08:05am  ~  Another sunny day in paradise !  I am off out for a cycle ride while the roads are still quiet around here then back in the study for the rest of the morning for some trading/emailing/Skype calls  -  and off to Wimbledon again this afternoon

The S&P500 finished at a record high yesterday on the back of strong numbers from the manufacturing sector with the Dow Jones Industrial Average following on closely behind, which in turn has encouraged Asian indices in overnight trading.  The US manufacturing data was at 55.3 last month around the same level as the 5 month high in May confirming that the worlds’ largest economy is expanding at a decent pace. At the same time, the retail sales rose 4.6% last week, the biggest weekly gain in almost 3 years so there was no surprise to watch the DJ30 rallying sharply gaining 123 points to 16,962 even though this occurred with very low trading volumes. Does this indicate a lack of confidence for market levels around these highs ?  Look out for some long-shadow candles on the daily charts this week and of course the reaction to the Non Farm Payroll numbers on Friday.

Amid a mixed day of trading, Gold reached a 14 week high in intraday trading at $1333.1 yesterday but ended the session with a reversal candle on the daily chart.  The recent weakness in the U.S. Dollar by Fed policy rumours has helped it rebound from the low around $1240 at the beginning of June.  U.S. Crude Oil is still benefiting from confidence regarding the Iraqi supply situation, the price dropped to a 3-week low yesterday of $105.20 a barrel and we have the weekly oil inventory numbers out later today which should spark some volume in the market.

Market Close Yesterday: S&P 500 +13.09 @ 1973.32   Dow Jones 30  +129.47 @ 16,956.07   FTSE 100  +12.92  @  6,815.63

10:15am  ~  Back now and settled here in the study for a few hours. I will report back if there’s any excitement on my charts.

23:15pm  ~  There was no excitement at all on my charts earlier this morning, I watched them for an hour then called it a day.