07:30am    No trading for me today, I have a long meeting here this morning with the builders and then clay pigeon shooting this afternoon.

I am away from my screens tomorrow as well but back trading on Friday.

Market Update:

Main news in the market so far today is the Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMI which came in earlier at 47 eaxactly against a level of 47.3 in August and an estimation of 47.6. A number of over 50 gives an indication of expansion in the manufacturing sector and under 50 is contraction and looking at the figures since November last year, there has only been one month above 50 (February) so really this has been a slow decline in purchasing manager’s outlook on the general economy and it really goes to show that the stimulus that the Chinese Central bank has been implementing has had little or no effect so far this year.

The announcement sent equity markets down in overnight trading and Europe is expected to open lower with the Volkswagen story also weighing heavily on share indices again today. The Chinese Shanghai Composite was 1.4% lighter earlier this morning and the Hang Seng even further down at -2.3% but no figure for the Japanese market as they are on a 3-day holiday at the moment.

Crude oil markets fell again yesterday on expectations of falling demand due to weak manufacturing figures, WTI Crude falling nearly 1.9% by the end of Tuesday’s U.S. trading session and the daily chart is gearing up for a sudden move soon either up or down. Gold suffered its second day of losses yesterday although weakness in equity markets should give a boost to its value as we go towards the end of the week.