08:25am  ~  Today is definitely going to be spent at home catching up on emails as I was unexpectedly out all of yesterday, so I will report back here later with any trade details. Bit of a late start though as I did not get in until 3am…..

Equity markets were generally bullish yesterday despite the looming Greek problem, the main U.S. index (S&P 500) hit the 2100 level for the first time with the Dow Jones 30 also staying above 18,000. Their new Prime Minister as well as the head of finance seem eternally optimistic that a cancellation of their debts are on the cards and so far the markets have believed them although the next few days should give us concrete evidence as to what’s really going to happen. There has already been a growing flight of cash from the Greek national banks this week in readiness for some bad news even though the new government have said that an extension to the bailout agreement with its lenders is merely a formality now, despite the country fast running out of cash to live day to day.  In the U.S. Housing Data at lunchtime and the latest FOMC meeting minutes this evening will provide some added direction to equities but this morning all eyes will be on announcements from Europe as there is also the crumbling Ukrainian ceasefire to watch out for – exciting times in the markets.

U.S. Crude values had a bumpy ride yesterday but ended slightly up on the day after the Kuwaiti oil minister said that the global oil oversupply was not as bad as everyone suspected (values rallied) but U.S. oil production is at its highest for 30 years (values tumbled) so it ended 79 cents up at $53.55 but after the overnight Asian session it has dropped back to $52.88 currently with an overbought situation on my daily chart.

Market Close Tuesday 17th February 2015:   Dow Jones 30  +28.23 @ 18,047.58  S&P 500  +3.35 @ 2,100.34  NASDAQ  +1.31 @ 4,385.34  FTSE 100  +41.18 @ 6,898.13  UK AIM  +3.52 @ 706.71  DAX 30  -27.61 @ 10,895.62  CAC 40  +2.04 @ 4,753.99  IBEX  +8.50 @ 10,698.00   Nikkei 225 (Today)  +212.08 @ 18,199.17  Hang Seng (currently)  +47.20 @ 24,832.08

08:40am  ~  Not much happening on my charts at the moment except a possible ‘short’ UTB pattern setting up on my FTSE 100 chart.

09:45am  ~  It’s taken a while but the FTSE 100 price has eventually come down far enough to trigger a ‘short’ UTB trade – my stop loss is 14 pips.

09:55am  ~  Going out for a quick cycle ride so I’ve set up orders for the FTSE trade – profit at 1:1 (+14 pips)

10:50am  ~  Back now and my FTSE trade is still going but has not really moved too far, currently sitting at +8 pips. I’ve just moved the stop loss to break even and left the profit target open now as there are a few clues for a good down move soon.

14:20pm  ~  The FTSE price has stalled for the moment so I am out of my trade while the U.S. session opens, I’ve managed a +29 pip profit.  Time for a quick lunch at the Lord Nelson.

23;40pm  ~  There’s been no further trades to report as we’ve been out for birthday celebrations for most of the afternoon/evening