Mrs May will, however, stay on as Prime Minister until a successor is chosen. Pity the poor UK High Street though, with a report from accountants BDO out today showing retail sales during the month of May this year were the worst on record. From a lousy 2.2 per cent drop in the volume of in-store sales this time last year, in May 2019 they fell by 3.3 per cent, a new record low for this series. A separate study conducted by the ONS in partnership with Ordnance Survey showed that of the 7,000 unique high streets studied just one third of addresses were being used for retail, commercial properties dipped to 31 per cent, and the rest are now residential.
Things are grim in Germany too, where data out this morning showed the trade balance shrank to €17 billion in April as exports dropped 3.7 per cent and imports just 1.3 per cent lower. In the same month industrial production fell 1.9 per cent on the month (weakest since August 2014), taking the annualised rate down to a negative 1.8 per cent.
DAX 30
A dragonfly doji yesterday, denoting indecision, as we dither on the neckline of the massive head and shoulders that’s been building since April 2017. Interesting to see that the Renault/Fiat tie-up talks have been abandoned due to the French government demanding too many concessions.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 11870; stop above 12200. Target 11325.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 11700; stop well above 12000. Target 11000.
FTSE 100
Not exactly going to plan as we retrace almost half of May’s losses and today are testing immediate trend line resistance.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 7100; stop above 7320. Target 6875.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 7275; stop above 7320. Target 6875.
S&P 500
Recovering just over half of May’s losses as we wait for this afternoon’s release of US May employment statistics. Note that today was the Dragon Boat Festival in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and all markets were closed.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 2880; stop above 2845. Target 2720.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 2805; stop above 2870. Target 2625.
BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR
Trying to push up a little higher but bullish momentum just isn’t there.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small long at 1.2675; stop below 1.2600. Target 1.2925.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
EURO/US DOLLAR
Thrashing around between the trend lines on Mario Draghi comments after yesterday’s ECB meeting that rates would be on hold for even longer than planned. This prevented the commodity channel index from turning down.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Happy to be square.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
GOLD
Still overbought as it holds up better than expected ahead of long term resistance.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 1333; stop above 1360. Target 1270.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
