07:55am    Nice lazy day at home today so if I have any trades I will report them here.

Market Update:

Equity markets in Asian have again suffered large losses and the bearish sentiment was expected to affect the European open but futures markets are showing that they’re holding up fairly well at the moment although the official open in a few minutes may show a different story. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index has not done too badly but the Hang Seng has ended down 550 points (-2.69%) and the Shanghai Composite has fared even worse at -5.29% on continuing worries over the Chinese economy. As  a relatively secretive country, investors are not quite sure whether the Chinese government is always telling the true story as there is a very large percentage of private individuals in China who trade daily so their optimism has to be kept up in times of turmoil.

Another reason for caution in the markets is the continuing drop in oil values, with the U.S. WTI Crude now at a lower level than the 2008 low of $33.22 and is currently sitting at $32.50 and looking to test Friday’s $32.00 level again.  Last Friday saw encouraging employment numbers from the U.S. which in some ways vindicated the Fed’s decision to raise their interest rates last month but the optimism did not spill into equity markets as the Dow Jones ended the day down 168 points and 1,079 points down for the week. The S&P had similiar percentage losses and is now sitting around the 1900 level where it has bounced up from before so watch out for bullish trading opportunies this week.

Trading Diary:

08:15am   Nothing much to see on my collection of favourite charts so I am off for a cycle ride in the wind & rain.

10:50am   Back home but nothing to report trading wise yet.

14:25pm   Just back from lunch and I can see a possible UTB pattern setting up on my Brent chart.

14:45pm   I am now in a ‘short’ position on my Brent Crude Oil chart, my stop loss is 26 pips.

16:40pm   Just closed off my Brent UTB trade at $31:92 giving me +88 pips.  This is the first time I can remember where the value of U.S. WTI Crude and UK Brent Crude oil is roughly the same price per barrel.