#FTSE #GOLD Thursday ticked all the boxes for being a “funny old day!” We’d a chums funeral to attend, something officiated by a new fangled thing called “Humanist”, essentially a non religious service. Making the event somewhat tortuous was the bloke officiating carefully avoiding addressing the cosmic joke of our friends death. He’d been on his very last legs due to a cancer, constantly complaining these very legs were incapable of taking him upstairs to bed. But he refused point blank to move into a downstairs room and one day recently, tripped on the stairs, falling and breaking his neck. So officially, the cancer didn’t get him.
Through the entire “ceremony” of the funeral, it was probable most of the audience were mentally playing the self effacing story our chum would have made about his death but unfortunately, the Humanist bloke hadn’t known him and his sense of the ridiculous. Inevitably, this started a whispered conversation between my wife and I, discussing who’d be ideal to officiate at our own funerals. My personal preference was Lee Mack, my wife preferring Ricky Gervais and unfortunately, our conversation spread along the row of seats. Ideas reflecting the salient detail that should “Cancel Culture” succeed in silencing some of the best comedians, they’ve an entirely new career awaiting if they want of officiate at funerals. It transpired our friend either picked friends who only looked “on the bright side of life” or perhaps, folk just want a giggle at a funeral. Inevitably, this entire sense of the silly made its way outside to the overflowing car park, once the event was over. It was refreshing to see smiles and laughter at a funeral, making us regret the need to dodge the after-party due to ferry timetables.
Perhaps, due to rarely needing to attend funerals, we’ve missed a change in society attitudes! But declaring loudly “which toilet do I use, if I’m one of the Living Dead?” certainly elicited a laugh from the car park chatterboxes.
This actually has quite a lot to do with the FTSE…
A fairly blunt assessment of how charts work (okay, we’re dodging our real calculations) creates the scenario where breaks above a DOWNTREND which create Higher Highs should present a market feel where gains exceed expectations. Equally, a break below an UPTREND with lower lows tends present an alternate, miserable, scenario. This creates a picture where reversals at present shall not bother us greatly until such a point the market moves below the level of trend break, 8360 points for the FTSE. In other words, in our estimation, you could currently open a Long position with a Stop at 8360 and we’d quite happily wait for the outcome, ideally around 9039 points after an initial visit to 8867 points..
Our alternate, Big Picture, scenario allows weakness below 8360 to point at reversals to an initial 8336 points and a challenge against the ruling Blue downtrend. If such a drop target level breaks, our longer term secondary works out at 8180 points, along with another challenge of the Red uptrend since 2020. Visually this is about as pretty as a photograph of a bunch of MP’s, each impatiently waiting to rush back to the trough!
From a near term perspective, below 8647 looks troubling – and probable. Such a movement calculates with the potential of reversals to an initial 8620 with our secondary, if broken, calculating at 8551, along with an almost certain bounce. In such a scenario, we’re comfortable with our initial drop target but less so with our secondary, simply because the index price remains in an uptrend. For such a game to match our rule of thumb regarding the ruling trend, the tightest stop needs be at 8680 points… Miles above our panic level at 8360 points.
All things considered, we suspect the FTSE faces some near term reversals.
FUTURES
FUTURES
| Time Issued | Market | Price At Issue | Short Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Long Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Prior |
| 11:03:15PM | BRENT | 7618 | |||||||||
| 11:11:30PM | GOLD | 2941.19 | 2924 | 2911 | 2896 | 2941 | 2945 | 2957 | 2968 | 2933 | |
| 11:15:35PM | FTSE | 8661.2 | 8648 | 8607 | 8528 | 8680 | 8724 | 8742 | 8773 | 8687 | Shambles |
| 11:18:22PM | STOX50 | 5459.4 | |||||||||
| 11:43:22PM | GERMANY | 22324 | Shambles | ||||||||
| 11:47:25PM | US500 | 6120.6 | ‘cess | ||||||||
| 11:54:50PM | DOW | 44200.9 | Success | ||||||||
| 11:49:15PM | NASDAQ | 22087.5 | Success | ||||||||
| 11:57:52PM | JAPAN | 38584 | ‘cess |
20/02/2025 FTSE Closed at 8662 points. Change of -0.57%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,892,381,883 a change of 10.17%
19/02/2025 FTSE Closed at 8712 points. Change of -0.62%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,348,624,853 a change of 11.87%
18/02/2025 FTSE Closed at 8766 points. Change of -0.02%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 4,781,200,025 a change of -0.7%
17/02/2025 FTSE Closed at 8768 points. Change of 0.41%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 4,815,003,376 a change of -19.37%
14/02/2025 FTSE Closed at 8732 points. Change of -0.37%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,971,374,028 a change of -3.83%
13/02/2025 FTSE Closed at 8764 points. Change of -0.49%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 6,209,371,407 a change of -0.52%
12/02/2025 FTSE Closed at 8807 points. Change of 0.34%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 6,241,531,008 a change of 5.5% 
SUCCESS above means both FAST & SLOW targets were met. ‘CESS means just the FAST target met and probably the next time it is exceeded, movement to the SLOW target shall commence.
