I would like to wish all readers of this blog a very happy & prosperous new year.

I am back from my Christmas/New Year holiday now and will be getting back to some trading in the next week.  Although the markets were open over this last week, most of the major market players are still on holiday so volumes will remain low for another week or so.

The first two days of trading in 2014 saw the S&P500 index move down from the high it reached on the 31st of December and there is a definite support level coming up at 1815. As is usual at the beginning of January most years, there should be a re-test of the 1852 high with a possible march higher as investors get back into the market after the end-of-year closing of their books.

Gold has made a modest recovery over the holiday period after hitting a long-term support level at $1180, a long way from the 2013 highs of nearly $1800 that were prevalent 12 months ago. If that support stays intact over the next couple of weeks we should see a rise up towards the next notable resistance area of $1266 although in inevitable rise in equity markets at the beginning of the year may well see investors abandon the yellow metal for a while.