09:25am (CET)  ~  No market update from me today I am still away on a long-weekend break, but I will be back home in the UK late tomorrow

09:35am  ~  A happy St.Valentine’s Day to you all. It’s a late start for me after an extremely late night and I have a few errands to do before going off for a long weekend skiing.

The Dow Jones index seems to have hit resistance at the 16000 level and yesterday retails sales numbers was down on expectations but corporate earnings seems to be stopping an outright fall in the market. Over here in London the FTSE100 is still obeying the 6700 resistance and ended broadly flat yesterday after a 70 point trading range movement and in Europe we have GDP numbers that have caused slight ripples in the EUR/USD chart earlier.

Continuing bad weather in the U.S. is holding up WTI crude values and the support level at $100 seems in tact so far, and Gold is also staying above the psychologically important $1300 as investors are increasingly seeking safe-haven investments.

09:55am  ~  I can see a possible ‘long’ trade setting up on my Gold chart, so I’ll hang on a short while to see what happens before I go out shopping.

10:30am  ~  I am in the Gold trade using strategy 4 from my trendFX collection of systems. Stop loss is 16 pips.

12:10pm  ~  I’ve come out of my Gold position as I am getting grief from The Blonde, there’s much shopping to do apparently !  I’ll give full details of the trade later when I get back home, but a glance at your own chart will confirm a reasonable profit was achieved.

15:05pm  ~  Back from town now and now a quick pack of bags and we’re off to Southend Airport.  My Gold trade earlier took advantage of the large rise in its price today although since the U.S. trading session open it really just been treading water. Now it’s broken the $1300 level, the next significant number looks like $1325 and then $1360 the high at the end of October last year. I came out at 1318.7 giving me +96 pips.

My trading has given me +346 pips this week since Tuesday.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+96 pips)

08:15am  ~  Up to the cottage in Suffolk later this morning to sort out some reported storm damage and then off Skiing in Chamonix tomorrow with some trader friends.

Yesterday on the markets both the Dow Jones 30 and S&P500 formed reversal candles at resistance levels on the daily charts and already in overnight trading have fallen from the highs of Wednesday’s session.

Optimism regarding the US economic growth gave the markets a boost but then we had some disappointing corporate earnings especially coming from brand names like Procter & Gamble and Amazon hence markets ended rather flat on the day.  Over here in London the FTSE100 formed a Spinning-Top at the 6700 level during yesterday’s session, a point at which we previously had some short term support in the first few weeks of January, so we could have some short trade opportunities today.

U.S. WTI Crude initially rose in early trading but crude oil inventories numbers that came in slightly higher than anticipated caused a drop by the end of the day, ending just above $100.

08:45am  ~  I have a pile of emails to answer plus some charts to send customers so I am going to watch a few of my own charts for the next few hours as well to see if any trading opportunities come up.

09:10am  ~  I am now in ‘short’ position on my S&P500 chart, it looks like it may move down towards the 1810 level which is a previous resistance level so may provide support this time – we’ll see…….

10:45am  ~  Nothing much happening with this S&P position but I’ll hang on a bit longer in the market before I have to go up to Southwold.

11:20am  ~  I have to leave now so I’m setting up a stop-loss and going to leave it alone  -  I shall check back this afternoon when I get up to Suffolk. During my normal trading I manually come out of trades at either my profit level or stop-loss but as I’ll be away from the screen for quite a few hours I need to ensure that my risk is limited.

14:25pm  ~  Just turned on my charts up here and I’ve closed off my S&P500 position as the U.S. market is going to open in a few minutes time – often there is a volatile reaction and the trade has got to +41 pips which I’m more than happy with.

17:10pm  ~  I have been on the roof for most of the afternoon trying to rebuild part of one of the chimneys but I’m now back in the study to watch my S&P500 chart – and see if there’s any evening trading set-ups.

18:15pm  ~  There’s been no “Trade With A Day Job” opportunities yet but I am now in a ‘long ‘ position on the S&P500 with one of my trendFX strategies.

20:05pm  ~  I am still in my earlier trade and I’m now also in a ‘short’ position with my “Trade With A Day Job” system. The 1st trade is not going to last though, cannot be long and short on the same chart !

21:10pm  ~  It’s the end of the U.S. trading session so the two trades are done and they’ve ended ok. The 1st trade came in at +30 pips and the other was ended at +23 pips.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+94 pips)

08:25am  ~  It looks as though I am going to be at home for most of today as I have meetings with builders and the accountant this morning, a clutch of Skype calls this afternoon plus the obligatory cycle ride at some stage. I shall report on any trades I have as well, when I get a chance to look at some charts.

