Morning Call by Greg Secker

With a slight opening rise on the close of the day before the Dow gave in to the weakness that has been the hallmark of recent trading. With only five closes beating the open in the last four weeks, the drop of 236 points by the finish of the session further fuelled speculation of a breakout possibility from the consolidation channel of recent weeks. The fall reversed the gains of the day before and indications are that a further fall at the open may find support at the bottom of the channel then find strength to retrace in the early part of the session. The NASDAQ and the S&P continue in their recent trends and their worsening, will fuel further weakness on the Dow. At the Close the FTSE was up 89.1 at 5529.6 but after the drop of the Dow and other Eastern markets the open today is called down on yesterday’s Close. With Mervyn King, Governor of The Bank of England, expected to retain the interest rate at 5.00% level (12 noon, British Summer Time) for a fourth month in a row, the markets response is expected to be muted (notwithstanding the type of move and retracement we have seen recently at the break of news on a short time frame, with the market makers attempting to profit from others overreactions) Oil is currently $135.710 and gold $929.200.