08:05am CET (07:05am UK time)  ~  I am having to get back to the UK in a hurry today so will just be watching charts and catching up on emails for a few hours this morning before I head off to Palma airport at lunchtime.

Markets may well be in a state of limbo today ahead of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) early this evening (local time) as traders wait for any forward guidance or subtle hints regarding the timing of an interest rate rise. Commentators are worried about an early hike causing a contraction in the economy and halting the recovery stemming from the 2008/2009 recession. Recent disappointing economic news out of the U.S. recently including low housing start data may encourage policy-makers to put back the rise until the end of the year instead of the rumoured June/July expectation.  The leading Dow Jones index suffered initial falls during yesterday’s session on the aforementioned disappointing housing starts numbers and although bargain hunters came out later in the day, it was not enough to push the index above the 17900 support/resistance level and overnight prices shares have just drifted sideways as traders wait for this evening’s speech.

As you will see from the numbers below, the Japanese Nikkei 225 had an excellent session and actually ended at its highest level since early 2000 on expectations of higher shareholder returns from an improving economy as ‘Abe-Economics’ start to work.

Crude oil suffered another bearish day as prices came under pressure from renewed rumours that the U.S. stockpile situation is getting larger by the day – the numbers are out early afternoon so do not expect much action before then.

Market Close Tuesday 17th March 2015:   Dow Jones 30  -128.34 @ 17,849.08  S&P 500  -6.91 @ 2,074.28  NASDAQ  +5.16 @ 4,375.62  FTSE 100  +33.51 @ 6,837.61  UK AIM  -0.26 @ 715.61  DAX 30  -186.87 @ 11,980.85  CAC 40  -32.23 @ 5,028.93  IBEX  -86.60 @ 11,028.10   Nikkei 225 (Today)  +107.48 @ 19,544.48  Hang Seng (currently)  +256.30 @ 24,157.79

All times below are CET (UK time +1hr)

09:00am  ~  Just waiting for the price to rise slightly on the FTSE 100 chart so it triggers a ‘long’ trade using a trendFX pattern.

09:10am  ~  In the FTSE trade with a 14 pip stop loss.

10:25am  ~  I have a few things to sort out so I’ve just taken a quick profit from the market  -  I’ve just closed the trade off with a score of +33 pips.

12:40pm  ~   Signing off now, back here tomorrow.