Where to Spread Bet on Home Retail Group

You can trade on spread betting markets such as Home Retail Group with spread betting companies like:

• FinancialSpreads
• GFT
• CityIndex

To see which companies offer 24 hour trading, new account offers, stop losses and trading charts see Spread Betting Companies.

How to Spread Bet on Home Retail Group

If you decide to spread trade on UK shares like Home Retail Group then, on visiting a spread betting website like Financial Spreads on Friday, you may have seen a spread of 79.9p – 80.4p.

This means you could spread bet on Home Retail Group to increase higher than 80.4p or to decrease lower than 79.9p.

With shares spread betting, you bet on every unit the market moves up or down. With the Home Retail Group market a unit is 1p of the share’s price movement.

As an example, you might choose to bet £20 for every penny Home Retail Group goes up or down.

Buying – Spread Betting on the Market to Go Up

If you were to go long of Home Retail Group at 80.4p and the shares went up then the spread might become 84.4p – 84.9p. If so, you might want to close your trade for a profit by selling at 84.4p.

Profits (or Losses) = (settlement value of the market – opening value of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (84.4p – 80.4p) x £20 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = 4.0p x £20 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = £80.00 profit

The markets can of course fall, if the market had decreased to, for example, 75.6p – 76.1p, you may want to close your spread bet to limit your losses. If this were the case, you would sell the market at 75.6p.

So, with the same £20 per penny stake:

Profits (or Losses) = (settlement value of the market – opening value of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (75.6p – 80.4p) x £20 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = -4.8p x £20 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = -£96.00 loss

Selling – Spread Betting on the Market to Go Down

A key benefit of spread trading is that you can go short of the markets.

To start with, the spread betting price was 79.9p – 80.4p.

If you were to sell Home Retail Group at 79.9p and the shares fell then you might see the spread move to 75.8p – 76.3p. Assuming this was the case, you could close your bet for a profit by buying at 76.3p.

Profits (or Losses) = (opening value of the market – settlement value of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (79.9p – 76.3p) x £20 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = 3.6p x £20 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = £72.00 profit

Financial markets also move up, if the market had increased to 83.7p – 84.2p, you might decide to close your trade to prevent further losses. If that were to happen, you would buy the market at 84.2p.

With the same £20 per penny stake:

Profits (or Losses) = (opening value of the market – settlement value of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (79.9p – 84.2p) x £20 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = -4.3p x £20 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = -£86.00 loss

Home Retail Group Rolling Daily prices correct as of 04-May-12.

Spread Betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and you can lose more than your initial investment, it may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you only speculate with money that you can afford to lose and that you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Where to Spread Bet on Petropavlovsk

You can trade on spread betting markets such as Petropavlovsk with spread betting companies like:

• CapitalSpreads
• Spreadex
• CMC Markets

To see which companies offer 24 hour trading, new account offers, stop losses and trading charts see Spread Betting Companies.

How to Spread Bet on Petropavlovsk

Should you decide to spread trade on UK shares like Petropavlovsk then, on visiting a spread trading website like Financial Spreads on Friday, you may have seen a spread of 431.9p – 433.8p.

As a result, you could spread bet on Petropavlovsk to move higher than 433.8p or to move lower than 431.9p.

If you are spread trading, you trade on every unit the market rises or falls; for the Petropavlovsk market a unit is 1p of the share’s price movement.

So, you could choose to bet £10 for every penny Petropavlovsk increases or decreases.

Betting on the Market to Rise

If you were to buy Petropavlovsk at 433.8p and the shares rose then the spread could change to 444.6p – 446.5p. Therefore, you might want to close your bet for a profit by selling at 444.6p.

Profit/Loss = (final level of the market – initial level of the market) x stake per penny
Profit/Loss = (444.6p – 433.8p) x £10 per penny stake
Profit/Loss = 10.8p x £10 per penny
Profit/Loss = £108.00 profit

Financial markets also move down, if the market were to drop down to 421.7p – 423.6p, you might want to close your bet to restrict your losses. In that case, you would sell your trade at 421.7p.

You would close your bet with the same £10 per penny stake:

Profit/Loss = (final level of the market – initial level of the market) x stake per penny
Profit/Loss = (421.7p – 433.8p) x £10 per penny stake
Profit/Loss = -12.1p x £10 per penny
Profit/Loss = -£121.00 loss

Betting on the Market to Fall

A key advantage of placing a spread trade is that investors can short the markets.

