We're looking at a somewhat flat start to the week. Oil prices look set to play a key role in directing equities.

Today's market may well face a struggle for direction. Uncertainty over oil prices and the future direction for U.S. interest rates has made it a somewhat choppy week.

The prospect for some profit taking ahead of the weekend break doubtless remains.

This is not just a question of supplies of oil or gas, though they of course play a serious role.

[In the original production of Sidney Kingsley's 1932 play,] They just jumped into the orchestra pit, put baby oil on themselves and called it water, ... Obviously, today we have much better resources. You want to see the splash, but you don't want to see the water. You want it to be a surprise to the audience and not reality. Reality is kind of not very magical.

Right now it's a squeeze play for oil industry, ... But if they can get by from here to February, I think the coast is clear.