06:55am   Early start for me today as I’m off for a morning’s Clay Pigeon shooting at a friend’s farm so no trading for the time being.

Market Update:

Big news in the markets today is the FOMC statement this evening (19:00 UK time) with traders looking for subtle hints as to whether the imminent rate rise will be coming in September or December. Fed chief Janet Yellen has already stated that if the U.S. jobs market improves sufficiently it will trigger a base rate rise although many commentators feel the rise in employment this year is built on shaky foundations with most new jobs being minimum wage positions which are of no real good to the economy as those workers have no buying power in the market. She has also been on record as saying that the economy is ‘ready’ for a rate rise, so that move is starting to be priced into the market although there is little or no chance of a rise tonight during the Fed announcement.

The U.S. S&P 500 weekly chart is still showing a strong bullish trend and price action looks to heading towards the 2130 level once again in the next few weeks although we will probably know by the end of this week whether the concerns regarding the Chinese economy is going to effect this optimism. On the downside, this index has spent the last five months trying to advance above 2120 and has failed on a number of occasions and we may not see any notable bullish movement until the Chinese government sort their economy out and the U.S. gets used to a 1%-2% bank rate.

The Crude Oil market was hit by some bargain hunting yesterday as traders though the price was relatively cheap and this translated into a modest 65 cent rise during Wednesday’s session although today’s Inventories numbers from Cushing may well cancel that gain out as a rise of 1 million barrels is expected.