Two years after a referendum on Catalonia leaving Spain, this Monday the Supreme Court sentenced 9 leaders of the separatist movement to up to 13 years in jail. Demonstrations against the decision started on Monday and picked up the pace yesterday, converging on the city’s main thoroughfare and heart of the tourist area, close to the stock exchange and smart boutiques. Fires were started in the middle of the road, stones hurled at police who responded with batons and foam. Four people were arrested, Reuters reports, and their cameraman hit by police as he was filming.
As the IMF and World Bank hold their annual meeting in Washington this week, with 10,000 delegates expected – yes, really – chief economist Gita Gopinath once again lowered economic growth forecasts for 2019 to 3 per cent, especially in G4 (China, EU, Japan and the US). Praising the use of ultra-low rate settings, they believe ‘’global growth would be lower by 0.5 percentage points in both 2019 and 2020’’.
DAX 30
Almost overbought as we trade at July’s highest levels.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
FTSE 100
Going nowhere fast, with Brexit talks continuing today so that the UK’s cabinet meeting has been pushed back again until this afternoon – in time for the EU meeting on Thursday. Neil Woodford’s crash and burn is, unfortunately, likely to be felt far and wide thanks to his talent for self-promotion.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 7140; stop above 7275. Target 7025.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
S&P 500
A messy, ugly chart with momentum only turning bullish on yesterday’s close.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR
Careful because cable’s overbought and we’re back at levels where we peaked in June. However, my hunch is that there might be some serious short-covering to be done above 1.2800 – 5 per cent higher than September’s low.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
EURO/US DOLLAR
Momentum and the MACD are bullish yet this currency pair isn’t gaining any traction. Meanwhile EUR/GBP touched £0.8625 yesterday, its best level since early May.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small long at 1.0970; stop below 1.0880. Target 1.1100.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
GOLD
Still clinging to our pivotal level, possibly because momentum is zero.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 1520; stop above 1535. Target 1440.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 1507; stop above 1560. Target 1440.