News of yesterday’s U.S. market rally has mainly been attributed to Janet Yellen’s speech – reassuring markets that she’s not going to upset the apple cart as far as economic and monetary policy goes, but more likely it was the fact that  Republicans finally drew a line under one of the more enduring and long running  political stalemate of the past few months, when House leader John Boehner announced that Congress would be voting for a “clean” debt limit hike midway through the US trading session. The Dow Jones 30 finished 180 points up at 15979 last night but has now hit a minor resistance level so there maybe some shorting opportunities later today if you do trade that index.

Over here in the UK, today’s quarterly inflation report from the Bank of England should see tweaks to Governor Mark Carney’s policy, when  outlines the banks outlook for the UK economy. He has previously suggested the Bank’s base rate should not rise until we see unemployment get down to 7%, but this figure looks likely to be reached in the next few months instead of 2016 as was originally predicted.

11:45am  ~  No trading for me this morning as I’ve not been able to get in front of a computer screen for any meaningful time but I will be watching a few charts after l get back from lunch.

17:15pm  ~  Not much happening this afternoon on my charts while I was watching them just after the U.S. open so I ended up going out for a cycle ride.  I’ve just switched them back on to watch for any “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups.

21:10pm  ~  I had a reasonably busy evening on the trading front, my first trade with my evening system kicked off just after 5:30pm. That was stopped out at 18228 giving me -14 pips but I did have a second successful trade that I have just come out of. That gave me +23 pips, so I’ve ended up on the day.

Daily Target Reached ?  NO  (+9 pips)

08:15am ~  I got back here from a weekend away late last night, so there will be an easy start to the week for me today, I’ll be watching some charts later this morning while doing emails and a few Skype calls this morning.  A bracing cycle ride first along the (overflowing) river bank.

Over in the U.S. Janet Yellen , the newly appointed Federal Reserve Chairman is due to deliver her first speech on monetary policy later today. Traders seemed to be standing on the sidelines awaiting her comments and the Dow Jones closed rather flat around 15,800 mark last night. The S&P500 broke through the 1800 level so look out for long trading opportunities today and there was a rally in the overnight Asian trading session possibly on expectations that Yellen will not want to spook the global markets but maintain a happy medium, so the European markets should open slightly higher on the back of that.

After breaking above the psychologically important $100 mark yesterday, the U.S. WTI crude prices retraced in afternoon trading on profit taking closing slightly down at $99.90 a barrel. The US National Weather Service has forecast the winter storm may spread further across the country, hinting that chart support will stay for a while longer.

Gold prices rose again yesterday – this time up $9 to $1274.9 as Chinese buyers start to return into the precious metals market from holiday. The Gold chart is firmly on a rebound since the start of 2014 after dropping more than 30% last year and $1300 is firmly in traders sights.

10:05am  ~  Back in the study after a very wet cycle ride, switching charts on now to see what’s going on with my favourite few instruments.

11:50am  ~  Just got into a ‘short’ position on my S&P500 chart with a stop-loss of 17 pips. It’s a trendFX strategy one set-up.

12:15pm  ~  My S&P500 position was stopped out a while ago and I am off shortly to lunch at Loch Fyne with friends.

16:05pm  ~ Will be sitting down to watch some charts soon, I will report back later on how my late afternoon/evening trading session goes with the S&P500.

21:00pm  ~  I’ve had a few problems updating this blog earlier so I’m going to a complete run-down of my trading since 4pm. I have had three trades altogether, the 1st one was using my trendFX strategy one set-up on my S&P500 chart. I have not long been out of that position and I have come away with +137 pips.  As well as that trade I also had two trades with my “Trade With A Day Job” system, the first one dead on 5pm (which was stopped out at minus 13 pips) and the subsequent one kicked off just after 7pm and was closed  off at the same time as my initial trade at 18239 (+40 pips)

So all in all I’ve had four trades today, two losers, two winners and an overall profit of +147 pips.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+147 pips)

15:55pm  ~  No market update earlier this morning I’m afraid, I am still away on a long weekend break in Le Touquet, but I shall be back later today so normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

08:20am  ~  It’s that time of the month again, the first Friday of the month and the U.S. employment numbers are out at lunchtime.  As usual this means I shall not be trading today as the markets will be flat this morning followed by volatility after the U.S. trading session open.

The U.S. Labour Department announced yesterday that the weekly jobless claims figures fell for the first time in 3 weeks to 331000, a 20,000 loss compared with last week. Meanwhile earnings from well known brands like Coca Cola & Walt Disney came in above estimates suggesting the U.S.  economy remains on the up for the moment. This then translated in a sharp rally during yesterday’s session with the Dow Jones 30 ending ahead by 165 points to 15,614.  The S&P500 has bounced nicely off the support level at 1737 as well after a rest on Tuesday. Does this mean the Non Farm Payroll numbers are going to come in ahead of expectations with markets rising or have the numbers been priced in after yesterday’s rise ?

