07:55am CET (6:55am UK time)  ~  Mostly at home today for me helping the builders finish up by this evening so I will report back here if I spot any trading opportunities  when I pop back here to the study to glance at my charts from time to time.

The U.S. markets are still advancing well on the back of the Republican’s majority in both houses now with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting another all time high last night, helped also by the ADP employment numbers released yesterday showing there were 230,000 jobs added to the market in October which helps optimism for the general economy even though the Fed has curtailed its money-printing programme.  The S&P500 also rose well yesterday and equalled Monday’s high of 2025 before falling back slightly but a move above that level today will confirm further gains are on the cards for the year-end rally.

Traders here in Europe will be concentrating on the ECB press conference at lunchtime to see of there are any hints regarding monetary stimulus to get the EU out of the recessionary spiral it finds itself in at the moment. There is a rate announcement an hour earlier but any shift in the base lending rate is not expected as they are already at virtually zero now anyway – if you trade forex take care with open positions in the Euro after midday.

Weekly Crude Oil inventory numbers in the U.S. were released as usual yesterday afternoon and they reveal a slowing of stockpiles which gave WTI Crude a welcome lift after recent falls, it ended the day at $78:88 after a generally bullish session.  Gold suffered yesterday due to the perception that the Republicans will help the economy which will benefit equity markets meaning there is less of a need for hedge for investors, it fell for most of the day to end at $1140:40 with no real support as these levels have not been since 2010.

Market Close Wednesday 5th November 2014:   Dow Jones 30  +100.69 @ 17,484.53  S&P 500  +11.47 @ 2,023.57  NASDAQ  -2.96 @ 4,153.27  FTSE 100  +85.17 @ 6,539.14  UK AIM  +1.14 @ 716.20  DAX 30  +149.01 @ 9,315.48  CAC 40  +78.23 @4,208.42  IBEX  +78.23 @ 10,276.90  Nikkei 225 (Today)  -144.84 @ 16,792.48  Hang Seng (Today)  -7.49  @ 23,688.13

All times below are Central European Time (CET) subtract 1hr for UK.

09:25am  ~  Off out for a quick cycle ride, nothing much happening on my charts.

11:05am  ~  Back home and I’ve just noticed a possible UTB trade setting up on my CAC 40 chart.  It needs a little while longer to fully develop so I shall watch it closely for the next half hour or so.

11:40am  ~  The CAC 40 price has now risen high enough to trigger a long trade with a 7 pip stop loss.  The movement on this French index is never very much so the upside is low stop losses but the downside is also low targets as the daily movement is much less than the German DAX 30 and the FTSE 100.  As you probably know, the S&P 500 is the best mover of my favourites.

13:15pm  ~  The strong upward momentum is slowing so I’ve come out of my UTB trade with a +24 pip profit.  Time for lunch in town.

19:00pm   ~ Just got back indoors after an unexpected afternoon out in Port de Soller visiting friends so there’s no further trading to report – although I will have a quick look in a minute to see what’s been happening while we’ve been away.

19:10pm  ~  There maybe a “Trade With A Day Job” position setting up on the S&P 500.

19:20pm  ~  I am in a ‘long’ trade with a 13 pip stop loss.

20:10pm  ~  Still in the trade, the S&P 500 is slowly going up but there’s no real enthusiasm, probably the thought of tomorrow’s Non Farm Payroll announcement.

20:40pm  ~  Just came out of my TWADJ position, I’ve managed +27 pips making +51 pips for the day.