08:45am  ~  Back in the UK and enjoying the rainy weather this morning, it seems as though winter has arrived very quickly here in East Anglia.

At the start of a new week in the markets the dominating story is going to be the continuing U.S. Debt Ceiling saga – as we are now very close to the deadline coming up on Thursday. The markets last week were full of false optimism for a negotiated settlement which showed in the sharp move upwards on Thursday and Friday, but now the budget talks it would appear are now moving to the Senate in the latest chapter in this long drawn out saga.  Even here there appears to be problems, where Democrats are looking to undo budget cuts from earlier in the year, something Republicans are resisting. It is going to be an interesting week, and that usually produces some good trading opportunities.

I will not be in front of my charts quite yet, I have a site meeting with the builders in 15 minutes just up the road, then out on my bike for a ride after that. Later this afternoon I shall be going up to the cottage at Southwold for a few days.  Another reason I do not rush to open my charts at this time of the week is because Monday mornings are often slow in the markets as traders find their feet and gather info after a weekend of news and misinformation from politicians.

19:55pm  ~  Just got up here to the cottage and I’ve been summoned to the Lord Nelson – so there’s not going to be any chart watching going on tonight !