#FTSE #WallSt This month, May, is proving quite boring for the FTSE. The first two weeks produced a FTSE rise of just 34 points, along with an overall trading range of around 140 points. Week three started with a surge into the 8700 range, then the market opted to go to sleep again with this week giving movement of a staggering 39 points. All things considered, despite plenty of world and political events, the market is proving pretty dire, though the retail bank sector is still looking interesting.
We’ve a theory, one which we are uncomfortable with and freely admit is probably daft, kicking open the Conspiracy Theory doors!
Our theory revolves around a problem number of 9,700 points. According to conventional logic, the FTSE is now trading in a zone with a target at 9,700 points or so. It’s certainly a pretty massive jump from current levels and market behaviour tends suggest the ‘gods in charge’ may have noticed what will happen, if “they” opt to let things run free. As we said, it’s an absurd suggestion, one which accepts there may be a controlling influence working on the UK index. Obviously, this isn’t the case as shown by the Covid19 drop during late Feb, early March 2020, with complete independence and absolute co-incidence, markets everywhere decided to relax by around 35%. This was a remarkable show of agreement amongst institutions and traders worldwide, all reaching the same conclusions, at the same time, in their own country. For those who believe such a thing, we’re about to publish a Special Offer for the sale of Tower Bridge in London…
Usually, we’ve noticed the market gods react in utter panic, when they stumble across a respectable share with a price about to head down the toilet. In these instances, there’s typically a panic direction reversal which is usually presaged by a surprise Gap Up in a share price, followed by a period of remorseless rises to get a share price out of the lemming zone. In the case of the FTSE, we’re genuinely not sure of what to propose. Unlike US and Europe markets, in 2023 the FTSE opted not to follow other G5 trends, instead trading in a fairly flat fashion until the start of 2025, when the market gods decided it was now time for the FTSE to join the rest if the civilised world in heading upward. Essentially, our gut feeling is of the UK being intentionally stalled, perhaps due to our utterly incompetent Government enacting constant “Hold My Beer” positions to show the previous Boris Johnson administration how badly they can really run the country. It’s as ridiculous as the logic used, when “they” claim raising interest rates fights inflation, a concept as viable as giving the fire brigade petrol to pour on fires.
If it is indeed the case these mythical market gods are in a panic, the next phase should be a contrived excuse for sharp market reversals to seriously slow things down. Who knows, maybe a discovery of a second brain cell in a UK political leader will cause issues, double the thinking power thus capable of causing double the damage to the country.
The only thing more boring than FTSE movements promises to be the Monaco Grand Prix this Sunday, The organisers are pretending to turn it into a race by forcing TWO pit stops on teams, the naive theory being the race may be governed by which teams do the fastest tyre change. As last years event saw only 4 overtakes in terrible excuse for a race, the pit stop idea seems good except for the salient detail teams will carry out pit stops when the usual Safety Car sessions occur, effectively locking drivers in place while giving them a free pit stop. As drivers often run into walls on this race, it’s probable absolutely nothing has changed. To retain this awful event on the Formula 1 calendar, perhaps they should run a simultaneous cycle race on the track, making it both entertaining and also providing a service to humanity. In the UK, we’re supposed to believe bicycles are safe on 60mph roads but unsafe on 70mph motorways. Alternately, adopting the idea of spraying water on the track at certain bends would save the dreadful race. Our own preference is to watch the Qualifying Run on Saturday, the timed sessions for placement giving a pretty reliable suggestion of what the results will be in 24 hours.
A big problem this year is a coming change of weather in Scotland, suggests freezing temperatures on Sunday and rain later, forcing us to stay indoors and watch the worst “race” on the F1 schedule. Which is a pity, because with grand-daughters visiting, a “science” experiment has been promised which involves explosive dangers, grandchildren loving the idea of blowing stuff up.
Returning to the FTSE and its immediate promise of being as interesting as Monaco, the index apparently needs below 8688 points to trigger imminent reversal to an initial useless 8673 points with our secondary, when broken, at 8632 points and a hopeful rebound.
However, one of our big rules suggest we should anticipate some gains as above just 8740 should now trigger gains to an initial 8787 points with our secondary, if beaten, at 8812. This secondary level is liable to push a panic button, should our silly theory the market is trying to inhibit positive index movement.
Have a good weekend, hopefully drying than here in Argyll where it has not rained for a stunning 12 days, ensuring lots of panic messages about the dangers of lighting fires.
