FTSE for Friday: will the UK market finally wake up?
With the prospect of many American traders extending their Thanksgiving holiday into Friday, independent analyst Alistair Strang assesses the potential impact on UK stocks. Here are his latest forecasts.
24th November 2023 07:39
by Alistair Strang from Trends and Targets
Obviously, turkeys are to blame for our grumble this week, with the US enjoying a holiday yesterday. It’s an odd occasion, one which is capable of ruining the markets in the run up, as very little realistic tends to happen.
This year, nowhere has this been more true than the FTSE 100, the UK index spending the last five sessions pivoting marginally above 7,488 points. With the UK closing Thursday at 7,484, perhaps it was with the assumption things shall burst into life once American investors return.
Alas, this is rarely true as the day of sales on Black Friday has also become an unofficial holiday, giving little expectation of the UK market suddenly springing into life.
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It is certainly now the case where the market potentials are becoming quite interesting as the FTSE 100 now needs to exceed just 7,499 points to hopefully trigger index recovery to an initial 7,566 points with our secondary, if exceeded, calculating at an amazing 7,700 points. If triggered, the tightest stop loss level looks like 7,449 points.
Our alternate scenario, if things are to remain “parked” until Monday allows weakness below 7,444 to drive reversal down to an initial 7,378 points with secondary, if broken, at 7,274 points.
We’re obviously being a little cynical due to the usual effect of Black Friday, but perhaps this year shall discover some good news capable of putting a positive spin on the markets.
Have a good weekend.
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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