08:10am CET (07:10 UK time)  ~  At home today as the builders are back so I will be chart watching and doing emails for most of the day.

There are now quite a few reasons for equity traders to be wary of the record highs that have been the norm recently and many indices witnessed record falls yesterday as a result. A higher U.S. Dollar and fear of a sooner than expected rate rise was a couple of reasons that a big sell-off occurred in New York yesterday.  The Dow Jones index of 30 leading companies finished down nearly 2% on the day and has now given up all of its gains for 2015 as it’s now back to December levels of around 17,700. The strength of the Dollar impacts on the countries exports and even the fall in oil prices yesterday did nothing to halt any slide. Here in Europe there are reports that Greece is yet again going to run out of money before the end of this month even though they have been given €555 million by the Greek Bank Rescue Fund yesterday and they may have to raid pension and social security funds.

To compound all this bad news, there was also less than encouraging Chinese Economic Data showing that February’s industrial production fell over 1% compared with January’s numbers, giving strength to rumours of a general global slowdown.  In the crude oil market, U.S. WTI continues it’s slow slide down towards the support level around $44 due mainly to a strong Dollar but also due to rumours of higher stockpile numbers that are out later today.  According to trader friends in the city, the corresponding fall in Brent Crude was due mainly to profit taking after recent highs.

Market Close Tuesday 10th March 2015:   Dow Jones 30  -332.78 @ 17,662.94  S&P 500  -35.27 @ 2,044.16  NASDAQ  -83.91 @ 4,329.08  FTSE 100  -173.63 @ 6,702.84  UK AIM  -4.31 @ 711.63  DAX 30  -81.73 @ 10,902.20  CAC 40  -55.25 @ 4,881.95  IBEX  -152.00 @ 10,902.20   Nikkei 225 (Today)  +58.41 @ 18,723.52  Hang Seng (currently)  -176.62 @ 23,720.36

All times below are CET (UK + 1hr)

09:25am  ~  Just got into a ‘short’ position on my U.S. WTI Crude chart. More details to follow as I have to sort out the builders right now and get them focused….

10:15am  ~  Right, the details of the above trade: it’s a trendFX strategy 3 set-up on my WTI Crude chart and I have a 21 pip stop loss.

10:30am  ~  The WTI Crude selling momentum is starting to diminish so I am out of my position with a +24 pip profit.

12:50pm  ~  Just got back from a short cycle ride and I can see a possible UTB pattern setting up on my WTI chart.

13:05pm  ~  The price has risen high enough to trigger a trade so I am in a ‘long’ position although I am very wary of the U.S. crude stock numbers that are due to be released soon.  My stop loss is 19 pips.

14:15pm  ~  The WTI price is becoming more volatile so I have taken my quick profit and exited my position. I have ended up with +25 pips.  I am also in a ‘short’ UTB on my S&P 500 chart but the laptop that I was using for that trade has just died so I cannot give you any further details.

14:35pm  ~  All ok now, the stop loss on my current trade is 29 pips.

15:55pm  ~  Just resurrected the laptop and closed off my S&P 500 trades as there was the usual opening volatility that occurs as the U.S. markets get going. Final score was +77 pips.

18:10pm  ~  I’ve been watching my charts to see if there are any ‘Trade With A Day Job’ opportunities but nothing yet however I am now in a ‘long position on my Gold chart with another UTB trade — stop loss is 25 pips.

20:25pm  ~ We’re off out in 5mins for some supper in town so I’ve just closed off my Gold UTB trade with a +32 pip profit.