07:55am CET (06:55 UK time)  ~  Early start for me today as we have friends arriving from the UK this morning and this means no trading for me again and I’m away from my charts now until next Tuesday as we are also going to Minorca for a 3-day break.

Yesterday it was again the case that bad news was good news for the markets – in the U.S. there was disappointing retail sales figures which came in at a 0.3% fall against an expected 0.3% rise.  Against retails traders expectations both the Dow Jones 30 and S&P 500 rallied by well over 1% by the end of the session as there was general consensus that these numbers would go some way to convincing the Fed to delay a rate rise which is penciled in for this summer.  Here in Europe sentiment was slightly more downbeat as news of the latest Greek bailout reached markets – they received just under €500 million in emergency liquidity assistance from the European Central Bank yesterday and traders are still unsure that a permanent solution will be reached.

Crude oil values were still under pressure yesterday on Global oversupply worries, the April delivery contract for U.S. WTI Crude ended down $1.12 at $47.05 although it’s regained some ground during the overnight Asian session and UK Brent suffered similiar falls but is also bouncing back as bargain hunters are getting back into the market in a small way but volumes are down significantly as the big traders wait on the sidelines looking for direction.  As U.S. equities rose yesterday Gold values suffered again but seem to be holding at the $1147 support level although my daily chart chart still shows an oversold situation.

Market Close Thursday 12th March 2015:   Dow Jones 30  +259.83 @ 17,895.22  S&P 500  +25.71 @ 2,065.95  NASDAQ  +30.85 @ 4,336.23  FTSE 100  +39.56 @ 6,761.07  UK AIM  +4.62 @ 716.21  DAX 30  -6.60 @ 11,799.39  CAC 40  -10.42 @ 4,987.33  IBEX  -10.00 @ 11,011.80   Nikkei 225 (Today)  +263.14 @ 19,254.25  Hang Seng (currently)  +55.54 @ 23,853.50