07:10am   Early start for me today as I am off out at lunchtime to help a friend with a small project for a few days. Any trades I have this morning will be detailed below and I will be back here on Wednesday hopefully.

Market Update:

The overnight Asian market has ended mixed but European equity indices are expected to show slight gains on Friday’s close although there’s not much economic news being released today to give any momentum to the markets.  Both U.S. and European indices ended last week positively and are all developing bullish trends on their higher timeframe charts although technical resistance levels are all fairly close so expect some interesting price action and trading opportunities as we enter the last full week of trading for the current month.

U.S. interest rates are constantly in the headlines at the moment and on Friday the San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams said it makes sense to get back to gradual rate increases sooner than later and U.S. Interest Rate Futures are suggesting a 70% chance of a December hike.

Crude oil values have had their recent bullish activity curtailed slightly today as news emerges that Iraq are reluctant to join in on the self-imposed production limits being suggested by OPEC.  The U.S. benchmark WTI Crude has enjoyed an almost uninterrupted rise in price since the middle of September but overnight the price has slipped back from the $51:00 level and is currently sitting at $50:71.

Trading Diary:

11:10am   Not seen any trading opportunities yet so switching off my screens and off to London earlier than planned until tomorrow evening – back in front of my chart on Wednesday morning.