08:25am  ~  It’s that time of the month again (U.S. Non Farm Payrolls employment data) so as usual I will not be doing any trading today but I do have a few Skype calls lined up with new students wanting to learn to trade this morning and also I will be catching up on the backlog of emails – but first a quick cycle ride along the river bank to clear the cobwebs.

As with most European indices, the FTSE 100 ended in negative territory yesterday after being dragged down by Lloyds Bank, Vodafone and Barclays. Heavy selling in the U.S. at the start of their session no doubt contributed to the bearish attitude of London traders as well – and the S&P500 and Dow Jones indices also finished lower on a combination of weak corporate data, Russian worries, geopolitical problems and even the Argentinian default. If there is good news with the employment numbers later today there is then the prospect of the Fed finishing their economic money-printing stimulus early, which will have a negative effect on equities, so we that ‘good news is bad news’ scenario once again.

The panic selling in the main markets yesterday plus crude inventory numbers showing a decline in demand for the U.S. market had a negative effect of the Oil market as well yesterday and WTI Crude ended the day at $97.66 down nearly $2, and Gold showed a surprising drop of $13.60 on the day even though a drop in demand for equities usually has investors racing for the this safe haven asset – clearly the good news for the U.S. economy has outweighed this.

Market Close Thursday 31st July 2014:  Dow Jones 30  -317.06 @ 16,563.30  S&P 500  -39.40 @ 1,930.67  FTSE 100  -43.33 @ 6,730.11  DAX 30  -186.20  @ 9407.48   CAC 40 -66.13 @ 4246.14

Daily Target  +20 pips

Pips Achieved  -  No Trading Today