09:10am (8:10am UK time)  ~  A lazy start to a quiet day, we still have house guests so I shall not be doing any trading today – although I shall be answering emails for an hour or so this morning.

The markets on Friday were all about Ukraine – news from their army that they had destroyed Russian military vehicles as they crossed the border put equities into a tailspin which resulted in the S&P 500 dropping over 230 pips in just over an hour. After this initial reaction most markets recovered fairly quickly as bargain hunters appeared from the woodwork although not enough to end the session ahead – but today’s opening seem to suggest that more bullish activity is on the cards. The overnight Asian session which has just come to an end was quite choppy as traders over there are waiting for an update from the region.

Gold had a volatile session on Friday, ending the week down overall although the Ukrainian problems did cause a surge late in the afternoon of around $18 as investors moved out of equities and over to safer commodities. The value will be mostly influenced by the Fed’s interest rate minutes on Wednesday though so trading may well be in a tight range until then. As expected, Crude Oil prices rose sharply on Friday with news of Russian Armoured Forces been hit as their country is a major exporter and nobody knows what kind of retaliation President Putin will enforce towards the West.  West Texas Crude was in a bullish mood for most of Friday and ended nearly $2 up at $97.35 by the evening.

Market Close Friday 15th Aug. 2014:  Dow Jones 30  -50.67 @ 16,662.91  S&P 500  -0.12 @ 1,955.06  FTSE 100  +3.82 @ 6,689.08  DAX 30  -132.50 @ 9,092.60  CAC 40  -31.07 @ 4,174.36

Daily Target +20 pips

Pips Achieved – No Trading Today