French banking giant Societé Generale SA says it plans to close 15 per cent of its branches and eliminate up to 900 jobs by 2020 as its CEO Frederic Oudéa noted, ‘I am convinced that the European banking sector is going through a kind of industrial revolution, which will probably take the next 10 years’. Digital disruption, he says, is the cause rather than overcapacity and the need for cost cutting.
Today the Bank of England published the latest stress test results of Britain’s 6 largest banks. As they were gleefully Tweeting about this yesterday afternoon, I’m not surprised that they all meet capital requirements even in the case of a ‘disorderly’ Brexit. Note that the concepts of ‘pass’ and ‘fail’ do not apply in their methodology.
DAX 30
Consolidating at a marginally lower notch below this month’s record high between 12900 and 13200. Note that the MACD remains bearish on the daily chart.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 12960; stop above 13225. First target 12700.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
FTSE 100
A fairly decisive rejection at the 7440 level yesterday despite bearish momentum being negligible.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 7470; stop above 7480. Target 7125.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 7375; stop above 7465. Target 7125.
S&P 500
The potential broadening top pattern continues to eke out infinitesimal price gains. Once again the RSI is approaching overbought territory.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 2565; stop above 2615. First target 2515 and more realistically 2460.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR
Consolidating slightly unsteadily above 1.3300 with a dragonfly doji yesterday. However, bullish momentum remains steady. Lucky Prince Harry and best wishes to both. The sort of good news story to cheer up barely managing pre-Brexit Britain.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Small long on Friday’s close above 1.3300. Long at 1.3325; stop below 1.3200. Target 1.3600.
EURO/US DOLLAR
A sudden rejection at the 1.1960 level as analysts started gunning for the psychological 1.2000. Typical! Yesterday’s shooting star type candle with the euro overbought on the RSI suggests consolidation under here for another couple of days or so.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
GOLD
Still capped at the psychological 1300 level despite quite favourable media coverage. The commodity channel index is still trying to top but has struggled to drop decisively below 100.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short (and a little worried) at 1281; stop above 1300. Target 1260.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
Nicole Elliott is a long-standing Member of the Society of Technical Analysts and has taken over the IC’s trading coverage. She is regularly interviewed and quoted by the financial media, is a conference speaker, and author of several books on charting.
