07:50am  ~  I have a couple of hours here in the study this morning doing emails and 4 Skype calls then a group of us are going off on our motorbikes to a fish lunch at the harbour in Whitstable Kent, the oysters and scallops are well worth the 290 mile round trip. Let’s hope the fog lifts !

The markets yesterday had a generally bullish day, US shares rallied well led by technology stocks topping estimates in the latest string of corporate results, and at the same time the economic data showed an optimistic outlook with the house prices numbers confirming expectations and a slight dip in consumer confidence. The Dow Jones gained 62 pips to 16,529 at the end of trading and remains not far from the record close around 16,600. The broader S&P500 index also had a positive day although after hours trading in eBay and Twitter will dampen the European open this morning after lower that expected profits.

As the US and European Union extended sanctions against Russia yesterday, the WTI Crude price rallied reaching above $102.00 in intraday trading but estimates that crude inventories at Cushing are at an 83 year high took their toll on the value, pushing the WTI lower in afternoon session and ending 16 cents down at $100.73 a barrel. Gold rose with crude oil due to the escalating crisis in Ukraine, breaking above the $1300 mark. A late rally in equities reversed the bullish Gold trend which ended flat for the day at $1296 as investors switched to higher yielding assets.