08:00am  ~  The S&P500 pushed higher again yesterday and finished with another record high although its momentum was curtailed slightly during the last half of the U.S. trading session due to FOMC member James Bullard indicating that tapering may well start as early as next week’s Fed meeting – this has put markets into a small holding position for the time being.  I can also see a resistance level around 1815 on the Emini futures chart so there may have a consolidation day on the cards. Bank Of England Governor Mark Carney was speaking in New York last night and he spoke at length regarding global economic stagnation and the outlook due to this in 2014, his speech in full is here.  Bargain hunters came out of the woodwork yesterday and pushed Gold up slightly, it would seem that the support level at $1210 is holding for the moment, helped by Chinese buying for their New Year celebrations.

I am back home now after a long-weekend away so I’ll be in the study later this morning doing some chart watching plus emailing & Skype calls. There is thick fog out there at the moment so I’ll wait for it to clear before I go off a morning cycle ride.

09:25am  ~  I’ve been watching my charts since 9 o’clock and I can see a possible ‘long’ set-up on my Gold chart. If it does trigger it will be quite a unique trade as there is a signal at this time for THREE of my strategies all at once – that’s going to give it a head-start and for new student traders some much needed confidence.

09:40am  ~ The Gold price has risen slightly so I am in the market with a ‘long’ position. The stop loss is 19 pips, so I will go for around 20 pips initially and then see how the momentum is fairing.

10:55am  ~  The Gold price has had a good run up but the buying enthusiasm is slowing slightly, and even though I think there still may be some more upside to the chart later, I am happy with my profit so I am out of the position now. I came away with +35 pips.  The weather has brightened up slightly so I am off for a cycle ride now north along the coastal path past the pier.

14:15pm  ~  Just sat down here in the study for a few hours after a tiring cycle ride and quick shower – I have 3 Skype calls in the next hour so I’ll also watch my charts while I’m sat at my desk. I will report later if there’s anything interesting happening on the markets.

14:40pm  ~  Now I’m in a ‘short’ position on my Brent Oil chart with one of the trendFX strategies – stop loss is quite high at 44 pips but there’s enough room for a move down that should give me a 1:1 profit ratio.

16:10pm  ~  The Brent Oil price has come down nicely but over the past 15 minutes or so it has refused to go much lower, so I am out with a 44 pip profit.

16:45pm  ~  And now I am in a ‘long’ trade on the same Brent Oil chart I was using earlier this afternoon – this time with my UTB strategy and the stop loss is 36 pips.

17:25pm  ~   Another fairly quick trade is over, the price shot up quite convincingly and as it rested slightly I came out with +53 pips, giving me 132 pips for the day.

Daily Target Reached ? YES  (+130 pips)      PLEASE SEE WEDNESDAY’S DIARY FOR DETAILS OF EVENING TRADING