08:05am (7:05 UK Time)  ~  I am of on a cycle ride in a minute then I shall be helping the builders with work they’re doing here for the next week or so.  I also have 4 Skype calls with people who are keen to learn to trade and would like to know how to get started.

Overnight Asian markets rallied on the back of the rise in U.S. equities following weaker than expected retail figures which traders believe will prompt Fed Chairman Janet Yellen to postpone a rate rise, and this perception may well keep the Dow Jones and S&P indices on their bullish trajectory in the short term.  There is a different story over here in Europe where the ECB is hinting at some more economic stimulus as the member countries are suffering from stagnating growth and selected banking problems. GDP data later today will give traders some clues as to what President Mario Draghi will have in mind for the EU to kickstart the economy once again. The U.S. WTI Crude price fell to $97.30 yesterday on weekly data showing a rise in stocks at Cushing and the prospect of decreasing demand in the U.S. over the next few months, although as autumn weather comes stocks will deplete with a corresponding increase in value – there is quite a strong historic support at $97 so watch out for bullish trade opportunities on lower timeframe charts. Gold has been trading in a range between $1340 and $1280 for a while now and looking at the daily chart gives an impression of more bullish movement in the short term, solid support at $1305 in the past few days gives a clue to more upside movement so look for small pullbacks to enable safe ‘long’ positions up towards the $1323 resistance level.

Market Close Wednesday 13th Aug. 2014:  Dow Jones 30  +91.86 @ 16,651.80  S&P 500  +12.97 @ 1,946.72  FTSE 100  +24.26 @ 6,656.68  DAX 30  +129.41 @ 9,198.88  CAC 40  +32.63 @ 4,194.79

11:20am (CET)  ~  I’ve just come inside and switched on this laptop to do some emails and chart-watching and there’s some interesting movements on the clutch of favourite instruments. More news soon.

11:55am  ~  Update:  There is a possible ‘long’ trendFX trade setting up on my S&P500 chart + a UTB pattern trying to emerge on the Gold chart.

15:30pm  ~  I have had problems updating this diary today – just been able to get back on here. The two possible trades I mentioned earlier both came off and I ran them to just before the opening of the U.S. trading session.  The ‘long’ position on the S&P500 came out at +33 pips and the UTB Gold ‘short’ ended up at +40 pips.

Off to help the builders some more now and then back in front of my charts at 6pm to see if there are any “Trade With A Day Job” opportunities on the S&P chart.

19:40pm  ~  We are off out soon so I am getting close to the end of my evening trading session and nothing has popped up yet – there’s still 15 minutes to go though.

20:00pm  ~  No opportunities this evening – so the total for today still stands at +73 pips after the two earlier trades.

Daily Target +20 pips

Pips Achieved +73 pips