07:05am  ~  No trading for me today, I have a few errands to do this morning plus meetings with builders this afternoon ahead of a 10-day holiday away in the Indian Ocean (with no internet or phone signal !)

European markets are set-up to open lower today after a sell-off in U.S. equities yesterday – there seems to be no news-driven reason for this bearish movement, it would seem that traders have decided that there’s no real reason for higher valuations of the top 500 companies in the U.S. –  and the Dow Jones index has gone as far as 16455 before heading south, a level it’s rested at a few times in the last month.

WTI Crude oil prices traded flat yesterday even though the US Energy Information Administration announced in its annual Oil Reserves report that US proved reserves are at the highest levels in 36 years. Ongoing troubles in Ukraine gave Gold continued momentum which extended to $1318.2, a $6.4 gain for the day. The minutes of Fed’s March meeting revealed doubts over the previous projections on interest rate rise which also supported the precious metal.