To start with, the market was 431.9p – 433.8p.

If you were to go short of Petropavlovsk at 431.9p and the online spread betting market decreased then you might see the spread move to 421.4p – 423.3p. If that happened, you could decide to take your profits by closing your trade at 423.3p.

Profit/Loss = (initial level of the market – final level of the market) x stake per penny
Profit/Loss = (431.9p – 423.3p) x £10 per penny stake
Profit/Loss = 8.6p x £10 per penny
Profit/Loss = £86.00 profit

On the other hand, if the market had moved up to 439.7p – 441.6p, you may want to close your trade to prevent further losses. Assuming this was the case, you would buy your spread bet at 441.6p.

So, with the same £10 per penny stake:

Profit/Loss = (initial level of the market – final level of the market) x stake per penny
Profit/Loss = (431.9p – 441.6p) x £10 per penny stake
Profit/Loss = -9.7p x £10 per penny
Profit/Loss = -£97.00 loss

Petropavlovsk Rolling Daily spread betting prices taken as of 04-May-12.

Spread Betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and you can lose more than your initial investment, it may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you only speculate with money that you can afford to lose and that you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Where to Spread Bet on Imagination Technologies

You can trade on spread betting markets such as Imagination Technologies with spread betting companies like:

• Financial Spreads
• Spreadex
• City Index

To see which companies offer 24 hour trading, new account offers, stop losses and trading charts see Spread Betting Companies.

How to Spread Bet on Imagination Technologies

If you are going to spread bet on UK shares like Imagination Technologies then, on visiting a spread trading website like Capital Spreads on Friday, you may have seen a spread of 614.6p – 617.4p.

That means you can spread bet on Imagination Technologies to go above 617.4p or below 614.6p.

If you are spread betting, you bet on every unit the market moves up or down. Specifically, for the Imagination Technologies market a unit is 1p of the share’s price movement.

For example, you could decide to spread bet £3 for every penny Imagination Technologies goes up or down.

Spread Betting on the Market to Increase

If you were to go long of Imagination Technologies at 617.4p and the shares increased then the spread might become 648.3p – 651.1p. If that happened, you might choose to close your trade for a profit by selling at 648.3p.

Profit or Loss = (closing value of the market – initial value of the market) x stake per penny
Profit or Loss = (648.3p – 617.4p) x £3 per penny stake
Profit or Loss = 30.9p x £3 per penny
Profit or Loss = £92.70 profit

Nevertheless, if the market had decreased to, as an example, 589.6p – 592.4p, you may want to close your bet to restrict your losses. If so, you would sell your trade at 589.6p.

With the same £3 per penny stake:

Profit or Loss = (closing value of the market – initial value of the market) x stake per penny
Profit or Loss = (589.6p – 617.4p) x £3 per penny stake
Profit or Loss = -27.8p x £3 per penny
Profit or Loss = -£83.40 loss

Spread Betting on the Market to Decrease

One useful benefit of placing a spread trade is that investors can sell the markets.

The initial spread betting price was 614.6p – 617.4p.

If you were to go short of Imagination Technologies at 614.6p and the shares decreased then the spread could become 573.4p – 576.2p. Assuming this was the case, you could close your trade for a profit by buying at 576.2p.

Profit or Loss = (initial value of the market – closing value of the market) x stake per penny
Profit or Loss = (614.6p – 576.2p) x £3 per penny stake
Profit or Loss = 38.4p x £3 per penny
Profit or Loss = £115.20 profit

The markets can of course rise, if the market were to rise to, for example, 646.4p – 649.2p, you might decide to close your trade to prevent further losses. If that were to happen, you would buy at 649.2p.

Therefore, with the same £3 per penny stake:

Profit or Loss = (initial value of the market – closing value of the market) x stake per penny
Profit or Loss = (614.6p – 649.2p) x £3 per penny stake
Profit or Loss = -34.6p x £3 per penny
Profit or Loss = -£103.80 loss

Imagination Technologies Rolling Daily market taken as of 04-May-12.

Spread Betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and you can lose more than your initial investment, it may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you only speculate with money that you can afford to lose and that you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

So, a very calm Asian session has done little to rock the European open, and it looks as though downside will be seen across the board ahead of some major event risk.

With non-farms and the Greek elections at the forefront of traders’ minds, investment managers are also starting to think seriously about the upcoming Facebook road show, with the sceptics becoming more and more prominent.

