FTSE 100 Performers – LSE, ABF, Hargreaves Lansdowne

A goodly number of stocks in the FTSE 100 are bearish just now, so I went to look for ones that are showing signs of doing well. If you’re managing a portfolio you need to balance the long with the short, even more so if you’re adopting a hedge fund approach.

Hargreaves Lansdowne plc [HL.] is a nice looking chart. Breaking above a trend line which I see it met resistance at the last couple of weeks before bursting above it this week. Nice Dow Theory Higher Lows and we’re above the Ichimoku cloud now. No real reason why this shouldn’t motor on up to the ATH around £16 from here. MACD looking good. Incidentally I only have the histogram on the MACD. It’s important not to clutter up your screen with elements that YOU don’t use. I’m not saying copy me, but control your screen environment. It’s usually pretty easy to do so even if you’re using the free charts with your spread betting company. Efficient screens make for good analysis and execution.

The LSE has certainly been doing well, and has thus far been bullet proof to the falls that have hit most FTSE 100 companies in recent months. That said, it’s a bit of a mixed signal. On the one hand we have tremendous support at the £23.60 level, but at the same time is that a H+S forming? Once we’re going sideways the Ichimoku isn’t much help, but the MACD has bottomed out and if the stock does take a leg up from here that could be quite a strong move up. The thing I’m watching for is whether this RS appears and makes the H+S a reality. The LSE agreed to sell its Russell Investments holdings this week and for £1.15bn, £1bn up front the remaining £150m by Dec ’17. That could tip the scales of producing a move up, if indeed the real world has any bearing on stock prices. There is plenty of evidence to suggest it doesn’t, and that the markets are as irrational as the people who buy and sell in them. Certainly one for the watchlist, both long and short, until we see which way it’s going.

Well spank me with a wet stickleback! Associated British Foods [ABF] has a great looking chart. What do I even need to say about this one, except once again it’s at a new ATH. They own Primark, lovingly known as ‘Primani’ by millions who shop there. Primark is being rolled out to new lands, notably the US, but others too, like Italy. What’s not to like? Apparently, even people being burned alive in sweat shops and being over-worked and under-paid in the Sub-continent doesn’t diminish the appetite for cheap garb. Did you know Primark opens half an hour before trading starts on Sunday mornings for ‘browsing time’, so they have a huge queue already in place when those tills open? Genius. They also own BHS and other brands and evidently the market likes ABF. I do too. The trend is certainly ABF’s friend!