David Fuller's view I mentioned yesterday that I had introduced breakeven stops for all of my stock market futures shorts, as a precaution prior to going on holiday on 25th May. With hindsight, it would have been far smarter to take the profits on offer at the time. The following stops were triggered this afternoon for the German DAX, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 Indices.

One third of my September DAX short was stopped out (bought in) this morning at 7347, against my sale at 7350.8 on 16th May. These prices include spread-bet dealing costs of 7 points each way. For the record, I pulled this stop when I checked my account late yesterday evening, on seeing that the after hours trading spread had widened to 15 points. I then reinstated the stop late this morning, during normal opening hours for DAX futures.

This afternoon, I introduced a breakeven stop for my latest lean hogs short, also opened on 16th May.

This evening two-thirds of my S&P shorts were stopped out at 1336 and 1339, against my sales at 1338.63 and 1341.13 on 26th April. These prices include spread-bet dealing costs of 1 point each way.

I was also stopped out of my NDX (listed as US Tech 100) short at 2360, against my sale at 2363.6 on 16th May, including spread-bet dealing costs of 4 points each way.

Today's downside key day reversal for US 30-year T-bonds is interesting. Downside follow through on Thursday would validate this signal, suggesting that a correction had commenced in response to an overextended rally. I still have a short position in June T-bond futures and will allow it to be rolled forward on 26th May.