soft softs ?

Many years ago,in a previous incarnation.I worked for a cocoa-trading firm,but left for what seemed like the more fertile fields of Japanese equities....enough said !
Cocoa has been the stronger performer of the 2 "exotic" soft commodities but the current chart adds to the cautious picture suggested by recent coffee weakness.One day when every Chinese consumer takes a Mars bar to work this uptrend will resume but for now the trend has reversed.

the one that got away

Coffee has broken down and there is an ominous looking triple top...fundamentals remain positive as far as I can tell but this may be another casualty of the strong dollar impacting "reflation trades"...a reminder of why stops are essential !

cable

Cable has also given a swing chart sell signal,not unlike the FTSE100.

HSBC

The counter-trend rally failed at the 38% retracement level and the decline has resumed.We have taken out the last 2 swing lows now,giving a swing chart sell signal and have a first lower high,Gann's "safest place to sell").In conjunction with the triple top this is a pretty negative chart suggesting a fast decline,perhaps into a March low.
The weekly chart shows a probable head and shoulders pattern with a bearish weekly engulfing candlestick at the neckline.

Mind the gap ?

The bottom was a triple bottom ,island reversal at 100.Are we forming a mirror image reversal reversal at 200? The stock would need to gap down below the putative neckline soon to confirm this

Ftse

Following the last Ftse post(31/01)we finally got a counter-trend rally but yesterday the downtrend resumed with a long black candle formed as concern grew about European sovereign debt,confirming the swing chart signal.For a description of swing chart signals I would recommend Marc Rivalland's book.He has slightly adapted Gann swing chart theory for modern market conditions.

Rio

One trading strategy is to wait for a stock to retrace into the 50-61.8% retracement zone of a previous decline (or rally) and sell it (or buy it) when it breaks back out of the zone.
Using this strategy would have placed you short Rio last week.The chart of the UK mining sector looks very weak.