THE TIPSTER
IT is a busy week this week for retailers with Tesco and several others updating the markets with their latest trading statements. Tesco has been wobbling like an errant trolley between 355p and 385p for nearly two months now. Until this range is broken, look to sell at the top and buy at the bottom. Every little helps as they say. SpreadCo offers a spread on Tesco of 377.1p-377.8p.
Trade supplier Wolseley submits year results tomorrow, with analysts predicting an upturn in fortunes for the firm, which has been hit hard by the economic downturn of the past three years. The company may have been feeling the heat as it plumbed the depths of £14 a share recently, although the price traded up towards £16 on Friday. Spreadex has a Wolseley rolling contract with a spread of 1583.40p-1588.60p.
Copper has seen a real slowdown in demand since the turn of the month, and the metal has taken its biggest tinning since the start of the global recession. Traders are nervously anticipating PMI figures coming out of China on Saturday, as the region is a big metals consumer and the numbers could give some indication as to the short term future of copper. Capital Spreads quotes December Copper at 3.2430-3.2470.
The banking sector is bracing itself for a torrid time in the months that lie ahead. Funding challenges seem likely to surface, pushing up costs and hitting liquidity too, in turn casting a shadow across the board. Even Standard Chartered – which makes most of its profits in Asia – is losing ground, in a move that once again emphasises the global nature of the problems the market is once again facing. IG Index quotes Standard Chartered at 1278.7p-1282.3p.