Posts from — May 2009

Financial Market Comments from Anthony Grech, Market Strategist, IG Index.

In mid morning trading, we have seen a firmer start for UK shares.

For individual stocks, the focus has been on British Airways mainly with a pre-tax loss of £401 million announced for the year.

This loss came in around a third bigger than expected. Coupled with a cautious outlook for the year to come, there has been a chunky fall for the share price, leaving BA the biggest loser on the FTSE 100 so far.

However, as the morning has gone on, the airline’s share price has recovered from its initial lows. And to put some perspective on today’s falls, BA has only been knocked back to where it was at the start of the week.

Some traders out there seem to feel confident that today’s early sell off was overdone and the recovery from this year’s lows is still intact – for now at least. The shares seem well under pinned by the 140p/150p area.

Back to the wider market, the FSTE was up around 20 points by mid morning, helped along by a late bounce back in New York trading last night.

Although we have seen some quite impressive swings up and down this week, the net result is very little change from where we were last Friday. That shows the lack of commitment traders have to the bull or bear side at the moment – we still seem to be in the treading water phase following the strong gains seen since March.

Looking ahead to the US open, at the moment we expect the Dow Jones to open up around 60 points higher than last nights close. Like the FTSE, US markets are little changed for the week so far.

On the downside for the Dow, 8200 continues to provide support – while the 8600 level has successfully stopped any rallies over recent days.

Many seem to be playing a waiting game at the moment. Waiting for a break either way through these levels to signal the next big move, but on the face of things going into the US session it could be a range-bound day ahead.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Good Luck!

DB

The above comments do not constitute investment advice Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.

Financial Market Comments from Philip Gillet, IG Index.

At mid-morning in London, UK stocks are heavily down and continuing the theme from yesterday’s US session.

Minutes of the last meeting of the US Federal Reserve painted a downbeat outlook for global economies and the financial sector, suggesting that any feelings amongst traders that the worst was behind us could prove premature.

This has led to a broad-based sell off in London, with only a handful of FTSE 100 stocks holding steady on the day.

Cable and Wireless is the worst hit so far, despite results coming in at the expected level; a somewhat cautious outlook seems to have spooked investors.

There are early signs that the initial sell-off for C&W shares is starting to look a little overdone and there have been buyers stepping in around the 140p level, which leaves it higher than its worst levels seen for the day – but still down by around 9%.

Adding to the gloom in London is news that Britain may be facing a cut in its AAA credit rating due to the increased level of government debt. Not surprisingly this is doing sentiment no favours in early trading.

Stock markets had been in a state of flux over the past week or so, waiting for direction of one sort or another. This combination of news over the last 24 hours has resulted in a predictable knee-jerk sell off – the question from here is whether it is the start of a more sustained slide to correct the impressive gains seen since mid March.

For the moment at least, the 4300 mark on the FTSE 100 is still underpinning the UK stock market and all the recent weakness has done is take us back to where we were on Monday afternoon.

It would not be a surprise to see markets stage some sort of comeback from these levels as the day goes on, with a run back above 4400 as the first target.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Good Luck!

DB

The above comments do not constitute investment advice Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.

Financial Market Comments from Philip Gillet, IG Index.

At mid morning in London it is another positive start for UK stocks.

Early trading has seen the FTSE 100 make an attempt on the 4500 level – the highest the index has been in nearly two weeks.

Focus this morning has been on the retail sector, with Marks and Spencer announcing that annual profits have dropped by a third and restating its cautious outlook for the year ahead.

This has knocked M&S back to the bottom of the FTSE performers for the day, with the shares off by around 6%.

However, they are off their worst levels for the day with some still seeing the 300p mark as support for the price. This area has underpinned any weakness for more than a month now.

Inflation is the day’s other big news, with the CPI continuing to move lower, dropping more than the market was expecting for April.

All this has helped keep the pound attractive in early trading with GBP/USD moving out to its best levels for five months – and finally cracking the $1.5400 barrier that had kept rallies in check this year.

This is leaving some traders eyeing up December highs at $1.5700 as the next target.

Looking ahead to the US open, at the moment we are expecting the Dow Jones to open up around 20 points higher from last night’s close. The US index too has now clawed back virtually all of last week’s losses.

However the current rally may start to stall as it moves back to the highs from earlier in the month – around 8600.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Good Luck!

DB

The above comments do not constitute investment advice Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.

Financial Market Comments from David Jones, IG Index.

At mid-morning in London, we have seen a positive start to the week with the FTSE 100 up by around 20 points.

Lloyds Banking Group is near the top of blue chip gainers for the day. This is on the back of news that Chairman Victor Blank plans to step down from the role next year – following the criticism resulting from the HBOS takeover the gesture could be seen as Blank falling on his own sword.

At the moment many are expecting this jump by the share price to be just a one day wonder and a not signal for new found enthusiasm for banking shares – the strong sentiment behind the sector has waned over the past couple of weeks, following the impressive gains seen since March.

Thomas Cook is the best performer on the day so far with its price up by around 9%. The end of last week saw it report revenues up around 12% for the first six months, suggesting it has weathered the storm much better than many were expecting for the travel sector.

Since November last year, the Thomas Cook share price has risen by around 80%. At the moment some traders seem to be banking on this recovery continuing and eyeing a run back to the highs for this year, just above 300p.

Looking ahead to the US open, at the moment we expect the Dow Jones to start around 10 points higher than Friday’s close.

There is nothing of any note on the American economic calendar today so it could well be a quiet session ahead, continuing the lack of any meaningful direction seen for most of last week.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Good Luck!

DB

The above comments do not constitute investment advice Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.

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Good Luck!

DB

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