07:10am (WET)  ~  Back to the UK later today after a lovely week or so in the sun, but first an early morning cycle up into the hills for a couple of hours to get the blood circulating. I will report back later if I manage to do any chart watching this morning.

The markets were worried yesterday that a Russian military presence in Ukraine might lead to a more serious confrontation and this sentiment sparked volatility in the global markets sending equities into a bearish slide. The Dow Jones 30 lost 153 points on the day to close at 16,163 and my favourite, the S&P500 was not spared either and fell to 1845. The US manufacturing data showed a stronger than predicted expansion but that was easily discarded by the recent geopolitical tensions. However we should see a small rebound today as Russia’s threat of military strike at 3am GMT this morning has passed without incident, so markets may interpret this as merely sabre-rattling by the often bare-chested Putin.

As expected, both Oil and Gold prices soared yesterday amid the growing tension in Ukraine, WTI values surged sharply gaining $1.82 to $104.82 and Gold ended up $18 at $1350.6 a level last seen on September 2013.

09:40am  ~  I have just sat down to do some emails so I’m also watching some favourite charts as well – but there’s not much occurring yet, but with the situation in Ukraine changing by the hour I am sure something will happen soon.

10:10am  ~  There’s something developing on my Brent Oil chart – I shall keep my eyes peeled.

10:30am  ~  I am in a ‘short’ position on my Brent Oil chart with one of my trendFX set-ups – there is a 25 pip stop loss on this trade.

13:25pm  ~  The U.S. open is coming up very soon so I am now out of my Brent Oil position, I’ve managed +41 pips.  After a quick lunch out it’s off to the airport and back to the UK.

23:40pm  ~  Just arrived back home to news that I am off again tomorrow – there is an offer of skiing in Meribel with some friends so I shall be off in the morning.