08:00am   Back in the UK and at home for most of the day with a few errands to run but may get to watch some charts inbetween. Any trades I have will be reported here.

Market Update:

There is a bearish slant to the markets this morning after a weak Asian session that was caused by a variety of factors including renewed selling in Crude Oil, the Federal Reserve announcement and failed Chinese government market intervention. Both the Nikkei 225 and the Hang Seng indices fell over 2% by the close but the main Chinese Shanghai Composite was the biggest loser by far, ending over 6% down on the day and falling to its lowest level for over a year – since the highs of 2015, this index is down over 20%. Earlier yesterday the People’s Bank Of China pumped over 360 billion Yuan (nearly $55 billion) in an attempt to prop up their equity market, but to no avail as can be plainly seen by this morning’s result.

The fall in Crude Oil values was mainly due to factors in the Middle East (once again) as Iraqi oil officials released larger than expected production figures for December plus worries over Iran’s post-sanction output. U.S. WTI Crude is now, once again trading under the important $30 level – currently at $29:78.  As equity markets fall, the Gold price is rising as expected and it is up at $1114.51 this morning after a positive trading session yesterday when it rose over 1%.

Trading Diary:

08:10am   While scanning my collection of favourite charts 10 minutes ago to compile the Market Update I could see a possible ‘short’ trade developing on my UK Brent Crude, and this price has now dropped sufficiently to trigger this position. It’s a trendFX strategy-1 set-up and I have a 24 pip stop loss – as the markets are just starting up here in Europe, this will not be a long trade as charts could be quite volatile.

08:25am  The Brent Crude price has hit its 1:1 target of $29:28 so I am out with a +24 pip profit. I will send over a chart screenshot to clients soon.

08:40am   Fancy a a cycle ride as I’ve not been on my bike since last Thursday.  Back in an hour or two.

10:25am   Back home now and just had a quick scroll through my favourite charts – no opportunities at the moment.

11:40am   A neighbour needs some urgent assistance with his roof restoration so no more watching charts for the rest of today.