Morning Call by Traders University

The FTSE 100 closed up 127 points on Friday after a rally on Wall Street. The index pushed significantly higher than Thursday’s highs as the banking sector did well. Barclays was up 4.5 per cent, Lloyds was up 3.9 percent and HSBC went up 2.1 per cent. The index eventually closed at 4155, giving strong bullish signals as the price barged through the long term trend line. In Wall Street on Friday Investors set aside some of their worries about banks and the economy, The Dow ended its seventh straight “up” week Friday with a gain. Also on Friday the Federal Reserve report was light on details, but didn’t bring any bad news. Investors were also pleased about quarterly results from Ford Motor Co., American Express Co. and Microsoft Corp. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 119 or 1.5 percent, to 8,076. In Forex the Euro rose against the USD on Friday as improved business sentiment in Germany fuelled hopes the euro-zone may already have seen the worst of the recession. The dollar also came under pressure due to increased risk appetite following the rising stock market. There are no major data releases due today, but several over the next few days.