08:35am  ~  I am off up to the cottage in Suffolk at lunchtime for the rest of the week but before then I have 4 Skype calls with guys wanting to learn to trade and I’ll also watch my charts while I am here in the study.

The markets are gradually getting back to normal trading volumes and although equities ticked up slightly yesterday there is still no signs of the usual January rally that we have witnessed in the past.  There appears to be rising optimism about the prospects for the US economy after yesterday’s sharp fall in the US trade numbers for November, as well as the prospects for the European economy in spite of rising concerns about a deflationary outlook due to a fall in the euro zone CPI figures for December from 0.9% to 0.8%.  Gold is still moving down from the $1250 resistance level so more short trading opportunities may present themselves again – as seen in my trading yesterday.

11:55am  ~  Nothing much happening in the markets this morning and no trades for me so I am closing my charts and heading off to Southwold.

17:05pm  ~  After a nice afternoon out in a field helping a friend dredging ditches with a JCB I am now home and going to watch my S&P500 chart for any “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups that may appear in the next few hours. We are off out at 7:30 for dinner at The Crown.

18:25pm  ~  A ‘short’ set-up with my “Trade With A Day Job” extra strategy came up 10 minutes ago so I took advantage of it – and as I’m out soon I took a quick 20 pips profit.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+20 pips)