Morning Call by Traders University

The FTSE 100 broke it’s long term trend line closing up on Friday at 4092, and could be heading for a test of 4300. The move up was ignited by the banks as Citigroup announced positive earnings. Among the biggest gainers were Lloyds rising 16.6% followed by RBS rising 14.3%. Wall Street found enough in the latest earnings reports on Friday to keep its six-week rally alive. Stocks ended yet another week with a modest advance as earnings from Citigroup Inc and General Electric Co came in ahead of the market’s deficient expectations. Stocks fluctuated much of the day to end with slight gains. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.9, or 0.1 per cent, to 8,131.33. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 4.3, or 0.5 per cent, to 869.6, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.63, or 0.2 per cent, to 1,673.07. In Forex, the US dollar rose to a one month high against the euro on Friday after comments by the European Central Bank chief failed to allay uncertainty about the banks future policy direction. The dollar was also boosted by a slight rise in risk aversion despite better than expected earnings from Citigroup and General Electric and investors reassessed the sustainability of the recent upbeat results. In data releases overnight saw the AUD PPI q/q released with a slightly worse result than expected. No other major data releases due today.