Trading

BlackRock, the world’s largest fund company, will rely on robots to do its stockpicking. The $5.1 trillion asset manager announced on Tuesday that they will be restructuring the business to offer cheaper quantitative stock funds driven by computer models.

The change impacts about $30 billion in assets under management, including $30 million in annual fee-related dollars, says Jefferies analyst Daniel Fannon. Fannon says that while the scale of the reorganization is surprising, the change makes sense in the context of the firm’s struggle to draw active stock assets. This means that traditional stock-pickers will be replaced, with reports indicating that 40 jobs are on the line in the shake-up, with Blackrock earmarking $25 million in severance and bonuses to those affected.

The economic outlook is bright enough to warrant a pro risk investment stance. Our overweight equities/ underweight duration seems consistent with a firming of global growth and an unwinding of prior deflation fear.

During the first half of Tuesday’s trading session the New Zealand Dollar remained near the previous closing price of 0.7050 against the US Dollar. The currency exchange rate was prepped up by the 20-day SMA, which was located at the 0.7049 level and the lower trend line of a rather week medium term ascending channel pattern at the 0.7035 level. It is highly possible that the currency exchange rate will surge by the end of the day’s trading, as the closest resistance level is located at 0.7082, where the weekly R1 is located at. However, a break of the resistance is unlikely, as the weekly R1 is strengthened by the monthly S1 at the 0.7090 level.

The economic outlook is bright enough to warrant a pro risk investment stance. Our overweight equities/ underweight duration seems consistent with a firming of global growth and an unwinding of prior deflation fear.

What could derail the recent rally of risky assets ?

Europe Political Risk: A Le Pen victory in France cannot be ruled out even if odds are slim. It would undermine European political cohesion (weak as it is), and would impose a larger risk premium on euro-denominated assets. A Macron victory would signal diminishing political risk in Europe, as the French and German leadership would be committed to supporting the European Union and the single currency. We underweight French sovereign and financial assets in search for clarity.

Richard W. Schabacker, financial editor of Forbes Magazine with previous experiences at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at the Standard Statistic Company (today Standard & Poor’s), wrote three important books (1) on how financial market works. He described the first price models (patterns) that can be identified on charts, to better understand the sequence of underlying psychological relationships between buyers and sellers.

Hence is the psychological aspect that drives in many situations the movement of market prices. Professor Lo of MIT, is the author of a theory related to financial markets that combines the rational aspect with the psychological aspect (2).

In this article, the "person Pivot Indicator" is presented in detail – a powerful tool that is based on the classic Pivot Points Analysis. Unlike the classic Pivots of floor-traders, the "person-Pivot" contains a filter element that defines automatically at which stage the market is in.

The Swiss Market Index, the most important basket of Swiss blue-chips, is often considered a value-investment, not only for the traditional role of Switzerland as a safe-haven but also for the predominance of defensive companies in its basket, some of which are among the largest companies by market capitalization the world.

Nevertheless, it is not so simple to link the aversion of investors to risk to the relative course of the Swiss stocks. When the investors look for safety, for example, the Swiss Franc is often the main beneficiary but a hard currency is not the best environment for global business and so is explained the relative weakness of the Swiss markets during the bearish trends of the euro against the Swiss franc.

Staff at Lloyd’s of London, the insurance market in the City, have enjoyed a tipple during the day ever since it opened in 1688, but now a 9-to-5 alcohol ban has been drafted in – after roughly half of employee disciplining cases were found linked to alcohol in the last two years, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Newly updated employee guidelines provide “clarification on the rules around alcohol consumption, which is prohibited during business hours. The guidance removes any ambiguity on the policy,” a Lloyd’s of London spokesman said in a statement.

According to The Financial Times, its 800 workers have been told the hours between 9am and 5pm must be strictly dry. It is traditional for traders working in that area to gather around Leadenhall Market to make contacts and probe deals over a pint.