 billion in open-source software security over five years.
Jes Staley has agreed to a July 23 voluntary interview with the House Oversight Committee about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, joining a series of high-profile figures questioned about Epstein. Staley, a former JPMorgan Chase executive and ex-Barclays CEO, previously faced UK regulator scrutiny over how he described his relationship with Epstein and was banned from the UK financial sector; JPMorgan has paid settlements related to Epstein. The Oversight panel has already interviewed several other prominent figures connected to Epstein as it widens its inquiry.
Barclays kept its $100 Brent forecast for 2026 but warned that upside risks remain as the Strait of Hormuz disruption drains U.S. and global inventories to multi‑year lows. Goldman Sachs has also flagged rapid depletion, and crude prices climbed in early trading, with Brent around $105 and WTI near $98 as markets price in a sustained supply shock.
Barclays analyst Dan Levy argues Tesla’s growth is pivoting to autonomy and robotics (Robotaxi, FSD, Optimus) rather than its traditional auto business, highlighted by Terafab and solar expansion. With Q1 earnings looming, the key question is how much more capex is needed for these ventures. Levy views Tesla’s core auto outlook as soft and believes the stock could remain detached from fundamentals, assigning TSLA an Equal Weight rating with a $360 target amid a mixed field of opinions and a Hold consensus on near-term movement.
Barclays says market resilience tied to Trump’s de-escalation signals may be fading as policy uncertainty rises; equities, oil, and rates have been volatile on shifting Iran deadlines and Middle East tensions, with the bank warning that a longer conflict and oil shock could lift inflation and weigh on growth. Its economists expect global growth near 2.9% in 2026 and inflation around 2.7% by year-end, with advanced economies slowing to about 1.7% in 2026, signaling a higher risk of stagflation.
Barclays is scaling back its asset-based lending to smaller borrowers after losses tied to the collapses of Market Financial Solutions and Tricolor Holdings, shifting its focus to loans and securitizations for larger corporates and raising pricing to reflect higher risk.