As widely expected, the Fed Funds target was kept unchanged at 1.5 to 1.75 per cent following the last FOMC meeting of this year. The so-called ‘dot-plot’ of where each member sees interest rates over the coming year suggests they currently feel no need to tinker with interest rates. ‘’The Committee judges that the monetary policy stance is appropriate to support sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labour market conditions, and inflation near the Committee’s symmetric 2 per cent objective’’. One wonders how they can brazenly put out a statement like this when the repo window at the New York Fed has been in chaos for weeks and things are looking even grimmer – despite the billions borrowed – over year-end.
Published overnight, November UK house prices, as measured by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, showed a drop to -12 from -5 in October, the biggest fall since April. They added that the number of both new buyers and new sellers continues to fall though they feel that the declining volume of sales might be bottoming out; this because the number of surveyors expecting a rebound in activity next year is at its highest since February 2017. One can but hope.
DAX 30
Holding, slightly unconvincingly, in the middle of the range since November.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 13200; stop above 13375 with a target at 12335.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
FTSE 100
Back up and hanging around the 7200 area yet momentum is clearly bearish.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 7300; stop above 7325. Target 7100.
S&P 500
No momentum but holding ever so close to the record high.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Small short at 3112; stop above 3160. Target 2975.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
BRITISH POUND/US DOLLAR
Pretty good performance considering what we’re facing today, with the strongest daily close since March. The MACD is steadily, if unspectacularly bullish.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Square.
POSITION TAKER: Long at 1.2950; stop below 1.3080. Target 1.3350.
EURO/US DOLLAR
Bullish momentum picked up quite a bit in yesterday’s break and daily close above well-established resistance at 1.1100.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Stopped out above 1.1100 for a small loss on a stale position.
POSITION TAKER: Square.
GOLD
Back up at the 1480 area, a chart level the market’s been toying with since early August.
SHORT TERM TRADER: Short at 1520; stop above 1500. Target 1440.
POSITION TAKER: Short at 1507; stop above 1520. Target 1440.