Our commentary is in two sections. Immediately below are today’s updated comments. If our commentary remains valid, the share can be found in the bottom section which has a RED heading. Hopefully, this will mean you no longer need to flip back through previous reports. HYPERLINKS DISABLED IN THIS VERSION
Please remember, all prices are mid-price (halfway between the Buy and Sell). When we refer to a price CLOSING above a specific level, we are viewing the point where we can regard a trend as changing. Otherwise, we are simply speculating on near term trading targets. Our website is www.trendsandtargets.com.
UPDATE. We often give an initial and a secondary price. If the initial is exceeded, we still expect it to fall back but the next time the initial is bettered, the price should continue to the secondary. The converse it true with price drops.
We can be contacted at info@trendsandtargets.com. Spam filters set to maximum so only legit emails get through…
Section One – Outlook Updated Today. Click here for Section Two – Outlook Remains Valid shares
Click Epic to jump to share: LSE:BME B & M** **LSE:DGE Diageo** **LSE:GLEN Glencore Xstra** **LSE:IHG Intercontinental Hotels Group** **LSE:ITM ITM Power** **LSE:LLOY Lloyds Grp.** **LSE:STAN Standard Chartered** **LSE:TLW Tullow** **LSE:ZOO Zoo Digital** **
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Updated charts published on : B & M, Diageo, Glencore Xstra, Intercontinental Hotels Group, ITM Power, Lloyds Grp., Standard Chartered, Tullow, Zoo Digital,
LSE:BME B & M Close Mid-Price: 289.7 Percentage Change: -0.31% Day High: 296.4 Day Low: 289
If B & M experiences continued weakness below 289, it will invariably lea ……..
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View Previous B & M & Big Picture ***
LSE:DGE Diageo. Close Mid-Price: 2123.5 Percentage Change: + 0.47% Day High: 2139 Day Low: 2098.5
Target met. In the event Diageo experiences weakness below 2098.5 it calc ……..
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View Previous Diageo & Big Picture ***
LSE:GLEN Glencore Xstra Close Mid-Price: 325.55 Percentage Change: -0.69% Day High: 337.3 Day Low: 324.1
Continued weakness against GLEN taking the price below 324.1 calculates a ……..
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View Previous Glencore Xstra & Big Picture ***
LSE:IHG Intercontinental Hotels Group Close Mid-Price: 9920 Percentage Change: -1.78% Day High: 10135 Day Low: 9888
If Intercontinental Hotels Group experiences continued weakness below 988 ……..
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View Previous Intercontinental Hotels Group & Big Picture ***
LSE:ITM ITM Power Close Mid-Price: 32.86 Percentage Change: -7.23% Day High: 35.46 Day Low: 32.16
Weakness on ITM Power below 32.16 will invariably lead to 31p with second ……..
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View Previous ITM Power & Big Picture ***
LSE:LLOY Lloyds Grp.. Close Mid-Price: 65.9 Percentage Change: + 4.87% Day High: 67.58 Day Low: 63.82
Target met. Continued trades against LLOY with a mid-price ABOVE 67.58 sh ……..
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View Previous Lloyds Grp. & Big Picture ***
LSE:STAN Standard Chartered. Close Mid-Price: 1140 Percentage Change: + 0.00% Day High: 1155 Day Low: 1133.5
All Standard Chartered needs are mid-price trades ABOVE 1155 to improve a ……..
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View Previous Standard Chartered & Big Picture ***
LSE:TLW Tullow Close Mid-Price: 16.3 Percentage Change: -2.92% Day High: 16.93 Day Low: 16.2
Continued weakness against TLW taking the price below 16.2 calculates as ……..
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View Previous Tullow & Big Picture ***
LSE:ZOO Zoo Digital Close Mid-Price: 17.25 Percentage Change: -37.27% Day High: 19.5 Day Low: 15.5
Target met. Weakness on Zoo Digital below 15.5 will invariably lead to 13 ……..
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View Previous Zoo Digital & Big Picture ***