07:55am CET (08:55 UK Time)  ~ Catching up on emails this morning plus some chart watching here in the study and then shopping in Palma this afternoon

There is still a fairly bullish mood in Europe despite the general global slowdown that’s been predicted by the IMF, although traders do need to see some concrete evidence tomorrow that Mario Draghi and the European Central Bank are actually going to go ahead with some quantitative easing this time after so many false rumours – although with world leaders gathering at Davos now, the timing may be ideal for some announcement. The German Dax 30 is at record highs after Friday’s session and has now settled under a 10,300 resistance level so watch for a move above this before the end of the week for a good ‘long’ opportunity.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 had a mixed day yesterday with both indices failing to move over their respective resistance levels as traders worry about the slowing world economy, even though lower oil prices gives a boost to companies bottom line. Crude oil prices are once again moving down towards their recent lows after yesterday’s announcement from the Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Mahdl that his country is now producing over 4 million barrels per day and have plans to increase their imports as well. This news hs put pressure on Crude values, the benchmark U.S. WTI Crude fell over a Dollar to $46.65 as the end of Tuesday’s session and is currently sitting slightly up at $46.85.

With the general pessimism for the world economic outlook, Gold once again benefited from safe haven investment and rose $18 to $1294 yesterday, a new four month high and after the overnight Asian session it is now at the $1300 resistance level, so watch for ‘short’ opportunities today.

Market Close Tuesday 20th January 2015:   Dow Jones 30  +3.66 @ 17,515.23  S&P 500  +3.13 @ 2,022.55  NASDAQ  +29.07 @ 4,171.21  FTSE 100  +34.57 @ 6,6620.10  UK AIM  +1.10 @ 698.65  DAX 30  +14.78 @ 10,257.13  CAC 40  +51.09 @ 4,446.02  IBEX  +126.40 @ 10,283.90   Nikkei 225 (Today)  -85.82 @ 17,280.48  Hang Seng (currently)  +406.85 @ 24,358.01

All times below are CET (GMT + 1hr)

09:20am  ~  Not much occurring on my collection of charts so I am off for a quick cycle ride in a minute.  Just been invited on a fishing trip tomorrow so a day away from the charts.

10:50am  ~  Just got back and I can see a possible UTB setting up on my German Dax30 chart.

11:20am  ~  The Dax price has risen enough to trigger the trade but then retreated quickly so I got in a better level – my stop loss is 19 pips.

11:55am  ~  I’ve got a meeting with the builder in 5 minutes so I have just closed off my Dax trade – it’s managed +26 pips.

12:40pm  ~  Off to the marina for a few hours to sort out the boat for tomorrow’s fishing trip – I will be back here later to watch my charts.