With talk the valuation could be $100 billion, a simple comparison with Google has been drawn where it has half the market cap and at the same time, one tenth of the top line. It does seem that it needs to priced right or hedge funds will have a field day trading on the short side.

Equity bulls, regardless of whether they plan to take part, will hope it goes away as well, as the float has the premise to influence sentiment.

It is worth pointing out that while Sunday may be better known for the Greek and French elections, the perigee moon on Sunday will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon.

Effectively when the moon reaches perigee it is the closest to the earth and has its strongest effect over human emotion, apparently making them restless, nervous and agitated. It sounds like nonsense, but previous perigee moons have coincided with big moves in risk assets. The fact it falls on the same day as the Greek election could be fate!

Volatility has been non-existent in Asian trade, seen front and centre in EUR/USD which has traded in a 19-point range, with S&P futures completely unchanged.

Traders are still coming to terms with ECB president Mario Draghi, who disappointed some who were hoping he would acknowledge the weakness in manufacturing and other data points and indicate easing at a future meeting.

However, he did leave the door open for cuts if its growth outlook proves too optimistic.

Mr Draghi stressed the impact of the LTRO (long-term refinancing operation) is not fading away, suggesting we will not see a third round of liquidity injections anytime soon, while also saying that the ECB ‘did not discuss any specific move in interest rates’.

It appears the ECB’s baseline scenario has not changed, and it continues to foresee a ‘gradual recovery in the course of the year’, while the Central Bank still feels that monetary policy remains accommodative.

Given the uptick in EUR/USD, it seems the FX spread betting market was positioned for more dovish narrative.

Still, the leading indicators such as the new orders component in the recent PMI’s suggest further downside going forward, so don’t fully rule out further measures by the Central Bank.

Today’s non-farm jobs lottery is the key highlight in the US session, and while consensus is calling for an improvement from the March print, with 160,000 jobs created, the analysts’ opinions are ranging from 89,000 to 210,000.

Given the ADP payrolls report, uptick in the initial claims and lower pace of hiring seen in the ISM services manufacturing report, expectations are low, so it appears the market is probably positioned for a number just north of 100,000.

It is fair to say we will see a pretty subdued trade going into the report, however, even when we do see the payrolls report, traders then need to position themselves for the weekend drama, with the Greek elections the major event risk.

Polls suggest the current coalition (Pasok and the New Democracy party) may have a tough time getting the required votes to keep the austerity regime going, so any uncertainty caused by a failure to achieve majority will certainly cause risk to be paired back on Monday.

In shares spread betting, BNP Paribas reported Q1 net income of €2.87 billion (+9.6 percent) versus consensus of €2.933 billion and revenue of €9.89 billion, which also looks a touch below expectations.

RBS release Q1 2012 results, with adjusted profit before tax expected to be around ₤662 million, and if you include non-operating items, £193 million.

Obviously the financials are important, but traders will be keen to assess both the performance and outlook of the new markets division. The stock is still up 21 percent, despite its pullback from ₤30 and trades on a pretty undemanding PE.

Ahead of the open we are calling the FTSE at 5547 -21, the DAX at 6663 -31, the CAC at 3206 -17 and the IBEX at 6829 -22.

 
Contracts for differences (“CFD”) trading and spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital with the possibility of losing more than your initial investment and may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent advice if necessary.
 
Market Commentary by IG Index.
 
This material should not be construed in any circumstances as a recommendation or offer to sell or recommendation or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument by IG Index or Online-Spread-Betting.com, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. The material is not a personal recommendation and you should seek independent advice as to your suitability to speculate in any related markets..
 
IG Index is a spread betting provider and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, register number 114059.

Yesterday saw European and US shares spread betting markets lose ground, as Spanish banking downgrades, confirmation of a Spanish recession and some softer-than-expected US economic data all weighed on investor sentiment.

In-line with expectations, Spain slipped back into a recession, with Q1 GDP contracting by 0.3 percent, marginally better than the 0.4 percent expected.

In a rare piece of good news for Spain, Moody’s announced that Spain’s new fiscal consolidation measures are credit positive for the sovereign, however, this opinion would appear to contrast with that of S&P, which downgraded Spain two notches late last week.

Yesterday, S&P also saw fit to downgrade 16 of Spain’s largest banks, essentially as a direct result of the sovereign downgrade.

