Not Enough Job Losses To Hurt The UK Stock Market

An appetite for risk is back on the table with high-flying equities and even buying of the Euro.

Boy, I’ve had a busy day; fitting in an annual visit to the dentist, a quick gym session and coping with a moody computer, as well as trading FTSE (^FTSE), GBP/USD, EUR/USD, EUR/GBP and even GBP/JPY. Not everything worked, or is working, but yesterday’s long bet on GBP/USD continued to give me a warm glow, just like the nuclear Scots porridge adverts.

Luckily I was too busy to interfere with my GBP/USD trade, which allowed it to keep pushing ever closer to that $1.50 level. I moved the stop loss up to a still cautious $1.4580, just below today’s low point; that will guarantee me a £600+ profit, but hopefully leave enough breathing space to push further ahead. Unless anything mad happens in the next few hours the price should end the week above its 50-day moving average.

I shorted the Euro several times today, against both the Dollar and Sterling. It’s been making me money but my last attempt, a £3 short on EURGBP is in the red. This was a trade too far, as often happens when I trade a range. I sold at £0.8718 then watched the mother of all squeezes up to £0.8790.

If I’d had the nerve to double up at that level I’d be quids in now, but one of my trading disciplines is to not increase a losing trade (yeah, I break that one if it’s a strong long-term view on the FTSE, but not on currency trades, oh no.) At the time of writing I’m only a few pips offside and need to consider whether to carry it over the weekend. Hmmm.

Of course, the trade that’s very wrong at the moment is my FTSE short bet. I tried to mitigate it by buying a £2 long bet this afternoon, but it just didn’t feel comfortable. After paying 4292 I gratefully accepted 4309 for £1 and, with the price at 4330, brought my stop up to 4302; this was subsequently hit. It sort of feels like FTSE could move higher; it’s hit a new high for the past 4 days. But I’d feel sick as the proverbial parrot if I closed my short up here, only to see a 300-point collapse, followed by a more serious 300-500 points!

And on that note I’m off to register my fantasy rugby team just in time for the weekend’s fun and games. Ireland at home to France must be the game of the weekend, unless the sweaties can surprise a confident Welsh team.

Have a good weekend.

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