The UK bank today announced a Q1 profit of £1.7 billion, a little better than many expected, but once a £1.4 billion pound fine from the US Justice Department was included (for selling sub-prime mortgages) and another £400 million hit for miss-selling PPI in the UK, - it ended up losing money. Its tier 1 ratio dropped from 13.3 per cent to 12.7 per cent as reserves were impacted by the fines.
Today Deutsche Bank reported a Q1 profit of €120 million, 79 per cent lower than this time last year. It took the opportunity to announce one could expect continued job cuts throughout this year, especially in its corporate and investment bank divisions; cuts will also focus on bond and equity sales and trading in Asia and the US. New CEO Christian Sewing said, ‘there is no time to lose as the current returns for our shareholders are not acceptable’.
DAX 30
A little hanging man candle yesterday as the index stumbles once again at the 50 per cent retracement resistance level. The commodity channel index has clearly turned down.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 12430; stop above 12650. Target 12000.
POSITION TAKER: New short at 12400; stop well above 12650. First target 11800.
FTSE 100
No longer overbought despite all these irrelevant little chart moves; nothing one can get one’s teeth into.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
S&P 500
Holding in the lower half of this year’s trading range with zero momentum.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 2689; stop above 2725. Target 2580.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 2673; stop above 2725. First target 2560.
BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR
The commodity channel continues to try to put in an interim base, but the market’s just stopped. Today the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reports vehicle registrations fell by 15.7 per cent in March, diesel sales off a whopping 37.2 per cent.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small long at 1.3940; stop well below 1.3900. Target 1.4300.
POSITION TAKER: Small long at 1.4025; stop below 1.3900. Target 1.4345.
EURO/US DOLLAR
Closing on medium term support and almost oversold in the process. The ECB meets today with no change in stance expected.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small long at 1.2205; stop below 1.2100. Target 1.2465.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
GOLD
Hellishly tedious.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
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.
