07:45am  ~  I am in the study early this morning as I want to get some admin/emails/Skype calls done before 11am as we’re off to London for a few days.

The European/U.S. markets are going to be on tenterhooks as they open for a new week following the Ukrainian vote yesterday. As everyone thought, there was overwhelming support from the Crimean people to leave the Ukraine and become a part of the Russian Federation. The result probably won’t be a surprise to markets as it was widely expected, hence only the muted moves down in the past few hours during the Asian trading session. Although the West widely condemned the decision to hold a referendum; and are now condemning the result, there has not really been much actual action taken against Russia during this whole episode and so many observers think nothing will actually happen to antagonise Russia other than an international ticking off.

Gold prices continued their strong rally at the end of the week, gaining just over $12 to $1383.1 due to escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine with apparent end in sight. In addition to this, China’s economy seems to be stuttering which also sent investors into the safety of gold.

08:25am  ~  While sitting here doing some emails I have also entered a ‘long’ position on my S&P500 chart with a stop loss of 34 pips using a trendFX set-up. I am not a great lover of trading first thing on a Monday morning but there seems to be quite a momentum in this move, not sure what’s driving it, nothing much on Bloomberg TV at the moment.

10:55am  ~  I am now out of my S&P500 position as we are off soon, I have managed a quick +52 pips profit.  There was also a Gold trade earlier this morning but I did not take it as I only had limited time to trade although looking at it now – it’s doing ok.

17:00pm  ~  I’m relaxing in the hotel at the moment so I’m going to watch my S&P500 chart for an hour or so before we go out.

17:25pm  ~  I am in the market with a ‘long trade’ with a 19 pip stop loss.

18:35pm  ~  Out of that position now as we’re off in 5 minutes – the trade gave me a 20 pip profit.

Daily Target Reached ?    YES (+72 pips)