Also exerting downwards pressure on European equities was Germany appearing to back away from earlier suggestions of complementing fiscal austerity and economic reforms with a growth agenda.

Responding to the popular support towards including a growth component in the fiscal compact, German Finance Minister Schauble reiterated that the Eurozone must stick to an austerity-led recovery plan and that the discussion about growth ’shouldn’t be understood as a change in direction’.

Mr Schauble’s comments follow similar remarks from Angela Merkel, who said that there is no conflict between ’a solid budget policy and investing in the future’.

Risk aversion was also evident after some softer-than-expected economic data added to recent evidence that the US economy is cooling.

Coming on the back of last week’s Q1 GDP print of 2.2 percent (down from 3 percent in Q4), Chicago PMI data and consumer spending were significantly weaker than consensus estimates.

Ahead of the European open we’re calling the FTSE +7 at 5744, the DAX +27 at 6788 and the CAC +14 at 3226.

 
Contracts for differences (“CFD”) trading and spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital with the possibility of losing more than your initial investment and may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent advice if necessary.
 
Market Commentary by IG Index.
 
This material should not be construed in any circumstances as a recommendation or offer to sell or recommendation or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument by IG Index or Online-Spread-Betting.com, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. The material is not a personal recommendation and you should seek independent advice as to your suitability to speculate in any related markets..
 
IG Index is a spread betting provider and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, register number 114059.

Where to Spread Bet on ARM Holdings

You can trade on spread betting markets such as ARM Holdings with spread betting companies like:

• Financial Spreads
• GFT
• CMC Markets

To see which companies offer 24 hour trading, new account offers, stop losses and trading charts see Spread Betting Companies.

How to Spread Bet on ARM Holdings

Should you decide to spread trade on UK shares like ARM Holdings then, on visiting a spread betting website like Capital Spreads on Friday, you may have seen a spread of 540.7p – 542.3p.

That means you could spread trade on ARM Holdings to go higher than 542.3p or to go lower than 540.7p.

With spread betting, investors bet on every unit the market moves up or down; specifically, for the ARM Holdings market a unit is 1p of the share’s price movement.

So, you could decide to spread bet £5 for every penny ARM Holdings goes up or down.

Betting on the Market to Move Up

If you were to buy ARM Holdings at 542.3p and the shares rose then the market might be re-priced at 564.0p – 565.6p. If so, you could close your trade for a profit, if so you would sell at 564.0p.

Profits (or Losses) = (closing price of the market – initial price of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (564.0p – 542.3p) x £5 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = 21.7p x £5 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = £108.50 profit

Conversely, if the shares spread betting market decreased to 524.1p – 525.7p, you might decide to close your bet to prevent further losses. If that happened, you would sell the market at 524.1p.

Therefore, with the same £5 per penny stake:

Profits (or Losses) = (closing price of the market – initial price of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (524.1p – 542.3p) x £5 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = -18.2p x £5 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = -£91.00 loss

Betting on the Market to Move Down

One of the many advantages of spread trading is that investors can go short of the markets.

At the start of the example, the market was 540.7p – 542.3p.

If you were to go short of ARM Holdings at 540.7p and the shares went down then you might see the spread move to 512.1p – 513.7p. In that case, you might decide to close your spread bet for a profit at 513.7p.

Profits (or Losses) = (initial price of the market – closing price of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (540.7p – 513.7p) x £5 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = 27.0p x £5 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = £135.00 profit

Markets can also rise, if the market were to rise up to, for example, 561.7p – 563.3p, you might decide to close your trade to prevent further losses. Assuming this was the case, you would buy back at 563.3p.

With the same £5 per penny stake:

Profits (or Losses) = (initial price of the market – closing price of the market) x stake per penny
Profits (or Losses) = (540.7p – 563.3p) x £5 per penny stake
Profits (or Losses) = -22.6p x £5 per penny
Profits (or Losses) = -£113.00 loss

ARM Holdings Rolling Daily spread betting market taken as of 27-Apr-12.

Spread Betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and you can lose more than your initial investment, it may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you only speculate with money that you can afford to lose and that you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Where to Spread Bet on Amazon

You can trade on spread betting markets such as Amazon with spread betting companies like:

• Capital Spreads
• GFT
• CityIndex

To see which companies offer 24 hour trading, new account offers, stop losses and trading charts see Spread Betting Companies.

