#FTSE #Sausages Sometimes, we make ourselves victims of our own rules. The FTSE is currently providing a “case in point” where it’s a market we’ve been miserably pronouncing, similar to the gloomy farm business advisor called Charlie on the excellent Clarkstons Farm, that something is going to go horribly wrong. With Charlie, it’s usually to do with crop yields or the local council and with us, it’s always to do with the FTSE. In this particular cycle of stupid, we managed to miss a FTSE movement on Tuesday which made a visit to the 8400 point level virtually impossible, according to our rule book.
And so, sitting down tonight with the expectation of producing a gloom laden article, spotting the FTSE being spiked to 8700 on Tuesday morning at the open rung a distant bell. In our own defence we’ve a pretty good excuse for missing such a calamity, an adverse reaction to a simple blood pressure medicine making us suddenly aware we’d been cheerfully watching the heart rate slowly counting down to zero, during the preceding week! Our blood pressure reading had declined until it was less inspiring than a month old limp blue party balloon, from a children’s birthday celebration signal at the bottom of a driveway. Between 6am and 8am, no less than six espressos were consumed, a rather pleasant method of boosting ones blood pressure, our local GP advising to immediately stop the medication and continue with the coffee prescription. And to give his receptionist a call on Friday with updated twice daily test results.
For someone with a history of not taking blood pressure readings seriously (since my early 20’s), everything became horribly real on Tuesday morning, so I’ve forgiven myself for missing the FTSE’s twitch into an area where I could ignore the small warning of a market rule being broken… We do have 188 of the things!
But the FTSE managed to close above our critical 8700 level 3 times this week with an 8705, an 8706, and finally an 8701. While the numbers may not prove particularly inspiring, they did provide confirmation the market also thought our 8700 was significant and had chosen to let the index exceed it. From our perspective, our inclination is to take this as a sign of happier days ahead, a bit like my own blood pressure returning safely above 120/80 into conventional territory the medical profession utterly abhor. For instance, there was one occasion when prescribed a notoriously hard hitting drug called Ramilpril, I developed a little problem which became evident around 6am every day. Essentially my body chose to treat Ramipril as poor mans Viagra, creating considerable discomfort for most of the following day… My GP asked permission to tell this ridiculous story, it being the medical equivalent of using a bandage to enhance the bleeding and thus, making no sense. But it was too funny to ignore. The event was clearly written in block capitals on medical records, it still being the case where a Doctor will still glance at my groin when asking how a Blood Pressure medication is working.
The only remaining clown story remaining is how to deal with the FTSE. It has gone up despite a pile of evidence saying it should go down.
What’s next?
It seems above 8743 points should now provoke acceleration to an initial 8790 points with our secondary, if bettered, at around 8890 points, matching the previous all time high at the start of March. Visually, we believe in the potential of our initial 8790 but feel less confident about our secondary, certainly on the immediate movement cycle. This is a bit unfortunate as the tightest “safe” stop loss works out at 8,660 points, rather wide for an immediate Gain/Risk scenario.
Of course, we can cheerfully still through a near term reduction scenario into the mix. It’s now the case where below 8662 calculates with the potential of reversal to an initial 8610 with our secondary, if broken, working out at 8680 and a very possible bounce.
Have a good weekend, thankfully one without such a ‘bak to skool’ clown show of a Formula1 race!
FUTURES
FUTURES
| Time Issued | Market | Price At Issue | Short Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Long Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Prior |
| 9:57:25PM | BRENT | 7199.1 | 6908 | 6801 | 7230 | 7235 | 7280 | 7180 | |||
| 10:05:01PM | GOLD | 3044.4 | 3026 | 3016 | 3044 | 3059 | 3068 | 3024 | ‘cess | ||
| 10:08:06PM | FTSE | 8697.3 | 8663 | 8648 | 8707 | 8715 | 8729 | 8687 | |||
| 10:11:29PM | STOX50 | 5439.1 | 5431 | 5424 | 5458 | 5465 | 5471 | 5441 | |||
| 11:18:41PM | GERMANY | 22938 | 22819 | 22767 | 23998 | 23052 | 23096 | 22935 | Success | ||
| 11:21:38PM | US500 | 5657.5 | 5629 | 5601 | 5665 | 5712 | 5740 | 5682 | |||
| 11:24:15PM | DOW | 41911 | 41836 | 41703 | 41960 | 42069 | 42156 | 41940 | ‘cess | ||
| 11:27:02PM | NASDAQ | 19651.5 | 19546 | 19415 | 19670 | 19732 | 19782 | 19648 | Shambles | ||
| 11:32:42PM | JAPAN | 37656 | 37559 | 37409 | 37763 | 37984 | 38015 | 37587 | ‘cess |
20/03/2025 FTSE Closed at 8702 points. Change of -0.05%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 7,658,434,671 a change of 23.47%
19/03/2025 FTSE Closed at 8706 points. Change of 0.01%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 6,202,916,969 a change of 4.34%
18/03/2025 FTSE Closed at 8705 points. Change of 0.29%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,945,136,476 a change of 0.41%
17/03/2025 FTSE Closed at 8680 points. Change of 0.56%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,920,651,803 a change of 10.88%
14/03/2025 FTSE Closed at 8632 points. Change of 1.05%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,339,805,616 a change of -8.09%
13/03/2025 FTSE Closed at 8542 points. Change of 0.02%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,809,805,582 a change of -17.07%
12/03/2025 FTSE Closed at 8540 points. Change of 0.52%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 7,005,575,880 a change of -4.97% 
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:BT.A British Telecom** **LSE:GKP Gulf Keystone** **LSE:IPF International Personal Finance** **LSE:TLW Tullow** **
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Updated charts published on : British Telecom, Gulf Keystone, International Personal Finance, Tullow,
LSE:BT.A British Telecom. Close Mid-Price: 163.2 Percentage Change: + 2.06% Day High: 162.95 Day Low: 160.2
Continued trades against BT.A with a mid-price ABOVE 162.95 should improv ……..
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View Previous British Telecom & Big Picture ***
LSE:GKP Gulf Keystone. Close Mid-Price: 203.4 Percentage Change: + 1.95% Day High: 207.8 Day Low: 200
Target met. Further movement against Gulf Keystone ABOVE 207.8 should imp ……..
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View Previous Gulf Keystone & Big Picture ***
LSE:IPF International Personal Finance. Close Mid-Price: 154 Percentage Change: + 1.32% Day High: 154 Day Low: 152.5
Further movement against International Personal Finance ABOVE 154 should ……..
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View Previous International Personal Finance & Big Picture ***
LSE:TLW Tullow Close Mid-Price: 14.16 Percentage Change: -0.14% Day High: 14.49 Day Low: 13.82
It looks like our miserable calculation of a 13p bottom may have been corr ……..
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View Previous Tullow & Big Picture ***