Please find below the Financial Fixed Odds report from David Evans, market analyst at BetOnMarkets.

Fears over swine flu look to be subsiding with the majority of fatalities confined to Mexico so far. Of more concern to markets are the results of the stress test on US banks, early reports indicate that Citigroup and Bank of America may be forced to raise more capital in order to shore up their balance sheets.

It is thought that the results of the stress could have implications for UK banks and if today’s market movements are anything to go by, RBS could be the most vulnerable. Stress test speculation hit markets hard this morning, but they have been recovering throughout the day. Even Citigroup and Bank of America are managing an attempting at closing their opening gap down.

Adding to the positive sentiment are perceived signs of a slowing of the US housing slump. According to the latest Case-Shiller House Price Index, February was the first month since October 2007 when the 10 and 20 city composite didn’t post a record annual decline. The 10 city composite is still down by over a third from its peak, with prices returning to Q3 2003 levels.

There has been volatile trading amongst oil stocks as BP announced a 60% dip in profits. As drastic as these numbers were, they were not as bad as they could have been.

Oil is trading around the $50 marker today. Many people talk of gold as a safe haven asset, but it appears investors are feeling safe enough at the moment with gold falling hard over the last couple of days.

Gold has had plenty of chances to come to the fore of late, but so far it been lacklustre since touching $1000 in February.

Gold Fixed Odds Trade

A barrier range trade predicting that gold won’t touch either $835 or $975 in the next 35 days could return 111%.

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