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I'll be posting regular market updates from well respected Forex experts and showcasing the best Forex advice and systems, so you don't have to waste fruitless hours searching for it yourself!
Add me to your 'Favourites' now and as a special thank you, I'd like to give you 4 fantastic FREE gifts by simply entering your details on the right of this page >>>
You'll receive my 3 Part Ebook series 'The Forex Decoder' which covers everything from the history of Forex, to revealing the most consistently profitable indicators you'll need in your Forex arsenal. I've sorted the 'wheat' from the 'chaff' so you don't have to make the same mistakes as I did when I first started.
You'll also receive a copy of Mark Nelson's famous '7 Habits Of A Highly Successful Trader' which will prove an indispensible aid in your Forex career, as it has done in mine.
Just enter your details on the right and get these 4 fantastic gifts absolutely for FREE >>>
Yours 'Forexly',
Cliff
Simon Denham's Daily Market Comment
British banks remain in focus today as the second partially government
owned bank Lloyds has reported results which have matched RBS with a
disappointing miss of estimates showing worse losses than expected.
Like their Scottish counterpart they too suffered from a big hit on the
miss selling of insurance policies and due to their exposure to the UK
economy and housing market it’s not a huge surprise to see their numbers
below the consensus, especially after RBS's results yesterday. As a
result the CEO of the bank has forgone his bonus for 2011, overall
bonuses at the bank are lower than the year before and past executives
have had bonuses clawed back.
Only a few years ago Lloyds bank was a very different beast, a conservative, retail focused institution with a much smaller “casino” arm than its competitors. During the height of the banking crisis the takeover of HBOS that was imposed on them led to their near downfall. This was another move aimed at preventing total meltdown of not only the UK banking system, but globally, and whilst it prevented that and protected people’s savings, it meant a government bailout was required. Today that investment is still way offside and it will be some time before a return is seen. Lloyds’s story is slightly different in that it doesn’t have huge exposures to the eurozone, but its threats lie in the UK economy and housing market. For them it's growth is very important, which in turn should lower unemployment and keep the housing market buoyant.
So why is the share price higher this morning? Banks have enjoyed a very strong start to the year and Lloyds’s shares are up 40% in 2012 alone as the European banking sector is benefiting from the huge boost of liquidity from the ECB. Their balance sheets are being restored and the threat of a new credit crunch was recently averted. All the rallies in their share price of course is good for the UK tax payer.
Despite the grim numbers from our government owned banks the FTSE continues to defy gravity. A see-saw session yesterday ended with the index posting a mild gain and in the US markets were strong, which is filtering through to London stocks this morning. At the time of writing the FTSE is at 5960 up some 20 odd points and key levels to keep an eye on are seen at 5890, 5855 to the downside and 5970, 6000 to the upside. Even though clients remain cautious on the index by still holding onto short positions overall they seem to be going against the trend that insists on grinding higher. Day by day the 6000 level seems to be closer.
Today sees the second release of fourth quarter UK GDP data which as we know was in the red. It is expected to remain at -0.2% and the jury is still out as to whether the first quarter of this year will see another decline in growth meaning a technical recession. We might be able to avoid this though as not only have the markets got off to a better start than expected for 2012, but the economic numbers have been surprising to the upside too with better retails sales and PMI numbers.
Later from the US today both Michigan confidence and new home sales are expected to rise and often these can be market movers, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for them.
The euro poked its head above the resistance area of 1.3300 against the dollar and then the floodgate of buyers opened pushing it to a new two and a half month high. This move is a coup for the bulls who maintain the momentum and this morning EUR/USD is at 1.3380 following yesterday’s impressive German business confidence data. Support is now seen at the previous resistance of 1.3320/00, then 1.3280/45 and resistance is seen at 1.3425/50.
The weakness in the dollar against the euro hasn’t equated to weakness across the board for the greenback. Against the Japanese Yen it continues to make ground above the 80.00 level at 80.55 at the time of writing. So a fresh seven month high and it looks like the fortunes of the dollar against the Yen may have changed.
Gold is just taking a breather following its break above 1760. At the time of writing the yellow brick is at 1778 and the bulls will be eying up 1790 and 1800 meanwhile support is seen at 1770 and 1760.
http://www.capitalspreads.com/simon-denhams-daily-market-comment
Only a few years ago Lloyds bank was a very different beast, a conservative, retail focused institution with a much smaller “casino” arm than its competitors. During the height of the banking crisis the takeover of HBOS that was imposed on them led to their near downfall. This was another move aimed at preventing total meltdown of not only the UK banking system, but globally, and whilst it prevented that and protected people’s savings, it meant a government bailout was required. Today that investment is still way offside and it will be some time before a return is seen. Lloyds’s story is slightly different in that it doesn’t have huge exposures to the eurozone, but its threats lie in the UK economy and housing market. For them it's growth is very important, which in turn should lower unemployment and keep the housing market buoyant.
So why is the share price higher this morning? Banks have enjoyed a very strong start to the year and Lloyds’s shares are up 40% in 2012 alone as the European banking sector is benefiting from the huge boost of liquidity from the ECB. Their balance sheets are being restored and the threat of a new credit crunch was recently averted. All the rallies in their share price of course is good for the UK tax payer.
Despite the grim numbers from our government owned banks the FTSE continues to defy gravity. A see-saw session yesterday ended with the index posting a mild gain and in the US markets were strong, which is filtering through to London stocks this morning. At the time of writing the FTSE is at 5960 up some 20 odd points and key levels to keep an eye on are seen at 5890, 5855 to the downside and 5970, 6000 to the upside. Even though clients remain cautious on the index by still holding onto short positions overall they seem to be going against the trend that insists on grinding higher. Day by day the 6000 level seems to be closer.
Today sees the second release of fourth quarter UK GDP data which as we know was in the red. It is expected to remain at -0.2% and the jury is still out as to whether the first quarter of this year will see another decline in growth meaning a technical recession. We might be able to avoid this though as not only have the markets got off to a better start than expected for 2012, but the economic numbers have been surprising to the upside too with better retails sales and PMI numbers.
Later from the US today both Michigan confidence and new home sales are expected to rise and often these can be market movers, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for them.
The euro poked its head above the resistance area of 1.3300 against the dollar and then the floodgate of buyers opened pushing it to a new two and a half month high. This move is a coup for the bulls who maintain the momentum and this morning EUR/USD is at 1.3380 following yesterday’s impressive German business confidence data. Support is now seen at the previous resistance of 1.3320/00, then 1.3280/45 and resistance is seen at 1.3425/50.
The weakness in the dollar against the euro hasn’t equated to weakness across the board for the greenback. Against the Japanese Yen it continues to make ground above the 80.00 level at 80.55 at the time of writing. So a fresh seven month high and it looks like the fortunes of the dollar against the Yen may have changed.
Gold is just taking a breather following its break above 1760. At the time of writing the yellow brick is at 1778 and the bulls will be eying up 1790 and 1800 meanwhile support is seen at 1770 and 1760.
http://www.capitalspreads.com/simon-denhams-daily-market-comment
