08:15am UK time  ~  After rushing around yesterday I am going to have a quiet day at home today so I will report back here if I have any trades.

Markets were mainly bearish again yesterday as the situation in Yemen becomes more serious with Saudi Arabia joining in on air attack and Pakistan issuing threats of retaliation as well – both U.S. indices ended the day down around 0.25% and are now firmly off the highs of February.  There does seem to be a difference in opinions regarding the strength of the U.S. economy by FOMC members with some wanting an immediate rate rise (James Bullard, St.Louis Fed Chairman) and others advising caution over a knee jerk reaction to a few months of good economic news – and this indecision is helping traders engage in some profit-taking at the moment.  Over here in Europe, the Greek situation is bumbling along with reports that the majority of ordinary people in Greece are taking money out of the banking system as quick as it’s going in as they are now losing confidence with the economy and the new anti-austerity government.

Crude oil is still climbing after reaching a support area last week and yesterday there was a spike up as traders took in news of the Saudis launching air attacks in Yemen, one of the world’s largest oil refining areas. Any disruption here will have an impact on supplies and if there is less crude being refined the price should stabilise and begin to rise although we have seen these types of spikes before following regional conflicts so don;t rush into long positions quite yet.  Gold, as expected, is enjoying some popularity as traders look for other homes for their money and managed to hit the resistance area at $1220 yesterday before retreating back to end the day at $1204.40 although during the overnight Asian session has seen further profit taking and is now sitting at $1199.

Market Close Thursday 26th March 2015:   Dow Jones 30  -40.31 @ 17,678.23  S&P 500  -4.90 @ 2,056.15  NASDAQ  -14.03 @ 4,315.26  FTSE 100  -95.64 @ 6,895.33  UK AIM  -0.49 @ 716.91  DAX 30  -21.64 @ 11,843.68  CAC 40  -14.64 @ 5,006.34  IBEX  -10.90 @ 11,453.80   Nikkei 225 (Today)  -185.49 @ 19,285.63  Hang Seng (currently)  -51.17 @ 24,445.91

08:45am  ~  Just got into a ‘short’ trendFX trade on my S&P 500 chart a few seconds ago – more details soon, just had a knock at the front door.

09:20am  ~  Right – the trade I’m in at the moment is a trendFX strategy 3 set-up with a 44 pip stop loss, currently doing ok.

09:30am  ~  Now in a ‘short’ UTB position on the German Dax 30 index with a 36 pip stop loss.

09:50am  ~  Possible UTB on the WTI Crude chart at the moment.

10:10am ~  The price has risen sufficiently to trigger the WTI trade – I have a 22 pip stop loss there but my Dax position is now closed as the price has started to retrace upwards quite quickly – it has managed +36 pips.

10:55am  ~  Now out of my S&P 500 trade as well, it has ended up at +51 pips.

12:05pm  ~  And I’ve just closed off my last position from this morning as I am now off for a cycle ride with a friend along the river path towards Heybridge Basin – my WTI Crude UTB trade has ended at +53 pips so giving me a total of +140 pips from 3 trades today.

17:50pm  ~  No trades to report this afternoon as I have been in and out but I am now declaring that there’s no more trading for the day – firstly because we’re out for the evening in an hour or so but quite apart from that,  there is the Fed Chief Janet Yellen’s speech later on which will cause the markets to be quiet for a while in the run-up and then they could erupt if she says the ‘wrong’ set of words regarding the forthcoming interest rate rise in the U.S.