Support 6605, 6577, 6565, 6529, 6437 Resistance 6636, 6679, 6683, 6694, 6710

Good morning. Pretty quiet in the end with the US closed and we didn’t dip down as far as I would have liked, but we have had the rise and stayed within that 10 minute channel. Worth noting is that all 3 Bianca channel tops are clustered around the 6680 area so a good shorting spot here, maybe even for a swing trade to hold for a few days. It is also the top of the 10 minute channel we have been within for a few sessions. Of course, all eyes are on the ECB and what they are going to say on Thursday – did Hollande let the cat out of the bag yesterday but saying there will be QE, then backtracking saying ah yes err well maybe, and if they did it would be good?! The IMF cut their global growth forecast 3.5% from 3.8% – and the 2016 one to 3.7% From 4%. Chinese GDP came in at 7.3% y/y, vs 7.2% expected.

Asia Overnight from Bloomberg
Asian stocks rose, led by technology companies, as investors awaited data from China on gross domestic product, factory output and retail sales.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) gained 0.1 percent to 137.74 as of 9:05 a.m. in Tokyo. The Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 7.7 percent yesterday, the most since June 2008, after three of the nation’s biggest brokerages were suspended from adding margin-trading accounts. Volatility is set to persist ahead of today’s economic reports and a European Central Bank meeting later in the week, according to Paterson Securities Ltd.

“There are plenty of things happening around to have people looking over their shoulders,” Tony Farnham, a strategist at Paterson Securities in Sydney, said by phone. “We’ve got Chinese data today, the ECB meeting on Thursday and the Greek elections over the weekend.”

China’s GDP growth probably weakened to 7.2 percent year on year in the October-to-December period, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The economy expanded 7.3 percent a quarter earlier. Industrial production is expected to rise 7.4 percent in December, up from a 7.2 percent increase the previous month.

ECB President Mario Draghi is likely to announce a 550 billion-euro ($640 billion) bond-purchase program this week, economists say. Greece enters the final week of campaigning for national elections with time running out for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy to overtake Alexis Tsipras’s opposition Syriza party and hold to the path of economic reform.

Japan Advances
Japan’s Topix index gained 0.5 percent. The Bank of Japan starts a two-day policy meeting today. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.2 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index was little changed. South Korea’s Kospi index climbed 0.6 percent. Markets in China and Hong Kong have yet to open.

Chinese equities plunged yesterday after the regulatory efforts to rein in margin lending sparked concern that speculative traders will pull back from the world’s best-performing stock market. The amount of shares purchased on margin in China has surged more than tenfold in the past two years to a record 1.1 trillion yuan ($179 billion), or about 3.5 percent of the nation’s market capitalization, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent from Friday’s close. U.S. markets will reopen today after being shut for a holiday yesterday. [Ref]

FTSE Outlook

As mentioned above 6680 looks a great shorting spot, if the bulls can break 6635 resistance. There is the top of the rising 10 minute channel there, so I think we may see a little dip from there before a rise to that 6680 area. As such, shorts at both those levels should be worth a go, with the 6680 being a good swing short area. Todays pivot is 6578 so there is support there on any dips (would be a handy 100 point decline from that 6680 and the FTSE is liking its 100 point swings at the moment…. Below the pivot then there is the bottom of that 10 minute channel at 6565 ish, then 6523.