Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 76 points to 15,468, the Nasdaq added 10 points
at 3,930 and the S&P500 gained 10 points at 1,755.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently down 199 points at 14,514 and the Hang Seng
off 16 points at 23,300.

WTI crude oil traded at $97.80 a barrel and Brent crude at $109.97.

Gold settled at $1,342 an ounce.

Good hunting!

G.

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FTSE / DOW

From yesterday evening :- Sir John Major calls for windfall tax on energy profits

has called for an emergency tax on the profits of the UK's top energy firms.

The ex-Conservative leader said recent price rises of more than 10% were "unacceptable" and action was needed.

The government could claw back the cost of extra winter fuel payments through a one-off tax, he suggested.

Downing Street said there was no such plan but called Sir John's comments "interesting". Energy firms said they were helping customers keep bills down.

Ministers have rejected a call by Labour leader Ed Miliband for a price freeze, describing it as a "con" and urging hard-pressed consumers to switch suppliers instead.

Apple’s new iPad Air boosts used tablet market

Many iPhone users have a simple incentive to upgrade to the latest model once their two-year contract expires: They can sell the old model for roughly the cost of the new one. Here’s the surprising thing: iPad owners, who aren’t on two-year contracts, and don’t have the same incentives, are upgrading even more often.

European Factors to Watch - Overbought stocks set for lower start

Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:34am BST
LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - European stocks are seen snapping their nine-day
winning streak on Wednesday as traders book profits on "overbought" indexes,
taking their cue from a sell-off in Asian shares.

Financial spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE 100 to open 15 to 23
points lower, or as much as 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX to open 13 to 27
points lower, also down as much as 0.3 percent, and France's CAC 40 to
open 12 to 22 points lower, or as much as 0.6 percent.

European equities rose to a fresh five-year high on Tuesday in a broad-based
rally after a weak U.S. jobs report boosted expectations that the Federal
Reserve would keep monetary policy ultra-loose for longer.

The euro zone Euro STOXX 50 index is at its most "overbought"
since 2006 based on its 14-day wilder smoothing Relative Strength Index, which
hit 73 points on Tuesday.

A reading above 70 indicates "overbought" conditions and the Euro STOXX 50
fell each time its RSI came close to 73 over the past seven years.

"Although the bulls got another leg up yesterday on the slow growth/easy
monetary policy story, catalysts for further upside movement look a little thin
on the ground," Jonathan Sudaria, a dealer at Capital Spreads, said in a trading
note.

"With equities having had quite a stellar run over the last two weeks and
looking a little overbought, profit taking could turn into a deeper pull-back."

The broader STOXX Europe 600 index was trading at 5-year highs
after climbing for nine consecutive sessions, leaving the index trading at 13.3
times its expected earnings for the next 12 months, a premium to its 10-year
average at 12, Datastream data showed.

China shares surrendered early gains on Wednesday as profit taking
accelerated on the year's outperformers and fresh concerns about liquidity sent
money rates higher.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, also cited a media
report that Chinese banks have tripled debt write-offs in the first half of this
year as a reason fuelling the sell-off.

Kiss the dollar goodbye

The government has reopened. A catastrophic debt default was avoided. And America's somewhat diminished credit rating remains intact (save a downgrade from the Chinese, which doesn't really count).

And thanks to constant reassurances from Federal Reserve officials, and Tuesday’s weaker-than-expected payroll gains, it doesn't look like the ongoing $85 billion-a-month quantitative-easing (QE) stimulus is going to be slowed anytime soon. Wall Street increasingly doesn't expect the much-discussed and much-feared "taper" until sometime in early 2014. And even that depends on Republicans and Democrats coming together by January to forge a long-term budget deal and prevent another shutdown showdown.

But the casualty in all this has been the U.S. dollar, which has fallen out of its two-year trading range and now threatens to return to its 2011 lows.

Nikkei suffers biggest loss in 3 weeks as strong yen hits sentiment

Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:19am BST
TOKYO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
suffered its biggest decline in three weeks on Wednesday, hit by
the dollar's tumble against the yen on heightened expectations
the Federal Reserve will keep its stimulus in place until early
next year.

The Nikkei dropped 2.0 percent to 14,426.05, retreating from
a 3-1/2 week high of 14,799.28 touched in the morning session
and breaching its 25-day moving average of 14,432.21.

Traders said that futures selling was triggered by weakness
in the dollar, which slipped 0.8 percent to 97.36 yen.

The Topix declined 1.5 percent to 1,195.98, with
2.72 billion shares changing hands, the highest since Oct 2.

Morning All.

Interesting about that Dollar fall comment Skinny, noticed a couple of my gold stocks on my watch list did zip up a little yesterday.

Stan - gold was on a run yesterday afternoon

and - from the above article :-

"For investors, the dollar's slide is creating opportunities in beaten down areas like precious metals and industrial metals. Both the SPDR Gold Trust GLD -0.03% and the iShares Silver SLV +0.23% have moved over their 20-day moving averages for the first time since August. Copper, represented by the iPath Copper JJC +1.08% , looks ready to punch out of a three-month pennant formation.

Individual stocks in this area, including IAMGOLD IAG -0.40% , also look ready for powerful moves higher. If IAG can merely return to its August high, it would be worth a 40% move from here. I've added IAG to my Edge Letter Sample Portfolio, where you can track the recommendations made in my blogs and columns."

Interesting thanks.

FTSE100 moves modestly lower in early deals today

ECB, on new mission, sets out bank health tests plan

FRANKFURT | Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:23am BST
(Reuters) - The European Central Bank vowed on Wednesday to submit the euro zone's top banks to a comprehensive batch of tests next year, staking its credibility on a review that aims to build confidence in the sector.

The ECB wants to unearth potential risks hidden in banks' balance sheets before supervision is centralised under its roof from November 2014 as part of a European banking union.

GBP MPC Asset Purchase Facility Votes 0-0-9 0-0-9 0-0-9

GBP MPC Official Bank Rate Votes 0-0-9 0-0-9 0-0-9

GBP BBA Mortgage Approvals 43.0K 39.4K 38.2K

FTSE100 remains modestly lower in brisk midday trade

USD Import Prices m/m 0.2% 0.3% 0.0%

Spain out of recession, central bank says

Spain's economy has emerged from recession after growing for the first time in more than two years, according to estimates from the Bank of Spain.

Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.1% between July and September, the bank said.

However, GDP was still 1.2% lower in the quarter compared with the same period last year.

FTSE100 ends range-bound session modestly lower