Why does the Non Farm Payrolls numbers matter so much ?  Well, the U.S. is the world’s largest economy and job creation over there  is an important leading indicator of consumer spending, and that accounts for a majority of overall economic activity in America.

07:55am  ~  Up quite early this morning, I’m driving upto the cottage in Suffolk as I’ve got a clay-pigeon shoot at a friends farm this afternoon.

Overnight the Asian trading session was quite buoyant which should rub off on today’s European markets. Over here the two main events are going to be the Central Bank meetings although the Bank Of England one is being widely billed as a non-event.  The ECB meeting should be slightly more exciting with the markets pressurising Mario Draghi to do something about deflation risks in the Eurozone.  Yesterday’s U.S. economic data came out better than expected and that pushed up the Dow Jones slightly to end at 15448 up 41 points.

Weekly U.S. oil inventories showed an expected drop in stocks together with unusually high demand due to bad weather pushed the WTI price higher although late session profit taking brought the value down 34 cents into the red at $97.26.

23:05pm  ~  No trading for me today, I’ve been out all afternoon/evening up the road at a friend’s farm.

08:15am  ~  I’ve got a quick trip up to London this morning to visit Snow+Rock in Kensington High Street to get some Skiing stuff, I shall be back at lunchtime I should imagine.

There was a mixed day on the markets yesterday, the Dow Jones and S&P500 managed a slim rise and the German Dax finished around 50 points up after resting on a long-term support level. Traders will be watching today’s ADP Non Farm Employment change for clues about where the Non Farm Payrolls number are going to be this coming Friday and the WTI Crude price rose slightly yesterday on expectations that today’s stockpile number in the U.S. are going to fall due to the adverse weather they’ve been experiencing in the past few weeks.  If you are trading today keep watching the Forex Factory calendar as there are announcements throughout the day which are going to affect the markets. The sharp rally for emerging market currencies has shifted sentiment away from safe haven investments so this hurt the Gold price yesterday, it was bearish for most of the European trading session but climbed slightly during last night’s Asian session.

14:20pm  ~  I am back home but the markets are quite volatile so I shall wait until this evening before I do any serious chart watching.

17:00pm  ~  It’s kick-off time for my “Trade With A Day Job” strategy and there is already a price-reversal set-up showing on my chart.

17:15pm  ~  I am in short in the S&P.

23:45pm  ~  My trade earlier only lasted a few minutes, and I came out with 20 pips – but we went straight out for the evening and this is my first chance to update this diary.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+20 pips)

07:35am  ~  As we rushed out last night for Chinese New Year celebrations I did not have time to complete yesterday’s Trading Diary.  My last trade of the day kicked off just before 6pm and ended quite abruptly at a quarter to seven as everyone else was ready to go out. The trade was a “Trade With A Day Job” set-up and I ended up with +102 pips. This contributed to a total pip count yesterday of +304 pips, a nice way to start the new month.

The markets yesterday had a bearish slant to them, with the Dow Jones 30 losing 340 points by the end of the day to close at 15379 and the S&P500 was similarly affected. Most of the reason was China’s Purchasing manager’s Index (PMI) for January dropped to a 6 month low of 50.5 fuelling concerns that the world’s second largest economy is undoubtedly slowing down.  At the same time emerging markets extended their drop in value adding to fears that we are at the start of a large stock market correction.

Gloomy economic data across the board was by and large the main culprit of a bearish trading day yesterday so as usual, traders turned to safe-haven instruments which meant gold prices extended their rally, gaining $14.7 to $1257.6.

I am off for an early cycle ride in a short while and then I shall be in the study for the rest of the morning doing emails, Skype calls and some chart watching.

10:15am  ~  While sitting here doing some emails I have got myself into two trades, one on my S&P500 chart and the other on my Gold chart – both shorts unusually as these two instruments often work in opposite directions.

12:10pm  ~  I am off to Prezzo for lunch so I have put in stop losses at break even for both trades and I’ll see what’s happened when I get back.

14:45pm  ~  Both trades hit their stop loss level so I am out of the market at the moment with zero pips. Going to have a lazy afternoon catching up on some Kindle books

17:10pm  ~  Going to watch my S&P500 chart to see what comes up with my “Trade With A Day Job” strategy.

18:25pm  ~  I am in a ‘long’ position on the S&P500 with a 21 pip stop-loss.

20:10pm  ~  Speedy update, my first trade was stopped out at minus 21 pips and I am now in a second trade, this time it’s a ‘short’ position on the same chart.

20:30pm  ~  That was a quick trade !  The S&P500 price has come down fairly quickly in the last 10 minutes and I have out with a profit of +57 pips, so my overall score tonight has come in at +36 pips.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+36 pips)