Lloyds TSB this week's stock of choice for TD Waterhouse customers

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Often I write about banks generally dominating the trading tendencies of TD Waterhouse customers, but this week the focus of these trades lies predominantly with one bank - Lloyds TSB. After announcing encouraging interim results last week in the face of economic adversity, the home of the black horse represents over a third (34%) of TD Waterhouse customers' top ten buys this week, more than doubling the equivalent sales of stock in the bank.

"Last week I noted that analysts have been split as to whether Lloyds TSB's investment strategy has been spot-on with its cautious approach to buy-to-let mortgages and asset-backed securities, or whether this would lead to them falling behind other banks in the future. It now seems clear that our customers are voting with their feet, or rather, with their fingers, on the subject. In contrast to Lloyds TSB's trading profile this week, the other banks in the table find their stock being sold rather than bought. HBOS takes up 8% of our top ten buys against 16% of sales, whilst Barclays has seen only 6% of top ten buys this week, but 16% of sales.

"The telecommunications sector also provide interesting figures this week in the form of BT Group. With a quarter (25%) of top ten buys against only 4% of sales the telecoms giant has one of the biggest buy to sell ratios we have seen this year. BT's share price slid 10% to a four year low last Thursday on the announcement of their disappointing first quarter 2008 results, amid investor concern that the group would struggle to meet margin targets for Global Services, its fast-growing IT services division. BT said turnover in the quarter to the end of June rose 3 per cent to £5.2bn, ahead of market expectations, but pre-tax profits fell 7 per cent to £613m.

"The sharp fall in share price was greeted with evident excitement by TD Waterhouse customers, and the market as a whole, with traders pouncing on the cheaper stock with a view to selling at a healthy profit at a later date. By the end of trading on Thursday 31st July, 179m shares in BT had changed hands across the entire market.

"Whilst the volatility of the financial market is proving a difficult beast to tame for government, it has presented incredible opportunities for TD Waterhouse customers to make tangible gains from insightful trading. The overall buy sell ratio this week is amost evenly split, so it seems that although the news is full of doom and gloom for the fitness of the economy, TD Waterhouse customers have not lost their trading appetite and are still hungry for more."