How to Spread Bet on Amazon

If you are going to spread bet on US shares like Amazon then, looking at a spread betting website like Financial Spreads on Friday, you may have seen a spread of $225.30 – $225.73.

This means you can spread trade on Amazon to go above $225.73 or below $225.30.

When spread trading, investors bet on every unit the market increases or decreases. In the case of the Amazon market a unit is $0.01 of the share’s price movement.

With this example, you might decide to trade £1 for every cent Amazon rises or falls.

Buying – Spread Betting on the Market to Move Up

If you were to buy Amazon at $225.73 and the shares rose then the spread might change to $227.14 – $227.57. If so, you might choose to close your spread bet for a profit by selling at $227.14.

P&L = (settlement value of the market – opening value of the market) x stake per cent
P&L = ($227.14 – $225.73) x £1 per cent stake
P&L = $1.41 x £1 per cent
P&L = £141 profit

On the other hand, if the market had moved down to $224.44 – $224.87, you might want to close your bet to limit your losses. If this were the case, you would sell back at $224.44.

You would do this with the same £1 per cent stake:

P&L = (settlement value of the market – opening value of the market) x stake per cent
P&L = ($224.44 – $225.73) x £1 per cent stake
P&L = -$1.29 x £1 per cent
P&L = -£129 loss

Selling – Spread Betting on the Market to Move Down

An advantage of spread betting is that you can short the markets.

The initial spread betting price was $225.30 – $225.73.

If you were to go short of Amazon at $225.30 and the shares fell then the spread could change to $223.60 – $224.03. If that happened, you might decide to take your profits by closing your spread bet at $224.03.

P&L = (opening value of the market – settlement value of the market) x stake per cent
P&L = ($225.30 – $224.03) x £1 per cent stake
P&L = $1.27 x £1 per cent
P&L = £127 profit

However, if the market had moved up to, as an example, $226.03 – $226.46, you may decide to close your spread bet to prevent further losses. In that case, you would buy your spread bet at $226.46.

Therefore, with the same £1 per cent stake:

P&L = (opening value of the market – settlement value of the market) x stake per cent
P&L = ($225.30 – $226.46) x £1 per cent stake
P&L = -$1.16 x £1 per cent
P&L = -£116 loss

Amazon Rolling Daily prices quoted as of 27-Apr-12.

Spread Betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and you can lose more than your initial investment, it may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you only speculate with money that you can afford to lose and that you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

European and US markets (with the exception of the CAC) were again convincingly stronger yesterday.

Throughout the session, equities, risk currencies and commodities were broadly higher, carrying on the momentum established in the previous session, courtesy of supportive words from the Fed and a string of better-than-expected corporate earnings.

While a rise in the four-week moving average in US jobless claims was somewhat disconcerting, a 4.1% jump in pending home sales served to offset this, allowing equities to continue to push back up towards their recent four-year highs.

S&P Downgrade Spain

However, about an hour after the close of US trade the buoyant sentiment of recent days took a bit of a hit when S&P downgraded Spain by two notches from A to BBB+, with outlook negative.

The agency warned that the country’s ‘budget trajectory will likely deteriorate’ against a background of economic contraction, and at the same time there was an increasing likelihood that Spain’s government would need to provide further fiscal support to the banking sector.

The downgrade should not have come as any real surprise, given Spain was put on outlook negative on January 13.

Moreover, it has caused some risk aversion yet online spread betting investors are still favouring yield stocks because of anticipated domestic interest rate cuts in the wake of lower-than-expected CPI data this week.

Shares Spread Betting

Telstra is up 0.9% and Commonwealth Bank is 0.4% higher, while BHP is up just 0.3% despite a 1.1% rise in its ADRs equivalent.

Macquarie is 1.4% higher after confirming regulatory approval for a buyback, while reporting a fiscal 2012 net profit of $730 million versus $726 million consensus.

But JB Hi-Fi is down 4.8% after warning that it expects fiscal 2012 net profit to fall 8.8% to $100 million-$105 million as discounting hits margins. It really does highlight the need for a rate cut next week.

The S&P/ASX 200 is now flat at 4374.

Macquarie Group Report Profit Slump

Macquarie Group reported a 24% drop in annual profit that met market expectations and continued to reduce its headcount amid subdued activity in global markets. Australia’s biggest investment bank said net profit for the year ended March 31 fell to $730 million Australian dollars, down from $956 million in the previous year.

