010:05am (09:05 UK Time)  ~  Slightly late market update this morning after a lie-in following a very busy weekend – and no trading for me today as I am off to Palma later this morning to help the builder pick up some materials for work he’s doing here and then I have a tennis match this afternoon.

There was a late rally in equities at the end of last week which has carried on in Asian markets last night as tensions in Ukraine have subsided slightly after President Putin has said that he is finishing Army ‘manoeuvres in Southern Russia close to the Ukrainian border – this is widely seen as a climb-down after economic pressure from the West. Although this is good news for world markets, there is now U.S. intervention in Iraq to focus on with President Obama saying that his fight with ISIS in the north of the country will not be over in a few weeks. Amid all this geo-political turmoil, there has been encouraging economic news over the last week from the world’s largest economy so expect a volatile ride for another few weeks with a move up for equities in the next few days as the bullish long term trend resumes briefly.  The S&P 500 stopped just below the support at 1900 and rebounded on Friday, so many traders are now expecting a concerted effort to reach the significant 2000 level that the index failed to reach back at the end of last month.  In the UK the focus this week will be on employment and inflation data and whether the news is good enough to push the Bank Of England into an early rate rise and Europe is caught in a slightly depressive mood with Portuguese and Italian banking problems and hints that even Germany, the Eurozone’s strongest economy, is feeling the effects of Russia’s retaliation from widespread economic sanctions.

Market Close Friday 8th Aug. 2014:  Dow Jones 30  +186.66 @ 16,553.93  S&P 500  +22.02 @ 1,931.9  FTSE 100  -30.01 @ 6,567.36  DAX 30  -29.65 @ 9,009.32  CAC 40  -2.02 @ 4,147.81

Daily Target   +20 pips

Pips Achieved  -  No Trading Today