Here's where to expect the FTSE 100 to bounce

FTSE 100 (FTSE:UKX)

Social media seems the new driving force in the world, generally capable of doing absolutely nothing except give broadcast media and newspapers something to talk about.

It's easy to lose count of the "Massive outrage over xyz" nonsense reports where, if you dig deeper, the entire basis of the story was essentially "some idiot on Twitter wrote 'xyz is bad'." Equally, how often can the novelist J.K Rowling deliver "massive slamdowns" when all she does is tweet?

It's difficult to take the level of hype over the US president's tweets when, if pausing for thought, who hasn't written something vaguely outrageous when fuelled by a glass of wine and a keyboard?

Okay, perhaps the bloke does have some power at his elbow but we're rather sceptical at the very contrived series of market reversals, all generated due to some idiot on Twitter writing something rather than discreetly not thinking out loud.

It's probably when Trump stops tweeting we should be worried. And goodness help us all if he ever calls for a strong and stable coalition.

It appears we should thank the level of media hysteria - due entirely to "some idiot on Twitter says" calibre of journalism - for trashing the FTSE 100 as now below 7,296 looks perfectly capable of driving the blue-chip index down to 7,181 next, perhaps even 7,020 if we judge the closing point of the FTSE on 11 August as valid.

To cancel these drop potentials on the immediate cycle, the index requires to grow above 7,400 points. So, for the brave, there's your stop level.

Above 7,400 now looks capable of generating an initial 7,484 points, perhaps even 7,622 if anyone decides international conflicts are probably not best judged by "some idiot on Twitter says" style of reporting.

If triggered, the stop looks like 7,375, a remarkably generous number and probably wrong!

It's the holiday season and recently we've opted to fill our articles with inconsequential rubbish just to take up column inches. But the story about the garden swing did actually need to be told.

For now, though, if we judge the index where it closed on Friday, it shall make sense to expect a bounce around 7,181 points in the week ahead.

Alistair Strang has led high-profile and "top secret" software projects since the late 1970s and won the original John Logie Baird Award for inventors and innovators. After the financial crash, he wanted to know "how it worked" with a view to mimicking existing trading formulas and predicting what was coming next. His results speak for themselves as he continually refines the methodology.

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