08:25am  ~ Arrived back in the UK late last night and I’m having a lazy day here catching up on emails from new traders that have come in over the past 3 days. If I have any trades I will report back with details later on.

Although there was fairly good news from the U.S. jobs data on Friday, indices here in Europe are going to have a muted opening after disappointing Chinese trade data overnight showing lower exports and a fall in importation of raw materials plus numbers hinting that the Japanese economic problems are more severe than first thought. Problems are not just confined to Asia as there are also bearish signs from the Eurozone as a couple of ECB officials said the central bank is very likely to embark on a broad based asset purchase programme in the first few months of the new year – this news gave the EUR/USD currency pair a new low at 1.2289.

The Crude Oil markets are still providing good trading opportunities as OPEC and the U.S. do not look like they are willing to drop production to prop prices up and Friday’s trading session saw WTI Crude drop just over a dollar to end the day at $65.74 and this morning it is trading slightly below this level at $65.01.  As expected with more record highs for U.S. equities, Gold is once again suffering and it dropped again below the important $1200 level on Friday and ended last week at $1190.70 but has staged a slight bounce this morning to $1195.

Market Close Friday 5th December 2014:   Dow Jones 30  +58.69 @ 17,958.79  S&P 500  +3.45 @ 2,075.37  NASDAQ  -0.36 @ 4,311.57  FTSE 100  +63.47 @ 6,742.84  UK AIM  +3.90 @ 714.13  DAX 30  +235.77 @ 10,087.12  CAC 40  +95.59 @ 4,419.49  IBEX  +280.80 @ 10,900.70   Nikkei 225 (Today)  +15.19 @ 17,935.64  Hang Seng (currently)  +64.71  @ 24,067.35

09:10am  ~  Typically for a Monday morning, there’s not much happening on my collection of favourite charts on first glance so I am off for a bracing cycle ride through Walberswick then down to Westleton.  Should be back in a few hours.

12:25pm  ~  I have only just got back here after the cycle ride as I had two punctures and a stop-off at a friend’s house on the way round. I shall switch on my charts soon after a quick lunch.

13:15pm  ~  There seems to be a UTB pattern setting up on my German Dax 30 chart.

14:35pm  ~  The Dax UTB has triggered although I will have to be careful as the U.S. market has just opened and Monday’s can be volatile after the weekend break. The stop loss is only 15 pips.

16:30pm  ~  The above position on my Dax chart did not turn out as expected and I have just had the trade stopped out at -15 pips.

16:50pm  ~  Going to watch my S&P 500 chart now to see if there are any ‘Trade With A Day Job’ opportunities – the strategy kicks off in 5 minutes.

17:15pm  ~  I have just got into a ‘short’ position using one of the ‘extra’ set-ups from the TWADJ system.  My stop loss is a heady 16 pips.

17:50pm  ~  Still in my trade (+49 pips so far)  - the S&P is falling well.

18:25pm  ~ My position is currently at +102 pips.

19:05pm  ~  We are off out for the evening in a short while so I’ve closed my trade off now so I can get ready.  it has finished at +177 pips.