NatWest share price broke-out yesterday as investors remained optimistic that the Bank of England will not push UK interest rates to the negative zone because of the progress the country has made on delivering the vaccines. The stock rose to 180p, which is substantially higher than the YTD low of 145p.
NatWest news: NatWest, formerly known as the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has been wavering in the past few months as the Bank of England (BOE) has continued to talk about negative interest rates. In its most recent decision, Andrew Bailey said that the bank was still studying such rates. He also asked the country’s banks to prepare for them.
However, the recent announcement that the UK had vaccinated more than 15 million people has led many people to believe that the bank will not push rates to the negative zone. Subzero rates would have a negative impact on NatWest, which makes most of its money from interest-bearing assets like mortgages and credit cards.
NatWest share price is also rising ahead of the important earnings that will come out on Friday. Analysts believe that the bank had a relatively strong fourth quarter. In addition to earnings, investors will watch out for the management’s statement on dividends and share buybacks. The bank’s regulator has asked banks to limit their dividends to 25% of the cumulative profits over the past 2 years.
NatWest share price outlook
I published my last NatWest share price outlook in December. In it, I predicted that the shares would jump by about 20% to 198p. Today, the stock is about 10% below that level. It has also managed to move above the important resistance level at 173p, where it had struggled to move above for several weeks.
The price has moved above the 50% Fibonacci retracement level. Therefore, in the near term, there is a likelihood that the shares will continue rising as bulls target the next resistance at 200p. On the flip side, a drop below 165p will invalidate this trend.
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