07:45am   Nice relaxing day at home catching up on emails and doing some chart watching – any trades I do have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

As the U.S. election draws closer, the markets are generally becoming more bearish, U.S. equities closed lower last night and the overnight Asian session was mixed with most indices down except the Shanghai Composite which closed up +0.84%. This pessimism is drawing investors towards Gold for its perceived ‘safe-haven’ properties and this sentiment saw it rise above the $1300 level for the first time in 3 weeks although it is struggling to stay above this important support/resistance line this morning so watch the chart for any trading opportunities.

Crude Oil’s fall was halted temporarily last night after news of an attack on a major Nigerian pipeline could affect supplies – WTI Crude hit a recent low this week of $44:95 after higher than expected rise in U.S. oil stocks kept up the bearish momentum but last night’s news caused a small buying spree in futures contracts and it is currently trading at $45:52.

Today’s session will see economic news out of the UK and U.S. and tomorrow we have the monthly U.S. job numbers (Non Farm Payrolls) so we should see a busy trading day before markets quieten down overnight.

Trading Diary:

10:10am   Just returned from a quick bike ride and have had a late entry to a ‘long’ UTB position on my WTI Crude chart – the price was hanging around the entry level so I got in even though the trade triggered about 15 minutes ago.  My stop loss is 14 pips.

10:25am   Now also in a ‘short’ position on my Gold chart  - it’s a trendFX strategy-3 set-up with a slightly higher than usual 35 pip stop loss which reflects the volatility in the market this morning.

11:50am    I have a couple of meetings now so I am unable to watch my charts for the next hour so I’ve closed my positions off as they were both in profit. Results are WTI Crude trade +27 pips and Gold trade +51 pips. Back in front of my charts after lunchtime.

16:15pm   Got back here about 30 minutes ago and nothing much to see on my group of favourite charts so turning off these screens now.  It’s Non Farm Payrolls day tomorrow so no trading for me as usual.

I will be back in front of the charts next Tuesday after a long weekend away although I do not expect much movement in the markets for most of the session as traders will most likely be sitting on their hands waiting for the outcome of the U.S. Presidential Elections. A Clinton win will probably result in a ‘relief’ rally whereas a Trump victory will send the market into a tailspin as nobody really knows how he’s going to run the country. An interesting week ahead……….