Good morning. Well as expected it was largely flat today with the US closed, and the big news that weighed on the FTSE towards the close (and after) was the Greek talks failing to reach any sort of bail out agreement. No great surprise really – never take the first offer! Early morning saw a nice drop off the 6890 resistance and the low so far has been 6830. I can’t imagine that the bulls are too willing to pile in with this uncertainty around at the moment, and the fact that were were nearly at the top of the 10 day Bianca (6901 for Monday) suggests that a dip is more likely, most likely to 6786 where we have the 25ema on the daily, and the bottom of the 10 day Raff.
US & Asia Overnight from Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks and U.S. index futures retreated, while the euro fell to one-week low versus the yen after talks between Greece and its creditors broke down. Australian bonds climbed and crude oil held gains.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.2 percent as of 9:10 a.m. in Tokyo, as gauges of Japanese and South Korean shares lost at least 0.2 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures dropped 0.5 percent from Feb. 13, with U.S. markets closed Monday for a holiday. The euro weakened versus most major peers, slipping 0.2 percent to 134.29 yen. Ten-year Australian yields fell four basis points. U.S. oil was at $52.79 a barrel.
Discussions in Brussels ended abruptly Monday, with Greece rejecting as “absurd” and “unacceptable” a euro-area proposal to extend the nation’s existing bailout conditions. Failure to strike a deal by Feb. 28, when the current aid expires, risks putting Greece’s euro membership in jeopardy. Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s last meeting, when interest rates were cut, are due Tuesday, while Indonesia and Korea review monetary policy. China reports on property prices.
“Once again Europe will remain an overarching risk story for investors,” Evan Lucas, a markets strategist in Melbourne at IG Ltd., wrote in an e-mail. “Monetary policy will remain the biggest supporter of global equities, with or without Greece in the euro area. However, I would have a plan for Greece exiting the euro area as it will be volatile.”
Accusations Fly
The Greek government accused Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem of backtracking on an agreement he made last week with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
The European Union’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Pierre Moscovici, had put forward a draft statement ahead of the meeting that Greece was ready to sign up to, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told reporters after the talks. When finance ministers gathered Dijsselbloem put forward a different text that the Greeks could not accept.
Without a deal, Greece could run out of money by the end of March, forcing Tsipras to consider abandoning his promises to the electorate or even leaving the single currency.
Markets in India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam are closed for holidays Tuesday, with mainland China to shut from Wednesday for the week-long New Year break.[Ref]
FTSE Outlook
If it dips today then I have 3 things showing support at around the 6785 area – the 25ema on daily, the bottom of the 10 day Raff and the bottom of the 20 day Bianca (usually pretty good!). A such I will be going long here if it gets there, though 6803 is also showing as good support. While the Greek situation remains unresolved and them due to run out of money at the beginning of March the bulls will be a bit hesitant, however, I am sure that the powers that be will thrash something out as if Greece leaves then the whole thing is at risk. They should have been allowed to go bust a few years ago, left the eurozone and by now they would probably be back on their feet as an independent country! If Greece leaves, Italy and Spain probably won’t be far behind with writing off their debts and jumping ship.
Initial support is 6820 today, 6803 then the 6785 area. Resistance is the daily pivot initially at 6848, then 6875, 6900 and 6925, 6970.