FTSE for Friday: things could get pretty messy
After hitting record highs this week, independent analyst Alistair Strang considers prospects for the UK blue-chip index on a day when key US data is normally published.
3rd October 2025 07:26
by Alistair Strang from Trends and Targets
We were quite chuffed with our FTSE 100 prediction last Friday, the index achieving our 9,351 points in the opening seconds of Monday. This solid 84-point gain was quite impressive.
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This Friday, things could get pretty messy. The US government is currently shut down with only a few folk working in their statistics department. The “First Friday of the Month” payroll figures hopefully will not be announced, as the alternative is someone’s best guess which will be wrong, causing mayhem in the weeks ahead when the correct figures come out.
As American job statistics invariably affect other markets, things risk being messy. Hopefully, the unexpected holiday shall gag any announcement, thanks to historical instances when estimates are used causing chaos.
Near-term for the FTSE, above 9,476 points has the potential for a lift to an initial 9,504 points, a number which appears graven in stone due to three quite different formula pointing at such an ambition.
Our secondary, if bettered, is a bit more vague at 9,560 points. If triggered, the tightest stop looks like 9,435 points but, overall, such a cycle risks finding itself attracted to 9,608 points and an almost certain ceiling.
Our converse scenario is a worry, due to it being a little obvious visually. Apparently below 9,400 points should promote reversals to an initial 9,329 points. Our secondary, with closure below such a point, works out at a profitable 9,171 points and a visually perfect level for a bounce.
Source: Trends and Targets. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
Alistair Strang has led high-profile and "top secret" software projects since the late 1970s and won the original John Logie Baird Award for inventors and innovators. After the financial crash, he wanted to know "how it worked" with a view to mimicking existing trading formulas and predicting what was coming next. His results speak for themselves as he continually refines the methodology.
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