#GBPEUR #FTSE Obviously, there are some things more important than the markets. Apparently the writers waistline is one of them and with “Lockdown” easing, a wife with a history of fad diets insists something new is tried. Yup, this time around it’s been “Goodbye Sugar” and “Hello Fat” as something called the Keto diet is enforced, quite brutally if the truth be told.
To be honest, ditching sugar for July has proven quite easy, despite a lifetime addiction to the stuff. Few things provoke more eyebrow action and sympathetic looks than saying, “Yes, coffee please, with milk and three sugar”, at any sort of meeting. This has been a drink of choice for 40 years, something it was assumed would cause withdrawal symptoms. A guilty secret, discovered in the days of rubbish coffee machines which always ran out of sugar, has been tolerance of black, straight, coffee. It was simply the case the sweet stuff was preferred but never, ever, essential. An entire month without sugar, bread, pasta, croissants (especially croissants) was survived, a weight loss of 5 kilos achieved. The surprising aspect of this “Keto” diet has been the amount of fats consumed, essentially trying to train the body to burn fat rather than carbs. A diet which includes bacon, sausage, steak, and rack of lamb cannot be all bad!
The moral behind this nightmare story, some addictions are easy to break.
Of course, will Brits addiction to holidays in Europe makes itself apparent or will GBP vs The Euro remain trading in doldrums territory, the pairing not doing a lot since April?
Trading around 1.1050 presently, the relationship only needs firm up above 1.1091 to suggest some recovery coming to an initial 1.1194 with secondary, if exceeded, at a pretty confident looking 1.1449. For some reason, the market has expressed hesitation at the 1.1500 level repeatedly since the Covid-19 drop, common sense suggesting it’ll doubtless happen again. Only above 1.15 and we’d argue quite firmly in favour of continued recovery to 1.1928, hitting the pre-Covid-19 price level.
Should things opt to go pear shaped (cannot eat fruit on the Keto diet, due to natural sugars), below 1.09 looks troublesome as 1.0677 remains possible with secondary, if broken, at a bottom hopefully of 1.015.
Sorry about the tenuous link between the subjects above. Really needed an excuse to mention that 5kg weight loss!
FTSE for FRIDAY (FTSE:UKX) Thankfully PayPal quickly proved why we opted to write about it on Wednesday. It’s hopefully worth paying attention when we drag an oddball out to comment as usually it means we’ve spotted something useful. Things are rather more difficult with our regular “FTSE for FRIDAY” feature as sometimes we don’t have a clue where to start.
Thankfully, this time around, we’ve rather a lot to write about but our enthusiasm is slightly dampened by the UK market briefly sneaking below 5930 points on Thursday. We’d been expecting 5930 to make an appearance for quite some time, an ambition constantly frustrated by a stock market anxious to prove (again) our grasp of timeframes was tenuous. We’d again reminded clients of the 5930 threat in our private gossip on Wednesday, not for a movement expecting the drop to happen the following afternoon. But the moment the FTSE slithered below 6068 points, the ruling drop potential became inevitable.
But there’s a problem.
The FTSE did not bounce at 5930. Instead, it bounced at 5924 points and we’ve discovered, far too often, such pedantic breaks can prove truly important as they frequently imply ruling weakness. As a result, the threat exists of weakness below 5924 points bringing further reversal to an initial 5858 points with secondary, if (when) broken at a bottom and hopefully, a proper rebound, at 5640 points. Nothing suggests this should all occur on the same day but as mentioned previously, our grasp of time is dodgy.
The contra scenario suggests paying attention should the UK market strengthen above 6008 points (though distrust an upward spike in the opening second of trade) as it allows for recovery to an initial 6057 points with secondary, if bettered, calculating at 6141 points. We do suspect, near term, some recovery is probable though next week risks being pretty grotty.
Have a good weekend and enjoy Silverstone on telly!
FUTURES
| Time Issued | Market | Price At Issue | Short Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Long Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Prior |
| 9:55:10PM | BRENT | 43.65 | 42.66 | 42.315 | 43.72 | 44.2 | 44.53 | 43.27 | Success | ||
| 9:57:42PM | GOLD | 1957.63 | 1939 | 1934.5 | 1951 | 1962 | 1966 | 1946 | |||
| 10:01:01PM | FTSE | 6043.43 | 5976 | 5867 | 6038 | 6070 | 6084 | 6020 | Success | ||
| 10:15:03PM | FRANCE | 4883.7 | 4844 | 4807 | 4890 | 4891 | 4926 | 4866 | Success | ||
| 10:18:08PM | GERMANY | 12527 | 12413 | 12294 | 12487 | 12565 | 12664 | 12422 | Success | ||
| 10:21:01PM | US500 | 3273 | 3238 | 3227.5 | 3255 | 3277 | 3303 | 3238 | Sorry | ||
| 10:23:08PM | DOW | 26491 | 26256 | 26177 | 26381 | 26522 | 26575 | 26286 | Success | ||
| 10:25:07PM | NASDAQ | 10894 | 10683 | 10597 | 10770 | 10909 | 10992 | 10703 | Sorry | ||
| 10:27:10PM | JAPAN | 22270 | 22170 | 22109.5 | 22292 | 22292 | 22372.5 | 22176 | Success |