08:55am   No trading for me today or tomorrow as I have some personal things to sort out. Back on Thursday morning.

Market Update:

After the UK Bank Holiday yesterday the big news on the markets today is the Chinese Manufacturing PMI for August which has come in at 49.7, slightly lower than the July figure of 49.8. Any number below 50 denotes industry contraction although it must be noted that the figure for August will be slightly distorted by the fact that many factories in China are actually closed for the majority of the month together with the effect of the Bejing Athletics and the major explosion at Tianjin (and another one yesterday) so the September numbers will be more keenly watched. This fall in output for Chinese manufacturers has transferred into sharp moves down this morning for European equity markets with the Dax trading just under the 10,000 level, down over 230 points with London’s FTSE 100 following this sentiment at 40 points down currently. This negative sentiment is following on from the the worst month on the markets for four years

I am a keen watcher (and trader) of the Crude Oil markets and this week has seen continued rises that started last Tuesday and is mainly caused by a drop in U.S. production and OPEC now tiring of the low value of a barrel of oil so in the coming months they will no doubt flex their considerable muscles and cut production slightly to boost prices. There has also been considerable short covering in the markets in the past couple of days due to OPEC’s new stance and this has had the effect of pushing values up as well.