Hello again - and my apologies for a somewhat lightweight offering today. I seem to be having a few 'computer issues' and writing this has taken rather more time than anticipated - if I don't stop and save every line, it seems to disappear up its own cache or something like that. (Not that I actually know what a cache is - it just sounds nice and rude...)

Anyway, not a lot new is going on overall - everybody except the money markets seemed to have been caught out by the Bank of England's interest rate rise - I seem to recall recently suggesting that another rise would be inevitable, and now I still think a further rise isn't that far away as the Old Lady begins to wise up to what has been so glaringly obvious for so long now - that's to say rising inflation.

The difficulty of course is that interest rate rises themselves add to inflationary pressures, because for so many people, mortgages form far too big a proportion of their monthly outgoings.

But "no worries" eh? The markets just keep on keeping on rising and my credibility as a bear just keeps on keeping on falling. Ah well, unpopularity has never lost me much money in the trading environment, that's for sure!

On matters economic, I note that EMI has 'shocked' the City with a profits warning after a disastrous Christmas. You might say they are in Dire Straits but that would be a cheap shot - either that or a pathetic attempt at some kind of pun.......HMV of course we already knew were not in great shape, so given the need among the fat cats to generate this year's megabonuses, we might expect to see some M&A (Merger and Acquisition) activity soon in that sector.

The Yanks of course are still in denial about the bursting of their housing bubble and just went right on spendin' at Christmas like nothing was wrong - that's not going to be a very pretty economy over the next few years, of that I am certain.

Gordon's latest wheeze to massage unemployment figures by raising the school leaving age to 18 is a clever one. Teachers will love it, as will disaffected teenagers. Oh dear, the Williams cynicism just can't be controlled, New Year resolution or not. I just knew the resolutions wouldn't see Burns Night.

Moving along, I note with some considerable sadness that Magnus Magnusson has left the building. I met him several times via a mutual interest and a great many people besides yours truly will miss the gentle, mischievous sense of humour and sheer 'niceness' of the man. Every 'good word' that has been said about him in the past week, is true. I'm sure he's sitting in Valhalla right now, taking the mickey out of some poor soul in his inimitable, kindhearted way.

Next, there was an email from one of you during the week from which the following quote is worth reproducing here: "Ian, before I started trading I knew I was a bad loser. Now that I have been trading for a while, I know that I'm a TERRIBLE loser!" Of course, his recognition of that fact represents the first step on the road to mastering emotion as related to the trading environment. Can YOU admit the same thing? It is quite simply an impossibility NOT to lose in this arena if you are actually placing and managing trades. As has been mentioned in the past, most (if indeed not all) successful traders expect at least 50% of their trades to lose. You really need to remove the whole concept of 'winning/losing trades' from your mindset. 'Profitable/unprofitable' might be a better way to think about things - but we all need to learn to accommodate the 'non profitable' ones in our own particular fashion. I know that I have frequently mentioned the book 'The Disciplined Trader' by Mark Douglas and to reiterate, it's a hard read but an essential one, in my view.

Anyway, on to today's charts, or to be more accurate, 'chart'. Just one today, mainly due to the 'computer issues' mentioned above. All being well, normal service will be resumed next weekend - if anyone can call these ramblings 'normal' that is.

Today we're examining 'trendline probes' again, using the chart of Hunting to do so - don't forget that you can use the WICS search engine to learn more about such formations from earlier issues of course.

All the best till next weekend.

Ian.

'IMPORTANT NOTICE: These WICS charts are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. They represent only MY understanding of what is happening in the market for any particular share, stock, commodity or index. In NO circumstances should they be construed as recommendations to trade. If I choose to trade what I see, that is MY decision. YOU must, in turn, come to YOUR OWN conclusions about what action, if any, YOU might choose to take'.