#FTSE #DOW Retail can be a funny old business, an area in which rather a few business’ in Scotland utterly fail. For instance, visiting one of the more impressive local beaches on Monday, with wry amusement we noticed the once fabulous cafe positioned overlooking this secret treasure on the local Isle of Bute was closed both Sunday and Tuesday. Hot tip: Check tides before visiting as a 1 mile walk awaits across wet sands at low tide until you arrive at the sea. On a hot day, dogs are not amused.
The constant incompetence of Scotlands retail industry to become a service industry has always been a national embarrassment and despite significant changes over the years, ingrained habits remain. As easy “for instance” exists in the impoverished town of Dunoon in Argyll, somewhere you do not want to try and get a fish supper on a Sunday. We’d driven off the ferry, deciding it would be nice to munch an a chippy for the drive home in Argyll. All of the towns Fish’n’Chip shops shut on a Sunday, emphatically not a religious thing. The Argyll town of Dunoon compares itself as always losing out to Oban, yet fails to realise it’s raining soup and they’ve not discovered soup bowls.
Okay, this is a pet gripe, literally due to making a mistake on Sunday after watching the Grand Prix with friends, then thinking we’d get a takeaway to munch for dinner, on the final leg of the way home. And on Tuesday, deciding to have lunch at Ettrick Bay Cafe proved a terrible idea, especially as the dogs always look forward to their ice cream. It was shut. Instead, we discovered the nearest post office had also opened a cafe, along with an outdoors area with fabulous views of surrounding buildings. But the food was great, the new owners delighted in our praise for the changes.
Scottish Retail, or Service Industry, is certainly an area where the Scottish Government should probably appoint a Tsar, a successfully retailer whose retired from a multi-national like M&S. It’s funny, my own father received quite a lot of stick, when he opted to open his car showrooms on a Sunday, the usual complaints being based on religion, along with damaging the family unit. The crafty sod ensured us children were gainfully employed, thereafter, and I grudgingly recall his “award” of 15p an hour, along with a time card, for my services! Of course, keen to abuse the system, I would happily cycle to an outlet after school, clocking in and spending time making tea or pushing a broom. Or more commonly, sitting in a discrete corner of an office, listening to the chatter. One week, the payroll dragon, a terrifying lady called Mrs Banner, pointed out to my Dad I’d over 60 hours on my time card. This privilege was revoked but I was given “dibs” on checking trade-ins at weekends, searching for coins under the rear seats. This was often a profitable exercise, eventually paying for my first motorcycle, a clapped out 1949 AJS 500 single.
This has quite a lot to do with M&S, a company which has often ignored norms in retail and simply pushed ahead. Their initiative with M&S Food merging with prime location retail filling stations was the first clue the company were thinking outside the box with the initial outlets remaining rather successful. And despite the terrible social mood in the UK, M&S share price looks extremely capable of providing further improvements, despite some terrible behaviour since 2020.
Currently, above 333p looks capable of provoking a rise to an extremely important 344p, a big deal from a Big Picture perspective and leaving the share “at risk” of entering a longer term cycle to an initial 430p with our secondary, if beaten, a future attraction from 501p.
And this sermon is, why Argyll food outlets should not all shut on a Sunday! M&S share price needs below 285 to spark a panic as it risks an eventual reversal to 177p.
