Mild Risk Positive Sentiment To Kick Off The New Week

 | Nov 04, 2019 08:17

Market Overview

It is a quiet start to the week on major markets, with a hue of mild risk positivity. Friday’s rather mixed batch of US data has done little to change the outlook and has left traders somewhat betwixt and between for the new trading week. Friday’s jobs report saw better than expected payrolls data but was still not great, whilst wages were also just OK.

A miss in the ISM Manufacturing also leaves the industrial sector under pressure (whilst the terrible Prices Paid component will add to concerns of subdued inflation trends). So the dollar has got little traction out of all of this. However, the latest on the trade dispute is more of the same, slow but seemingly steady progress. Phase One may be signed in the coming weeks, with alternative venues for a summit suggested but nothing confirmed yet. There is a mild risk positive vibe still through markets, with a tick or so higher on yields, whilst the offshore Chinese Yuan also continuing to strengthen against the dollar. Eyes will be on new ECB President Christine Lagarde who gives her first speech in her new role today. Will the emphasis be on fiscal support within the euro area?

Wall Street closed with strong gains on Friday with the S&P 500 +1.0% at 3067 whilst US futures are +0.2% early today. This has helped the Asian session higher with the Shanghai Composite +0.5% (Nikkei closed for public holiday). In Europe there is a continuation of decent gains in early moves, with FTSE futures and DAX futures both around +0.5% higher.

In forex, there is a slightly risk positive bias, with JPY being the main underperformer, whilst USD is also mixed. The commodity currencies are also doing well today with NZD being the main outperformer.

In commodities, there is little real direction for gold or silver, whilst oil is unwinding a shade lower after a strong rebound on Friday.

The early European session is dominated by the final Manufacturing PMIs across the euro area. The Eurozone final Manufacturing PMI is at 09:00 GMT which is expected to be confirmed at 45.7 (45.7 flash, 457 September final). The UK Construction PMI is at 09:30 GMT and is expected to only marginally improve to 44.0 in October (from an extremely weak 43.3 in September).

Chart of the Day – FTSE 100

Trading FTSE 100 is like wading through treacle, and is certainly a hard slog. The underperformance of FTSE 100 continues to be a feature against other markets such as the DAX, as the negative correlation with a resurgent GBP plays out. However whilst peer indices test and eye multi-month and multi-year highs, in its own right, the recovery on FTSE 100 is still a work in progress and far from given. For three months, the market has been drudging sideways in a range between key support around 7040 and the failure high of 7440 from September. Within this range, there is a pivot band 7205/7250 and Friday’s rebound off 7250 has allowed a mini uptrend channel of the past month to continue to build. Momentum indicators remain stuck in a ranging configuration with RSI under 60 and MACD lines struggling to get over neutral. How the market reacts to Friday’s strong bull candle will be key now. Can some traction begin to build from this support at 7250? The resistance at 7347 (October high) needs to be breached before the 7440 resistance can be eyed. The bulls will point to the hourly RSI again bouncing off 40 whilst hourly MACD and hourly Stochastics pull buy signals. Today’s session could be crucial as to whether this is another damp squib or not.