07:45am  ~   I shall be at home all day today, I’ve meetings here this morning with council planners and architects – together with the normal (occasional) chart watching and emailing.  I am also going to spend a few hours getting on with writing my Trading Psychology book as well this afternoon which I started a few months ago. But before all that, it’s a bracing cycle ride with a neighbour along the coastal path up towards Benacre Broad.

Overnight the Japanese Nikkei index hit a 7-month high on the back of a falling Yen –  which is good news for exporters – and also a cabinet reshuffle for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe which is being perceived as pro-growth for the country. News that the Japanese Government Pension Fund is going to go directly into the market themselves and buy more domestic stock also gave a boost to its market. Even though there was upbeat manufacturing data released, last night both American indices finished down on the day, well off their recent highs as traders sit on the fence for the time being as there is a raft of economic news left to be released this week – European Central Bank and the Bank Of England meetings tomorrow, U.S. Non Farm Payroll jobs data on Friday plus a two day NATO meeting to try and decide what kind of weak response should be aimed at IS and Putin over the next few weeks. Traders are going to be reluctant to hold stock over the weekend as there is bound to be some surprises before the markets open again next Monday.

Continued concerns that European and Chinese manufacturing is slowing spilled over to the Crude Oil market yesterday with fears of a drop in demand sent the WTI Crude price tumbling down over $3 at one stage before bargain-hunters came into the market and started buying at the $92.65 support level – another good example of support/resistance trading.  Gold had a generally bearish day on the back of a strengthening U.S. Dollar and it fell through its significant $1275 support level, so the next stopping off point seems to be $1240 although increased warmongering by the Russian President should cause a resumption in buying for safe-haven purposes.

Market Close Tuesday 2nd Sept. 2014:  Dow Jones 30  -30.89 @ 17,067.56  S&P 500  -1.09 @ 2,002.28  FTSE 100  +3.866 @ 6,829.17  DAX 30  +27.99 @ 9,507.02  CAC 40  -1.40 @ 4,378.33

11:10am  ~  I have been distracted slightly this morning with the various ‘guests’ in the cottage but there’s not much that I’ve missed so far on my charts – it seems that a ‘faux-ceasefire’ agreement between Ukraine and Russia has got the markets excited so I’ll wait for them to settle down before I look again for any possible set-ups.

13:05pm  ~  There maybe a trendFX trade setting up on my Brent Oil chart — time will tell, I’ll see what occurs over the next few candles.

13:45pm  ~  Quite quickly that possible trade has turned into an actual (long) position and I am in the market with a 23 pip stop loss.

15:10pm  ~   Need to help a friend out down at the harbour quickly so I’ve closed off my Brent trade as I’m happy with the +73 pip profit.

16:05pm  ~  Back home now so I’m going to squirrel myself away quietly and get on with my trading psychology book and have half an eye on my charts and inbox.

17:15pm  ~  Just got into a quick (long) price reversal trade on the S&P 500 using one of the “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups  –  stop loss is a heady 18 pips.

18:30pm  ~  Just come out of my position (at +35 pips) and there’s another one setting up in the opposite direction it would seem.

18:40pm  ~  The S&P price has come down sufficiently to trigger a ‘short’ trade – and I have an 11 pip stop-loss.

20:45pm  ~  Out now of the 2nd trade of the evening – with a profit of +43 pips.

Daily Target  +20 pips

Pips Achieved  +150 pips.