Two speed economy. Tue Feb 8

The market has ambled on by 14 points after an hour and a quarter of the trading day. Retail and construction continues to suffer as mining surges on and the leaders today have been the big miners and the major banks following a solid result from Nab.
US indices are hugging the top of an uptrend. Here's the DJIA chart.

Meanwhile, the local market looks as if it has finally cleared away from the long band of congestion and I'm hoping that we can run up to the highs of April 2010 in the next couple of weeks.

My book is predominantly long but I'm tending to trade around my positions because the stocks are grinding higher rather than surging up.
Qantas has passed the first test which is to push through the high of the reversal day although it hasn't moved much on the day.

I'm rebuilding a long position in Arafura. It bounced off support early last week and has eased off over the last 3 trading days. The initial reason for the trade remains valid - the breakout was from 125.5 and there's now a potential higher low at 127. A push through Friday's high of 139 may bring some acceleration. Long at 134 with worst case stop around 124.

3.52 Back from running errands for a couple of hours. The Asx 200 crept forward to be up by 22 points or 0.4% although I note that the gains are led by the top 20 where that index is up 0.7%. Therefore, it's no surprise that my positions are pretty flat on the day.

Once again, I've essentially done housekeeping, taking advantage of positions that are at the top or bottom of their ranges. Hence, I sold a few Kar at 775 and Lyc at 184 and bought a couple of All back at 288. The only new position is the Aru long and this has pushed up to 136.5.

4.13 Up 22 was where it finished. It's pretty dull trading at the moment, the same stocks keep popping up and I'm trying to keep things tight. I don't mind too much though, since it's reasonably profitable.

The smartest thing I'm doing is getting away from the screens - watching grass grow can become exhausting. This afternoon I got my car cleaned and detailed. It was filthy before so I guess I can hold my head up in the neighbourhood again.