Welcome to a new trading year, everyone. It looks like the animal spirits continue to run strong for equities, as just about every asset class is in the green. One zone in particular which is looking like it’s truly breaking out for another leg up is crude oil. Perhaps the big OPEC deal has more legs than people gave it credit for.

In marked contrast to this is poor old gold, which has made a few attempts to get off the map, each one resulting in a less-energetic sputter.

I’m  not really sure what to make of this start-of-the-year strength, but I think we should give the excitement of a new calendar a few days to settle in before making any serious conclusions about where January is heading.