The FTSE, Thursday 15th June 2006
Wednesday's results:
Close: 5506, down 12pts [0.23%]
Range: 5620 - 5519.
Last 5 TD: down 3.52%.
OTM: -3.81%.
DOW:
10706, up 110pts [1.03%].
Last 5 TD: down 1.03%.
OTM: -3.16%
S&P 500
1230.04, up 6.36pts [0.52%].
Last 5 TD: down 2.08%.
OTM: -3.68%.
News items of note:
Telegraph - 'Britain's high streets are still suffering, the latest figures from House of Fraser and Woolworths show.
Same store sales since January at sweets-to-DVDs retailer Woolworths fell 6.7pc, and 2.4pc at department stores group House of Fraser. Both warned the retail market would stay challenging.
The figures come shortly after May data from the British Retail Consortium that showed sales rising 3.6pc on the previous year, offering some hope for the high street. However, the rise appears to have been driven by sales of big ticket items such as flat screen televisions ahead of the World Cup, while traditional high street fare has yet to recover.
Woolworths said in a statement: "We anticipate that the retail environment will continue to be challenging."
Take note of the last word in the news item above. Whenever I see the word 'Challenging' in a company report I know there's hard times ahead and thus the shares are best avoided.
Charts, and nothing but the charts: Wednesday stated a rise. Thursday has no strong indication but favours the rise above the fall.
The PoM System: +5.75, interpretation: a strong possibility of a rise.
The PoM system is a mathematical formula that determines the markets direction. A plus or minus indicates the likelihood and strength of the market going up or down.
Companies reporting:
None.
Economic Data:
00:30 UK RICS house prices
09:30 UK Retail Sales [the one to watch]
Areas to watch: the retail sector; Oil, due for a bounce; miners, also due for a bounce.
The FTSE tomorrow based on present news and data: the worm turns, or to be more specific, the US markets headed North albeit late in the day and to late to save the ailing FTSE. SB companies have the FTSE opening up by a pithy 5pts, this tells a story; charts are not clear but favour the rise, whereas the PoM has a strong rise factor; no CR but the ED for retail sales may be the fly in the ointment.
In regards to the PoM result: I've added in a high negative factor for the retail sales ED being poor, but the result is still high. Lets see tomorrow.
Early gut feeling: a rise.
Will I bet? Already Long.
If you are betting: make your own decision, watch the markets open and do read the news for clues as to which way the FTSE may go.
Yours
UK