09:55am (CET)  ~  No trading for me again today – there will still be low volume in the markets I usually concentrate on, and the S&P500 is only open for a few hours today so that traders can adjust their positions ahead of Monday’s trading session which sees the release of PMI manufacturing data for the main European economies. This means there’s no evening trading for me either as my “Trade With A Day Job” uses that one index.

Despite the absence of the US yesterday, Europe’s markets saw another positive day yesterday with the German DAX 30 continuing to make record highs and broader European markets also remaining bullish despite concerns over the strength of the recovery in Europe.   One bit of bad news is going to be the Italian unemployment numbers which are not expected to improve, remaining at 12.5%, another record with youth unemployment remaining above 40%.   The FTSE ended broadly flat as an initial rise was cancelled out after the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney announced that he was slowing bank assistance for house buyers in the UK, which resulted in housebuilder’s shares heading south.