08:15am CET (07:15 UK time)  ~  A quiet day at home for me today after an extremely busy weekend. If I do have any trades I will report the details here.

As you know, the latest U.S. jobs report was out on Friday in the form of the monthly ‘Non-Farm-Payrolls’ numbers and once again it was a case of good news is bad news as an increasingly successful economy over there means the fed are more likely to raise their benchmark interest rate sooner than originally planned. The figures that were released at lunchtime on Friday showed that over 295,000 new jobs were added to the economy ahead of the estimated 235,000 although average wages has not kept pace.  The U.S. employment rate is now standing at 5.5% which is the lowest number since the height of the financial crisis in 2008.  The prospect of a summer interest rate hike has also had an effect on the Dollar, it rose over 180 pips on Friday against the Euro due to the renewed prospect of record low interest rates starting to slowly rise and the rate of 1.08495 is the lowest for the Euro since 2006 and after the earlier Asian session this morning it’s recovered slightly and currently sitting at 1.08561.  European equities are still up near record levels which is in stark contrast to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices who have come off recent highs are now showing signs of a downward trend, especially after the large drops on Friday but the Greek problem is rearing it’s head once again so the bears may be making a comeback in Europe – keep an eye on the news today as there are Eurogroup meeting in Brussels for the next few days and then a speech by ECB President Mario Draghi on Wednesday with a summary of policy changes.

The U.S. WTI Crude oil price had a steady fall on Friday mainly due to the stronger Dollar and news that an Iranian government official stated that they will be increasing oil production significantly i the near future once crippling sanctions are lifted, it is again below the $50 level and is currently sitting at $49.59 this morning.

Market Close Friday 6th March 2015:   Dow Jones 30  -278.94 @ 17,856.78  S&P 500  -29.78 @ 2,071.26  NASDAQ  -52.83 @ 4,399.23  FTSE 100  -49.34 @ 6,911.80  UK AIM  +3.99 @ 718.11  DAX 30  +46.96 @ 11,550.97  CAC 40  +0.84 @ 4,964.35  IBEX  -32.50 @ 11,091.90   Nikkei 225 (Today)  -180.45 @ 18,790.55  Hang Seng (currently)  +0.53 @ 24,164.53

All times below are CET (UK + 1hr)

09:05am  ~  Unexpectedly helping neighbour with building problems in his barn so going to be out for the morning – no trades so far.

17:50pm  ~  Been out in the sunshine all day helping my neighbour with some building work so I’ve not had any chance to watch charts but I shall do so now while I’m here in the kitchen cooking some supper for later.

18:05pm  ~  I’m mainly watching the S&P 500 chart to see if there’s any ‘Trade With A Day Job’ set-ups but I will glance at other charts from time to time.

18:25pm  ~  In a ‘short’ position on the S&P chart – my stop loss is 15 pips.

19:00pm  ~  The S&P has risen quite well so I’ve come out of that position with a +73 pip profit.

19:50pm  ~  Now entered another ‘long’ position on the same chart – another ‘Trade With A Day Job’ set-up (14 pip stop loss)

20:35pm  ~  That’s it for the evening – I am now out of my 2nd trade with a +34 pip profit