Interactive Investor

Where next for Pfizer and FTSE 100?

The drug maker and the City index have shown strong movements. Our chartist see if this can be sustained.

13th November 2020 09:40

Alistair Strang from Trends and Targets

The drug maker and the City index have shown strong movements. Our chartist see if this can be sustained.

FTSE for FRIDAY & Pfizer again (FTSE:UKX) 

Every time it feels like the Covid-19 days are easing, something new comes along and bites back. 

Today, a routine visit to the hospital went pretty badly wrong, thanks to a bad head cold. 

As someone already with a compromised immune system, considerable effort has been made this year to remain healthy, but at the hospital reception desk, everyone became quite animated when I admitted I'd coughed a few times.

Suddenly in an isolation room, a nurse attached plumbing pipework to my arm to take bloods. This device, known as a cannula, always provokes a sinking feeling as it's clear more than one tube of blood is intended in the hours ahead. 

In fact, it's always a surprise old vampire movies didn't feature this gadget as it provides easy, on-demand blood. The hospital staff didn't mess around with the potential risk presented, refusing to relax until results came back from the lab, my chest stethoscoped, and a chest X-ray just for good measure. 

My explanation of the current chemotherapy regime tending to exaggerate everything was certainly heeded but ignored, the nurses preferring a sensible 'better safe than sorry' approach.

Unsurprisingly, this is all rather pertinent to the FTSE 100! Nerves remain present in the world.

The first nine sessions of this month proved remarkably positive with only 12 November showing some (very slight) hesitation. But it's easy to fear things suddenly going horribly wrong, should the pandemic come around to bite again.

 A worrying feature remains Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) share price, starting this week with some extremely strong movements. Unfortunately, aside from the opening movement on Monday, the share price has declined daily, now looking like it intends to bottom at $35 (£26.63). 

Somehow or other, we'd hoped a company capable of issuing ‘we've saved the world’ news would perform with greater aplomb than displayed?

Source: Trends and Targets      Past performance is not a guide to future performance

FTSE for Friday

We're inclined to take this lack of lustre as a warning, as perhaps the FTSE 100 itself risks losing some of its recent shine. But before we sink into misery there's an important detail worthy of consideration. 

The FTSE needs to slip below 5,890 points to justify headless chicken mode. At present, nothing calculates with this risk.

Near-term, we shall be mildly concerned if the UK market meanders below 6,261 points as this calculates with a reversal potential of 6,216 points initially. 

If broken, our secondary longer-term number works out at 6,071 points and hopefully a bounce. Unfortunately, if this scenario triggers, the tightest stop level is quite absurd at 6,350 points.

More likely, it feels like movement anytime soon above 6,404 points should provoke FTSE growth toward 6,506 points initially with secondary, if exceeded, calculating at 6,560 points. 

Visually we'd anticipate some hesitation around the 6,500 level.

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.

Alistair Strang is a freelance contributor and not a direct employee of Interactive Investor. All correspondence is with Alistair Strang, who for these purposes is deemed a third-party supplier. Buying, selling and investing in shares is not without risk. Market and company movement will affect your performance and you may get back less than you invest. Neither Alistair Strang or Interactive Investor will be responsible for any losses that may be incurred as a result of following a trading idea. 

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