FUTURES
FUTURES
| Time Issued | Market | Price At Issue | Short Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Long Entry | Fast Exit | Slow Exit | Stop | Prior |
| 11:10:15PM | BRENT | 6348.1 | 6306 | 6167 | 6017 | 6399 | 6407 | 6414 | 6450 | 6364 | ‘cess |
| 11:13:31PM | GOLD | 3295.74 | 3279 | 3263 | 3236 | 3304 | 3316 | 3330 | 3347 | 3294 | |
| 11:16:36PM | FTSE | 8754.5 | 8688 | 8671 | 8628 | 8726 | 8764 | 8772 | 8800 | 8740 | Success |
| 11:23:02PM | STOX50 | 5433 | 5418 | 5411 | 5400 | 5430 | 5444 | 5451 | 5473 | 5424 | Success |
| 11:26:58PM | GERMANY | 24047.6 | 23944 | 23884 | 23817 | 23975 | 24084 | 24122 | 24216 | 24016 | |
| 11:36:31PM | US500 | 5848.3 | 5812 | 5789 | 5727 | 5856 | 5880 | 5901 | 5931 | 5843 | |
| 11:38:36PM | DOW | 41838 | 41615 | 41402 | 40912 | 41877 | 42092 | 42214 | 42414 | 41955 | |
| 11:41:28PM | NASDAQ | 21086.5 | 21093 | 21060 | 20990 | 21171 | 21267 | 21316 | 21433 | 21196 | |
| 11:47:58PM | JAPAN | 37001 | 36915 | 36832 | 36709 | 37057 | 37200 | 37251 | 37437 | 37121 |
22/05/2025 FTSE Closed at 8739 points. Change of -0.53%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,088,072,082 a change of 2.41%
21/05/2025 FTSE Closed at 8786 points. Change of 0.06%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 4,968,302,608 a change of -5.54%
20/05/2025 FTSE Closed at 8781 points. Change of 0.94%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 5,259,543,985 a change of -21.36%
19/05/2025 FTSE Closed at 8699 points. Change of 0.17%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 6,688,091,786 a change of -2.89%
16/05/2025 FTSE Closed at 8684 points. Change of 0.59%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 6,886,977,578 a change of 4.8%
15/05/2025 FTSE Closed at 8633 points. Change of 0.56%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 6,571,274,924 a change of 9.38%
14/05/2025 FTSE Closed at 8585 points. Change of -0.2%. Total value traded through LSE was: £ 6,007,730,039 a change of 12.14% 
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:AVCT Avacta** **LSE:BBY BALFOUR BEATTY** **LSE:CAR Carclo** **LSE:IGG IG Group** **LSE:PMG Parkmead** **LSE:RR. Rolls Royce** **LSE:SPX Spirax** **
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Updated charts published on : Aviva, Avacta, BALFOUR BEATTY, Carclo, IG Group, Parkmead, Rolls Royce, Spirax,
LSE:AV. Aviva. Close Mid-Price: 610.4 Percentage Change: + 0.36% Day High: 610 Day Low: 603.6
In the event of Aviva enjoying further trades beyond 610, the share shoul ……..
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View Previous Aviva & Big Picture ***
LSE:AVCT Avacta Close Mid-Price: 28.25 Percentage Change: -5.04% Day High: 29.75 Day Low: 27.5
Continued weakness against AVCT taking the price below 27.5 calculates as ……..
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View Previous Avacta & Big Picture ***
LSE:BBY BALFOUR BEATTY. Close Mid-Price: 502.5 Percentage Change: + 0.10% Day High: 503 Day Low: 494.8
Further movement against BALFOUR BEATTY ABOVE 503 should improve accelera ……..
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View Previous BALFOUR BEATTY & Big Picture ***
LSE:CAR Carclo. Close Mid-Price: 38.75 Percentage Change: + 0.91% Day High: 39.8 Day Low: 38.5
Target met. Continued trades against CAR with a mid-price ABOVE 39.8 shou ……..
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View Previous Carclo & Big Picture ***
LSE:IGG IG Group Close Mid-Price: 1118 Percentage Change: -0.89% Day High: 1148 Day Low: 1114
Target met. In the event of IG Group enjoying further trades beyond 1148, ……..
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View Previous IG Group & Big Picture ***
LSE:PMG Parkmead. Close Mid-Price: 15.75 Percentage Change: + 8.62% Day High: 16.25 Day Low: 14.5
Continued trades against PMG with a mid-price ABOVE 16.25 should improve ……..
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View Previous Parkmead & Big Picture ***
LSE:RR. Rolls Royce. Close Mid-Price: 839 Percentage Change: + 1.77% Day High: 837.6 Day Low: 821.6
Continued trades against RR. with a mid-price ABOVE 837.6 should improve ……..
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View Previous Rolls Royce & Big Picture ***
LSE:SPX Spirax Close Mid-Price: 5785 Percentage Change: -1.28% Day High: 5895 Day Low: 5750
Below 5750 now allows for traffic down to an initial 5674 with our seconda ……..
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View Previous Spirax & Big Picture ***