Greater London, England -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/15/2010 -- Joshua Raymond, Market Strategist of spread betting provider City Index, gives his overview of the financial markets for 3rd September 2010
Joshua Raymond, Market Strategist, City Index commented:
“As expected we have seen minimal trading activity this morning ahead of the all important US labour data.
We have seen the markets edge higher and clearly the resilience shown in the FTSE over the last week or so, where the market has rallied for 6 straight days, has restored some elements of confidence in investors after a poor months trading in August.
That said, all traders have their eyes on today’s nonfarm payroll data and there is a sense that with the FTSE near resistance levels where we have seen sellers come in before since May, we could head significantly lower should a bad figure come out. The worry is that with September historically a bad month for equities, if we get a really bad number it could lock in a bearish month ahead.
On the flip side to that argument is the fact that this week has so far proved to be a much more positive for economic data and with expectations already very low after recent comments from Ben Bernanke indicated that the US recovery was slowing quicker than expected, there is every chance that investors could view any in line numbers as a positive.
The market is expecting a loss of 100,000 nonfarm payrolls whilst there will also be a large focus on private payrolls which some consider being a better health check of the US labour market. A strengthening labour market will be key to driving recovery efforts in the US and globally which is why today’s jobs data, particularly in light of fears of a double dip, is so important for traders. I would expect that the numbers could add a degree of volatility to trading as we approach the close.
The banks and miners are leading the charge higher for European Indices yet again today with Barclays the top bank performer. Autonomy maintains its place near the top of the FTSE 100 leader board on continued bid speculation from Microsoft or oracle. Its shares have now rallied 15% this week alone.”
For more on the spread betting markets, please visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/spread-betting/spread-bet-markets.aspx
About City Index
Today more and more individual traders are discovering the benefits of derivatives, and many of them are discovering them through a City Index trading platform.
As a group, we transact in excess of 1.5 million trades every month for individuals in over 50 countries worldwide. We provide access to a wide range of instruments including margined foreign exchange, contracts for differences (CFDs) and, in the UK, spread betting.
We constantly look to widen the range of assets we offer, improve the performance of our platforms and expand the range of services we provide. The result is that our customers benefit from innovative trading tools with transparent pricing, competitive spreads, and a high standard of customer service and support.