08:40am   I am at home this morning, here in the study catching up on emails & Skype calls plus some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

There has been a slight cooling in the bullish sentiment that’s been present in the U.S. equity markets after FOMC minutes released last night showed there is a growing chance of an interest rate rise sooner than later if all economic criteria continue in their present direction.  Although both main U.S. equity indices closed up last night, the rise was less than has been usual this week, the S&P-500 finished just 0.60% ahead with the Dow Jones 30 managing only +0.16% (+32 points) and we could have seen Tuesday highs as a small resistance now for the rest of the week.

The overnight Asian trading session closed mainly down on concerns over a U.S. interest rate rise together with continuing uncertainty over Donald Trump’s economic policy changes and this has affected banks and financial shares today.  European markets are largely following suit and it seems as though we also have already seen this week’s high as there does not seem much enthusiasm to push prices higher this morning.

Crude oil prices were squeezed yesterday by reports that U.S. stocks are at record highs once again although final confirmation will not be known for a few hours when U.S. Crude Oil Inventories are announced. There is an expectation of a build in stocks of 3.4 million barrels and this has largely been priced into the market, WTI Crude is slightly up this morning after yesterday’s negative session, it is currently sitting at $54.28 after hitting a low of $53.36 mid afternoon on Wednesday.

Trading Diary:

10:55am   I have just entered a ‘long’ trade on my Gold 15-min chart, it’s Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 10 pip stop loss.

11:20am   I’m off to London very shortly for the rest of the day so I have brought my stop loss upto break even and set my target at +15 pips on the above trade – I will report back this evening

19:15pm   Just arrived home and seen my earlier Gold position was stopped out just after midday at zero pips.