Ahead of today’s State of the Union address by President Trump – which had been postponed because the partial federal government shut down – Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell and Vice Chair Richard Clarida were invited last night for supper at the White House; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joined them at the informal meal. This was Mr Powell’s first face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump since the latter picked him for his current role. Oh, to be a fly on the wall after the President had accused the Fed Chairman of being ‘out of control’ for raising interest rates.
City AM this morning reports that, using data from the UK’s Financial Stability Board, in 2017 non-bank assets grew by 7.6 per cent to $116.6 trillion, representing almost a third of total global financial assets. Needless to say, the regulator called for ‘vigilance’ on these increasingly important players and suggested better information collection to keep an eye on them.
DAX 30
Momentum’s all gone as we hover on the long term trend line at the 50 per cent retracement level from October’s high.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 11180; stop above 11400. First target 10600.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
FTSE 100
Momentum’s just turned bullish on yesterday’s rally-ette through the 50 per cent retracement level from October’s high.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Stopped out of my short position for a small loss.
POSITION TAKER: Now I’ve been stopped out here for another loss. Oh dear!
S&P 500
Another painful little rally through the Fibonacci 61 per cent retracement level of Q4 2018’s slump, putting the index into overbought territory.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 2666; stop well above 2700. First target 2450.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR
Regrouping under the top of what might be a broadening base while keeping momentum bullish.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Long at 1.2860; stop below 1.3000. New target 1.3400.
EURO/US DOLLAR
I have ditched any trend following oscillators as in this painful sideways, messy range none are going to work. Today I have added Chaikin’s oscillator to see if it might give us some clues. It’s similar to the commodity channel index, moving around 0 with no upper or lower boundary.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
GOLD
Easing off a tad and so is bullish momentum.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 1317; stop above 1330. Target 1240.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
