07:55am CET (6:55 UK time)  ~  A day here at home before I am off on my annual holiday with my two sons tomorrow lunchtime – so I will report back later if I have any trades.  First of all it’s a a cycle ride with a neighbour over to Formentor.

The markets were generally bullish again yesterday with Europe still rising on the hopes that ECB chief Mario Draghi is going to start his money-printing exercise fairly shortly, although he has been saying he would help the Eurozone out of it troubles for the last two years so watch out for a sharp correction downwards at the first sign of hesitation from members of the Central Bank.   As you’ll see from the figures below, the U.S. S&P 500 index at last finished above the 2000 level after being higher for a lot of the day on the back of good economic numbers released yesterday and the Dow Jones index of top 30 companies did hit a new record high in intra-day trading before resting back slightly – overnight trading in Asia was also buoyed by this optimism.

The oil markets were helped by the encouraging U.S. durable goods orders and consumer confidence data out yesterday and West Texas Crude ended up on the day by nearly 50 cents – but over in the UK Brent Crude had a mixed day and ended slightly down after a few days of gains, it has formed a reversal candle on the daily chart so watch out for further falls below the $102.30 level. Safe haven buying seemed to behind the sharp Gold price rise yesterday morning although rises in U.S. equities later in the day plus a generally strong Dollar helped stem the enthusiasm later in the day and the price dropped to finish just above $1280 slightly higher for the day’s trading.

Market Close Tuesday 26th Aug. 2014:  Dow Jones 30  +29.83 @ 17,106.70  S&P 500  +2.10 @ 2,000.02  FTSE 100  +47.51 @ 6,822.76  DAX 30  +78.01 @ 9,588.15  CAC 40  +51.30 @ 4,393.41

10:50am  ~  Been watching my charts for an hour or so now after getting back from my cycle ride and there’s not much happening so far, it would seem that European markets are waiting for cues from the U.S. session this afternoon — time for a break to assist the builders outside.

14:05pm  ~  Just got back from lunch and I may have a UTB trade setting up on my Gold chart.

14:35pm  ~  A move below 12857 for Gold and I’ll be in the UTB trade.

14:45pm  ~  I am in the aforementioned ‘short’ position with a 21 pip stop loss.

17:40pm  ~  The bearish momentum on the Gold chart has subsided slightly so I’ve come out of my position with a +32 pip profit.

18:25pm  ~   I’ve just had a quick look at the S&P500 chart and there is absolutely no volume tonight so I shall leave it alone for time being.

Daily Target +20 pips

Pips Achieved +32 pips.