The result was broadly in line with analyst forecasts and ahead of Macquarie’s guidance in February, when it forecast a 25% fall in profit to around $717 million due to poor results at its securities-trading and investment-banking businesses.

Macquarie said it expects to achieve a better result in the current financial year, so long as market conditions ‘are not worse than those experienced over the last 12 months’. The company declared a final dividend of 75 cents per share, down from $1.00 a year earlier.

FX Spread Betting

USD/JPY fell to a session low of 80.66 on a report from the Nikkei newspaper (Japan) that the BoJ are unlikely to take significant steps at today’s Central Bank meeting.

The 4.1% pick up in US pending home sales saw buyers step in and push the FX spread betting pair above the 81.0 handle, but upside in the short term may be capped by the downtrend resistance drawn from the March 21 high at 81.52.

A closing break above here would suggest further gains to come. Today is all about the BoJ meeting and later on US Q1 GDP (expected to gain 2.5%), although the market seems to have a fair idea of what to expect.

 
Contracts for differences (“CFD”) trading and spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital with the possibility of losing more than your initial investment and may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent advice if necessary.
 
Market Commentary by IG Index.
 
This material should not be construed in any circumstances as a recommendation or offer to sell or recommendation or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument by IG Index or Online-Spread-Betting.com, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. The material is not a personal recommendation and you should seek independent advice as to your suitability to speculate in any related markets..
 
IG Index is a spread betting provider and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, register number 114059.

European and US financial spread betting markets were convincingly higher yesterday, as positive US earnings and the Fed’s pledge to continue to support the US economic recovery trumped ongoing fears over the European debt crisis.

There appears to be a growing feeling that all of Europe’s ‘skeletons’ are now out of the closet with there being a reluctant acceptance that Europe is going to be a basket case for many years to come. It’s now just a matter of managing the situation and learning to live with it.

European equities managed to rally despite French Socialist Presidential candidate Francois Hollande saying that France won’t ratify the European agreement in its current form and that ’there will be a re-negotiation,’ if he wins the presidential elections.

Despite the ongoing circus in Europe (part of the ‘new normal’), risk appetite prevailed after Apple’s blow-out earnings and the Fed’s implied market backstop sparked a rush into equities, risk currencies and commodities.

Essentially, the Fed said ‘we’ve got a loaded gun, we’re prepared to use it, but at this stage we don’t think we’ll have to’. This is a ‘goldilocks’ scenario for the market.

Turning to today’s session, we have a few economic data releases to set the ‘sentiment gauge’ for the day ahead – UK consumer confidence, German CPI and US employment claims.

This data will be punctuated with earnings from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chrysler, ExxonMobil, Barclays, Amazon and Starbucks.

Ahead of the European open, we’re calling the FTSE +6 at 5725, the DAX -5 at 6700 and the CAC +2 at 3235.

 
Contracts for differences (“CFD”) trading and spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital with the possibility of losing more than your initial investment and may not be suitable for all investors. Ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent advice if necessary.
 
Market Commentary by IG Index.
 
This material should not be construed in any circumstances as a recommendation or offer to sell or recommendation or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument by IG Index or Online-Spread-Betting.com, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. The material is not a personal recommendation and you should seek independent advice as to your suitability to speculate in any related markets..
 
IG Index is a spread betting provider and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, register number 114059.

Global markets once again succumbed to ‘risk on/risk off’ trade as strong US earnings and a decent Dutch auction calmed some anxiety towards Europe.

However, these are markets which just don’t seem to want to trend in either direction. One gets the sense of frustration, given there isn’t much in the price action to encourage momentum traders, whilst value traders aren’t seeing much of a pullback either.

The upcoming US session will be closely watched and the event risk could see volatility spike. The NASDAQ spread betting index is currently up 1.4% and looks nicely supported by Apple, which, given its 7% gain in the post-market, looks set to fly as once again its conservative guidance was predictably smashed.

Certainly shareholders can’t complain about gross margins of 47.4% and EPS of $12.30 (a meagre 22% above consensus). Whilst Apple guided to a lower EPS of $8.68 in Q3, the market still expects it to earn around $9.93, and sees the guidance as a mere throwaway comment.

Apple is still cheap and has a number of key catalysts going into the end of year, so it is never going to see the bears shorting the stock for long, and pullbacks should be nicely supported.

 
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Market Commentary by IG Index.
 
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