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Summary: Precious metals, notably Gold, continue to rise strongly, as Gold reaches record highs and heads towards $4,000.

1. Precious metals are in strong focus as they all continue to rise with strong bullish momentum. Notable highlights:
   1. Gold reached a new record high at $3,945. It looks quite likely to eventually continue to the really big round number at $4,000 which would likely trigger some profit-taking by long trade holders.
   2. Silver also rose strongly to reach a new 14-year high above $47.63, putting the 2011 record high price just below $50 in sight. There is much speculation that Silver will soon test this high, given the momentum generated by its recent meteoric rise.
   3. Platinum is weaker but still touched a new 12-year high price in recent hours. Although Platinum futures are too large for most retail traders to safely trade, exposure to the price of Platinum can be obtained via the PPLT ETF which is affordable.
   4. Trend and momentum traders will be interested in being long of Gold and Silver, and maybe Platinum also.
2. Japan is in focus today as the ruling LDP elected notable monetary dove Takaichi as its new leader to become Prime Minister of Japan. The news sent the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index soaring above its all-time high, rising on the day by almost 5%. The Japanese Yen also lost a lot of value, by more than 2% against several currencies such as the Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian Dollars, putting Yen crosses in focus, especially the AUD/JPY.
3. In the Forex market, the US Dollar has strengthened today. The Australian Dollar has been the strongest major currency since today's Tokyo open, with the Japanese Yen the weakest. There is also some residual focus on the EUR/USD currency pair, which made a substantial bullish breakout two weeks ago by closing at a new 4-year high price, but has since made a deep bearish retracement. However, the price here is falling, putting $1.1700 in sight again.
4. US stock market indices are rising and are currently trading off-hours close to their all-time highs which were made last week. Global stock markets are generally bullish. Trend traders will probably want to be long of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 indices.
5. The President of the European Central Bank will be testifying today before the European Parliament on monetary policy.
6. It is a public holiday today and tomorrow in China.

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