Having likened the chart pattern on the Nikkei over the past year and a half to a “Cup & Handle” formation, I was asked this weekend by our dear Spreadbet Magazine founder Richard Jennings to offer a little more on the subject. The definition of this much talked about charting feature is that of a…
The FTSE is seen opening 20 points lower following a negative session in Asia. Chinese stocks were under pressure following a local media report that stated medium-sized banks are tightening its financing to property developers. The tightening, which is likely to remain until end of March, is viewed as a negative in the short-term as…
What a year 1968 was. Revolting students (as in they were “revolting”!) addled with drugs and the emergence of left wing politics – some things never change… There were anti Vietnam protests and immortality cementing events for Dr Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy. The good things included Hey Jude by The Beatles, and…
This past weekend, a friend of mine made a statement that there must be a large amount of economic growth coming shortly because of the booming stock market, driven by investor sentiment. As I told him, the two are not necessarily tied together. Over the past few months, we have heard about how economic…
European equity markets are set to open some 0.5 percent higher, with FTSE 100 futures advancing 35 points overnight. Minutes from the BoJ together with positive sentiment from yesterday’s manufacturing gauge are helping persuade investors that theme of underlying economic strength and liquidity is indeed still here. The S&P also closed out a strong session,…
George Soros it seems is a seller of the S&P, having just doubled his bear position on the U.S. equity benchmark to a cool $1.3bn. Given that the man is not only the most successful hedge fund trader in history and practically invented the genre, it is difficult to say, “Soros is a bear, I…
China HSBC manufacturing PMI was released throughout the night with global markets taking a hit after the worse than expected figure came in at 48.3, significantly lower than consensus of 49.5. The Hang Seng and the Nikkei were all trading down after the data was released. The AUD/USD has slightly reversed to claw back some…
We wrote about the Japanese market just over 10 days ago here – http://www.spreadbetmagazine.com/blog/titan-inv-partners-why-we-are-rebuilding-exposure-to-japan.html and so were somewhat pleased to see the index rally sharply overnight last night. The catalyst for this was comments from The Bank of Japan in which the central bank moved to bolster two bank lending schemes. The effect is to…
Risers: Sports Direct International +5.38% Sports Direct International is leading the FTSE 100 this morning after the group posted a 14.6% rise in gross profit to £280.7m, up from £244.8m last year. The sports retailer also posted impressive sales figures of £655.4m, an 11.2% rise which has been directly influenced by bumper Christmas trading. Chief…