FUTURES
| Time Issued | Market | Price At Issue | Short Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Long Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Prior |
| 10:20:04PM | BRENT | 7845.6 | 7802 | 7724 | 7528 | 8032 | 7924 | 7956 | 8008 | 7856 | ‘cess |
| 10:23:24PM | GOLD | 2410.57 | 2382 | 2372 | 2358 | 2399 | 2414 | 2422 | 2430 | 2404 | ‘cess |
| 10:33:19PM | FTSE | 8282.4 | 8233 | 8174 | 8109 | 8282 | 8302 | 8364 | 8465 | 8232 | Success |
| 10:46:38PM | STOX50 | 4829.8 | 4808 | 4803 | 4783 | 4834 | 4855 | 4861 | 4879 | 4835 | ‘cess |
| 10:50:47PM | GERMANY | 18393 | 18297 | 18271 | 18205 | 18440 | 18460 | 18508 | 18578 | 18380 | |
| 10:53:53PM | US500 | 5413.9 | 5395 | 5384 | 5347 | 5436 | 5456 | 5476 | 5503 | 5426 | Success |
| 10:58:22PM | DOW | 40548.5 | 40480 | 40337 | 40160 | 40672 | 40912 | 41012 | 42008 | 40395 | ‘cess |
| 11:02:38PM | NASDAQ | 18723.9 | 18576 | 18144 | 17280 | 19038 | 19165 | 19396 | 19665 | 18933 | |
| 11:06:47PM | JAPAN | 38074 | 37896 | 37772 | 37454 | 38209 | 38710 | 38781 | 39257 | 38587 |
30/07/2024 FTSE Closed at 8274 points. Change of -0.22%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,229,655,790 a change of 9.68%
29/07/2024 FTSE Closed at 8292 points. Change of 0.08%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 4,768,279,831 a change of 1.53%
26/07/2024 FTSE Closed at 8285 points. Change of 1.21%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 4,696,468,997 a change of -12.32%
25/07/2024 FTSE Closed at 8186 points. Change of 0.4%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,356,362,048 a change of 4.45%
24/07/2024 FTSE Closed at 8153 points. Change of -0.17%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,128,130,189 a change of -2.6%
23/07/2024 FTSE Closed at 8167 points. Change of -0.38%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,265,250,514 a change of 15.55%
22/07/2024 FTSE Closed at 8198 points. Change of 0.53%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 4,556,598,316 a change of 4.43% 
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:AV. Aviva** **LSE:CAR Carclo** **LSE:DGE Diageo** **LSE:GRG Greggs** **LSE:IGG IG Group** **LSE:JET Just Eat** **LSE:MKS Marks and Spencer** **LSE:SBRY Sainsbury** **LSE:SCLP Scancell** **
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Updated charts published on : Aviva, Carclo, Diageo, Greggs, IG Group, Just Eat, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury, Scancell,
LSE:AV. Aviva. Close Mid-Price: 498.5 Percentage Change: + 1.10% Day High: 500 Day Low: 491.8
All Aviva needs are mid-price trades ABOVE 500 to improve acceleration to ……..
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View Previous Aviva & Big Picture ***
LSE:CAR Carclo. Close Mid-Price: 33.6 Percentage Change: + 0.30% Day High: 34.8 Day Low: 34.4
All Carclo needs are mid-price trades ABOVE 34.8 to improve acceleration ……..
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View Previous Carclo & Big Picture ***
LSE:DGE Diageo Close Mid-Price: 2418 Percentage Change: -5.08% Day High: 2436.5 Day Low: 2275
Target met. Continued weakness against DGE taking the price below 2275 ca ……..
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View Previous Diageo & Big Picture ***
LSE:GRG Greggs. Close Mid-Price: 3082 Percentage Change: + 4.97% Day High: 3122 Day Low: 2914
Target met. In the event of Greggs enjoying further trades beyond 3122, t ……..
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View Previous Greggs & Big Picture ***
LSE:IGG IG Group Close Mid-Price: 934 Percentage Change: -0.59% Day High: 946.5 Day Low: 929.5
Further movement against IG Group ABOVE 946.5 should improve acceleration ……..
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View Previous IG Group & Big Picture ***
LSE:JET Just Eat. Close Mid-Price: 914 Percentage Change: + 2.01% Day High: 917 Day Low: 889
Weakness on Just Eat below 889 will invariably lead to 860p with secondar ……..
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View Previous Just Eat & Big Picture ***
LSE:MKS Marks and Spencer. Close Mid-Price: 331.3 Percentage Change: + 1.81% Day High: 331.4 Day Low: 323.5
Target met. Continued trades against MKS with a mid-price ABOVE 331.4 sho ……..
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View Previous Marks and Spencer & Big Picture ***
LSE:SBRY Sainsbury. Close Mid-Price: 277.6 Percentage Change: + 1.31% Day High: 278.2 Day Low: 272.8
Target met. Further movement against Sainsbury ABOVE 278.2 should improve ……..
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View Previous Sainsbury & Big Picture ***
LSE:SCLP Scancell. Close Mid-Price: 15.5 Percentage Change: + 6.90% Day High: 15.5 Day Low: 14.5
Target met. All Scancell needs are mid-price trades ABOVE 15.5 to improve ……..
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View Previous Scancell & Big Picture ***