Reuters reports that Lloyds Banking Group, owner of Scottish Widows, has cancelled its asset £100 billion management contract with Standard Life Aberdeen because the latter’s merger last year has created competition issues. Joint CEOs Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch said they were disappointed and that their firm will need to take a one-off £40 million impairment charge. It is estimated that the bank’s funds are roughly 5 per cent of total funds under their management.
Ex-head of the ANC and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma eventually stepped down yesterday and his deputy since 2014, Cyril Ramaphose (who is the new leader of the ANC), is expected to take over as soon as today. Whether he’ll be able to revive a battered economy riddled with corruption only time will tell.
DAX 30
Redrawing the edges of triangle consolidation to accommodate yesterday’s low and this morning’s high. Becoming less oversold as we hover between trend line support and horizontal resistance at 12875.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 12535; stop well above 12600. Target 11700.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 12650; stop above 12875. First target 12050, then probably more.
FTSE 100
Media making such a song and dance over this week’s rally-ette. The market has retraced exactly a Fibonacci 38 per cent of the drop from the record high – and is no longer oversold.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 7180; stop well above 7300. Target 7000.
POSITION TAKER: Added to my short position this morning at 7250; stop well above 7350. Target the 6675 area.
S&P 500
The S&P 500 has retraced half of this year’s sudden slump and is trapped between what had been trend line support from an interim low in 2017 and the trend line from 2016’s low. More importantly, it’s not in the least bit oversold.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 2660; stop well above 2700. Target 2550.
POSITION TAKER: Short with a stop above 2750. Target 2455 – and maybe a lot more.
BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR
Picking up the pace a bit as US dollar weakness seeps through many currencies.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small long at 1.3885; stop below 1.3800. Target 1.4200.
POSITION TAKER: Long at 1.3930; stop below 1.3800. First target 1.4275, then 1.4650.
EURO/US DOLLAR
Re-testing this year’s high, trying to keep up with the yen which has now retraced a Fibonacci 61 per cent of the sharp bout of weakness seen in November-December 2016 when it shot up from the psychological 100.00 to 118.00 – a move welcomed by the authorities.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Took profits at 1.2500.
POSITION TAKER: Looking to buy on a strong close this week for generalised US dollar weakness.
GOLD
Shooting back up to long term trend line resistance in response to the move in the US dollar.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Stopped out of my short.
POSITION TAKER: Stopped out here too and wondering why I bother trading this precious metal.
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.
