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Market Outlook: Countdown to Christmas

Starts in earnest
December 18, 2017

The High Street and parcel delivery firms brace for what they think (hope) will be their busiest week of the year.  City AM warns though that any last-minute dash might not make up for what so far has been a dismal December. Data collated by Springboard shows that though footfall might increase during the week to Friday 15th, nevertheless in the year to that week it’s down 11 per cent.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, the world’s busiest, was forced to close yesterday because of a power cut.  Something like the daily average of 275,000 passengers were stranded as the FAA ordered planes to be held at their departure points; around 1,170 flights were cancelled and another 300 or so scheduled today have also been grounded.

DAX 30

Irrelevant all round.  Worth noting that Austria as of the weekend has the world’s youngest chancellor in Sebastian Kurz (31) of the conservative People’s Party which has joined forces with the far-right Freedom Party.  The latter have bagged the posts of deputy chancellor, plus ministers of the interior, defence, health and social security.

 

SHORT TERM TRADER:  Square.

 

POSITION TAKER:  Square.

FTSE 100

Back up towards this year’s higher levels despite low levels of bullish momentum.

 

SHORT TERM TRADER:   Square.

 

POSITION TAKER:  Square.

S&P 500

A weekly RSI over 85 is pretty much unheard of.

 

SHORT TERM TRADER:  Square.

 

POSITION TAKER:  Square.

BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR

Consolidating quietly at the half-way point between the post-referendum high and low. 

 

SHORT TERM TRADER:  Square.

 

POSITION TAKER:  Square.

EURO/US DOLLAR

Dead boring. 

 

SHORT TERM TRADER:  Long at 1.1825; stop below 1.1700.  Target 1.1940.

 

POSITION TAKER:  Square.

GOLD

Another market half way between the high and the low of the last twelve months.

                            

SHORT TERM TRADER:  Square.

 

POSITION TAKER:  Short at 1249; stop above 1270.  First target 1215, and 1200.

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.