Support 5872 5870 5863 5854 5751 5747
Resistance 5906 5920 6006 6055
Good morning.
Market Summary for Friday 5th February
The FT100 traded around the 5900 level during Friday morning waiting for US job data at 1:30pm UK time.
The market then moved sharply lower after the January U.S. jobs report appeared to keep alive the prospect of a Fed rate hike this year.
Non farm payrolls increased by 151,000 jobs last month, below the 190,000 expected by economists. Despite the expected slowdown in job growth, the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent, the lowest since February 2008, and average hourly earnings increased 0.5 percent, suggesting the labor market recovery remains firm. The FT100 closed at 5848 with little buying into the close. The commodity sector was again strong with interest rate sensitive sectors weaker.
US & Asia Overnight from Bloomberg
The dollar rose for a second day against the euro and yen as investors looked toward Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony to Congress Wednesday for signs of whether markets are underestimating the odds of a near-term interest-rate increase.
The greenback climbed after a U.S. employment report on Friday showed wage growth exceeded estimates, bolstering the case for the Fed to lift rates this year. Futures pricing for a move before year-end climbed to 53 percent Friday from 46 percent the previous day. The yen weakened versus Australia’s dollar as equities in Japan pared declines and the nation reported a current-account surplus that was smaller than economists had forecast.
“Markets are looking to Yellen’s testimony this week to see whether she will still leave an option open for a March rate increase or sound dovish,” said Ayako Sera, a Tokyo-based market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. “The dollar can easily swing one yen up and down from 117, but, after the payrolls data, 117 seems to have become a magnet.”
The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 117.20 yen as of 1 p.m. in Tokyo, following a 3.5 percent slide last week that was the most since 2009. It advanced 0.2 percent to $1.1145 per euro, after rallying Friday from a three-month low. The yen slid 0.1 percent to 130.61 per euro and fell 0.5 percent to 82.99 per Aussie dollar.
Markets closed Monday for the Lunar New Year holidays include those in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea.
Payrolls, Wages
U.S. employers added 151,000 to payrolls in January and the unemployment rate dropped to an almost eight-year low of 4.9 percent, a report showed last week. Hourly earnings rose more than estimated after climbing in the year to December by the most since July 2009.
“Stronger than expected U.S. wage growth has called into question last week’s accepted wisdom that the U.S. dollar would fall as moderating economic growth pressured the Fed to delay its rate hike program,” Ric Spooner, a chief analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, wrote in an e-mailed report.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1 percent to 1,229.37 after climbing 0.6 percent on Friday, its biggest advance this year. It was still down 0.3 percent since Dec. 31. Japan’s Topix index of shares was 0.1 percent lower after paring an earlier decline of 1.7 percent.
Japan posted an 18th consecutive current-account surplus in December. The excess in the widest measure of the nation’s trade was 960.7 billion yen ($8.2 billion), from 225.9 billion yen a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Monday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for a surplus of 1.05 trillion yen. [Bloomberg]
FTSE100 Outlook and Prediction
Todays pivot is 5870 and the 2 hour chart is showing some support at the 5860 area. With China celebrating their New Year and their markets shut the FTSE100 has drifted upwards overnight, and I expect that we will have a bullish day today with a rise towards 5940. If we get a dip back to the pivot and also the 25ema on the 30min chart at 5870 area then I think a long here could well be a decent play. The 2 hour chart is also brewing a bullish cross with the 20Hull crossing above the 100Hull, and this is showing support at 5855 currently, if that cross takes place. So, a rise to 5940 looks possible today though at that point there is some strong resistance which may well stops the bulls for the moment. I imagine they are desperate to exceed 6000 again before too long. We had some more bearish press over the weekend (here) so another little rise first before any major sell offs would fit in. So, for today support around the 5870 area for a rise to 5940.