07:55am  UK time  ~  I shall be here at home for most of the day ahead of our trip out to Majorca this evening. We’ve had a change of plan as we’re now going via Barcelona and having a few days there first, so today will probably be my last day of trading for the week.

There are two potentially market-moving events today to watch for if you’re in front of your charts – firstly there is the Greek agreement with their lenders which should have been delivered yesterday and there is also Fed Chairman Janet Yellen’s testimony in front of a Senate Committee at 15:00 UK time – traders will be listening keenly to her remarks so that they can have some sort of clue as to when the forthcoming rate hike will materialise although the smart money seems to be on a rise in June, just a few months away.  The Greek debt problem is rolling along and the consensus in the city seems to be that a deal will be struck eventually this time around but we will be facing the same problems and stand-offs in 4 months time and I’ve just heard on Bloomberg Radio that their proposals have been delivered to the EU paymasters in Brussels. Both main U.S. indices finished down slightly yesterday, mainly on weak home sales data although they are still hovering around all time highs and Janet Yellen’s thoughts as the markets open there will no doubt set the direction for the rest of the session together with the CB Consumer Confidence Index numbers out at the same time.

The main news in the Crude Oil sector is an emerging worry that the U.S. is reaching full storage capacity for its oil and this is already having a dampening effect on prices with WTI Crude down yesterday below the magic $50 level – it ended the session off by $1.34 at $49:39 and during the overnight Asian session has fallen further, currently sitting at $48:95.  Gold was also under pressure yesterday due mainly to a strong dollar, it see-sawed around the significant trading level at $1200 all day and now seems to be falling further, sitting at $1199:00 as I am writing this – the next support is at $1180 so watch for a move down there in the next week or so.

Market Close Friday 20th February 2015:   Dow Jones 30  -23.60 @ 18,116.84  S&P 500  -0.64 @ 2,109.66  NASDAQ  +6.44 @ 4,449.49  FTSE 100  -3.04 @ 6,912.16  UK AIM  +1.85 @ 713.05  DAX 30  +80.28 @ 11,130.92  CAC 40  +31.40 @ 4,862.30  IBEX  +110.80 @ 10,990.10   Nikkei 225 (Today)  +136.56 @ 18,603.48  Hang Seng (currently)  -102.58 @ 24,734.18

08:25am  ~  Just scrolling through my normal bunch of favourite charts and there’s a ‘short’ trendFX trade on Gold that has already triggered but the price is hovering around the entry price still so I’ll get in within in the next minute or so.

08:30am  ~  I am now in the above mentioned position with a 28 pip stop loss. It’s a strategy one set-up from the trendFX manual.

09:45am ~  My trade has just hit it’s first target at +28 pips but I’m going to stay in to see if it goes a bit further down towards the next interim support level – look at the 4hr chart and you’ll see it quite clearly.

10:30am ~  Possible ‘short’ UTB on my U.S. Crude chart and similiar on my UK Brent Crude as is quite normal.

10:35am  ~  Just spotted a ‘long’ trade on my Dax 30 chart so I am in the position with a 26 pip stop loss – another trendFX strategy one pattern.

10:55am  ~  The Gold price has shot up so I’ve closed the trade off at break even – and the potential UTB trade on my WTI Crude chart has not come off as the price has also risen.

12:05pm  ~  My Dax trade is still going and there could be a ‘short’ UTB trade on the U.S. WTI Crude chart (again)

12:20pm  ~  In the WTI position now with a 24 pip stop loss.

14:10pm  ~  Out of both my positions – the WTI Crude trade was stopped out at -24 pips and the Dax trade managed +26 pips.

15:25pm  ~  Busy charts today !  I am now in a ‘long’ position on the WTI chart with a 30 pip stop loss. It’s a trendFX strategy one set-up again, the same as my earlier ones.

16:55pm  ~  My WTI trade is active but not really doing much so I will have to close it off soon as we are off imminently.

17:50pm  ~  We’ve been delayed so I stayed in the position a bit longer to see if it would produce something worthwhile – I am now eventually out with a +27 profit, just short of my 30 pip target – so all in all I have finished the day +29 pips ahead.

That’s it now for my trading until maybe Friday, probably Monday – keep your eyes on this diary.