Bank of Ireland stock: IRE bearish in the short term as 2013 bull run stalls; support at 5.5

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Category: Share Price Drivers

Published on Friday, 25 January 2013 14:35

Written by Will Peters

Bank of Ireland (ADR) (NYSE:IRE) shares are seen as being in a short-term downtrend as a strong start to 2013 takes a breather.

A look at the technical indicators guiding IRE's stock price action following two days of declines shows a ratio of three bullish indicators to 3 bearish indicators which suggests to us that the recent downturn is certainly not cemented into the stocks technical setup.  

IRE's Triple Moving Average Crossover (4-day 9-day 18-day) remains in bullish territory

The 2 to 6 week support level is seen at 5.50.

UK scene: Will Bank of England print more money

Back in the UK speculation is rife that the Bank of England is set to print more money in a bid to hold up the under-performing economy.

Today’s GDP report could lead to speculation that the Bank of England (BoE), will increase its quantitative easing (QE) programme.

QE is a process that basically involves printing more money in a bid to raise economic activity.

The negative side-effect is that an increased amount of sterling in circulation will reduce the strength of the pound, and this explains why traders sold the pound against the dollar after the news was released.

Reporting season continues; Netflix reports a profit

The US reporting season continues to provide the surprises for investors.

Netflix closed 42 pct higher yesterday after it upgraded its expected revenue from $969 million up to just over $1 billion, and this has been achieved by US domestic subscriptions edging higher from 28.5 million up to 29.2 million.

"Netflix was, until yesterday, one of those stocks that people either loved or hated, with not many in the middle ground. It is the largest internet provider of movies and TV programmes, covering 40 countries around the world, with over 33 million subscribers," says Alastair McCaig at IG Index in London.

Over the last five years there has been a marked shift in the demographics of the TV- and movie-watching public. Netflix had slowly been picking up market share, but was yet to really make the transition from promising company to profitable company.

Yesterday’s announcement that the firm expected to break even in the first quarter is a watershed moment for any company.

"Seeing Netflix clear this hurdle has prompted the markets re-asses its share price, and the resultant jump up by 42% last night saw it close at $146.91. It is difficult to gauge how well the share price might now run, but the first major target will be to fill the gap from September 2011, when in the space of a week the share price dropped from $208.70 down to $128.50," says McCaig.