Morning Call by Greg Secker

The FTSE 100 closed down just 2 points yesterday on an interesting day of announcements. The Interest Rate is now at 1.5%, the lowest level in the Banks 315 year history. The double bottom is still unconfirmed as the price action falls away from the 4,650 level. Today will be interesting with Non-Farm Payroll. The Dow opened the day very quietly and traded sideways throughout the session. The index eventually closed the day within a very tight consolidation with a loss of 27 points and remains well below the major 9,000 level. The Dow is now approaching a clear lower trend line at 8,600 which has paced the overall advance from the lows at 7,500. If the 8,600 level is crossed we could easily see another drop back towards support at 8,370. Should the Dow remain above 8,600, look for more range-type movement between 8,600 and 9,100 until major direction is decided out of this range. Wall Street was down for much of the session after a profit warning from retailer Wal-Mart intensified fears that consumers are even worse off than thought. Their reluctance to spend could make it harder for the US to recover from the recession. Here the Manufacturing Production and PPI are due for release at 9.30 this morning. Manufacturing Production is the total inflation-adjusted value of manufacturing output. The PPI is the change in price of goods and raw materials purchased by manufacturers. If the actual result is greater than the forecast for both sets of figures then this is good for the currency. At 12.00 noon today unemployment change, housing starts, building permits in Canada are to be released. Then at 13.30 its Non-Farm Payroll. The forecast is a loss of 520,000 jobs.