FTSE 100 Support 7316 7306 7293 7287 7281 7278 7271
FTSE 100 Resistance 7328 7329 7348 7355 7373
The bears defended the 7300 level for most of the day, but the drop only managed a low of 7275 before the bulls came charging back and managed to take prices back to the 7330 level where they stalled. Double top here with Wednesday's high point as well, as well as both bianca channels for today. The bulls will be keen to push to that 7355 area that I have mentioned previously this week and think that we will see that today before a bit of profit taking comes in ahead of the long weekend in the US - it's Martin Luther King Day on Monday so US markets are closed.
The U.S. economy is doing well, with inflation now pretty close to the Fed’s 2 percent target, Yellen said at a town hall meeting. The central bank should begin discussing how to shrink its bloated balance sheet this year, according to three regional Fed presidents who stepped up pressure for a debate on when to unwind emergency-era measures that the Fed preferred to postpone.
FTSE 100 Outlook and Prediction
For today I am thinking that the bulls will break through the 7330 resistance area to test that 7355 area of resistance that is next on the cards. I expect that we may see some bears appear here though so probably worth a short here. There is support on the 2 hour chart at 7316 now, so if we get an initial dip then we might test this area, and the pivot slightly below at 7306. There is also a green 30min coral support line at this level.
News wise today, at 1330 we have USD Advance Retail Sales* which are forecast to have risen to 0.7%. Then at 3pm we have the University of Michigan Confidence**, forecasted at 98.5 - a slight rise on the previous month of 98.2.
For today I am going for a fairly simple plan really, which is an initial dip to retrace that after hours rise last night, and a drop off the bianca channel resistance at 7330, before a rise back up to possibly reach the 7355/60 area. The momentum is still firmly with the bulls at the moment, and if we keep testing the 7330 level then its likely to break. The bulls had to defend 7270 yesterday which they did, thus keeping the rise going for a while longer. Been a pretty bullish week overall.