Big global banks like JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC aren’t just cornerstones of the financial system – they’re also playgrounds for technical traders.
Eurozone inflation has nudged above the ECB’s 2% target, coming in at 2.1%. At first glance, that’s hardly anything, but traders pay attention to small shifts. The reason is because even a modest overshoot can shape expectations around interest rates, and that quickly effects equities. Markets reacted in kind: the STOXX 600 slipped about 1.5%, while the DAX dropped over 2% as investors re-adjusted their holdings. Even a small move in hard data can create a ripple effect on markets.
Traders often mark neat horizontal lines on charts for support and resistance, but sometimes those levels seem to hold firm and other times they break with no warning. Why the difference? The answer usually lies in volume. A support line backed by high trading volume is a lot more likely to hold than one drawn in thin air. As Investopedia notes, “the more buying and selling that has occurred at a particular price level, the stronger the support or resistance level is likely to be”. In short, volume analysis is the missing piece that confirms whether your support or resistance line is meaningful.
The US stock market is sitting at all-time highs, but the rally has been unusually narrow. Almost all the gains have come from a few megacap tech names. Since April, the S&P 500 has jumped about 27%, with the “Magnificent Seven” now making up roughly one-third of the index. Nvidia alone accounts for around 8%, while Microsoft and Apple make up about 7% and 6%. Together, those three represent more than a fifth of the S&P. That raises a simple question: can a rally powered by so few stocks keep going, or is momentum starting to crack?
