09:25am (WET)  ~  Back in front of a laptop today after a few days fishing off the coast of Gomera. I am concentrating mainly on my long-term trading book today with James but will be doing emails and some chart watching as well.  I also want to fit in a cycle ride at some stage before lunchtime.

If you were trading yesterday you could not have failed to notice that the S&P500 stretched itself mid session above the previous high at the beginning of 2014 and after a brief retrace (profit-taking) finished 11 points ahead at 1847. The Dow Jones is not quite so near all time highs but did rally quite quickly on the back of U.S. health care stocks and sat at 16207 at the close.  Over in London, the top 100 company index also managed a new high, briefly shooting above the previous level achieved in May last year. We are at a tipping point as far as these indices are concerned, are the bulls going to shrug off recent jitters and just plough on regardless or will geopolitical events in Eastern Europe where alleged reports that Russia is beefing up it’s military presence at Sevastopol temper enthusiasm ? Interesting times….

These thoughts may have been in the minds of commodity traders yesterday as Gold prices rose $11 yesterday, as investors seek out some safety for their money.

13:40pm (WET)  ~  We have been out for most of the morning but after lunch I shall be back writing up my new manual – and later this afternoon I shall watch the S&P500 chart for any “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups.

17:05pm (WET)  ~  The S&P500 seems to be making another drive upwards after a volatile start to the U.S. trading session – it hit a low at 3pm and has been rising overall  since then although it’s not been a smooth ride. It looks as though there maybe a long set-up getting ready so I’m going to keep and eye on the chart for the next 15mins or so.

23:35pm (WET)  ~  The internet has been down for most of the evening and is still intermittent so this is the first chance I’ve had to update this blog. I ended taking the long trade I mentioned earlier and it came out ok at 20 pips after a short run-up.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+20 pips)