08:45am CET (07:45 UK time)  ~  No trading for me today as I have meetings all day here in Altea plus it’s Non Farm Payrolls day as well, so traditionally I do not bother with any chart-watching as the markets are quiet this morning and somewhat volatile after lunchtime.

Indices in the U.S. had a bearish start to their session yesterday due to disappointment with the ECB in Europe but the Dow Jones 30 hit an intraday all-time high later in the day as positive jobs numbers were released showing an increase of 231,000 jobs in November so there maybe positive reaction to today’s Non Farm Payrolls announcement. The S&P 500 also managed a new high during the latter part of Thursday’s session and on the daily charts both leading U.S. indices have formed reversal candles on the daily charts so we may find some profit-taking in the next few days. European equities, in contrast, took Mario Draghi’s reluctance to commit to further economic stimulus as bad news and finished broadly lower yesterday afternoon.

Crude oil was again in the news as Saudi Arabia led other OPEC members by cutting the Official Selling Price (OSP) it charges Asia and the U.S. for its oil which some commentators are perceiving as an aggressive move to capture market share away from the shale producers in America and rumours of private meetings at the OPEC meeting last week seem to back this up. It has been reported that some of the smaller shale companies in the U.S. are suffering due to the WTI Crude value now getting near to the $65 level and worldwide, energy producers are still struggling due to lower prices and falling demand in Europe and Asia.

Gold is still hovering around the $12oo level and has formed a very small support there on the 4hr chart so with equity markets slowing there maybe a strengthening at this level over the next week.

Market Close Thursday 4th November 2014:   Dow Jones 30  -12.52 @ 17,900.10  S&P 500  -2.41 @ 2,071.92  NASDAQ  -1.00 @ 4,311.93  FTSE 100  -37.26 @ 6,679.37  UK AIM  -1.27 @ 710.23  DAX 30  -120.44 @ 9,851.35  CAC 40  -67.97 @ 4,323.89  IBEX  -256.00 @ 10,619.90   Nikkei 225 (Today)  +33.24 @ 17,920.45  Hang Seng (currently)  +274.28  @ 24,106.84

All times below are Central European Time (UK +1hr)