08:30am   Another quiet day at home catching up on emails and doing some chart watching, any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

As widely expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates last night by 0.25% and signaled a gradual rather than hurried increase for the rest of 2017 with perhaps three more ‘adjustments’ to follow before the end of the year. Equity markets reacted positively with the Dow Jones 30 index closing at another record high at 20,950 (+112) and this sentiment spilled over to the Asian trading session overnight with most indices ending positively. The Bank Of Japan is holding their monetary policy steady which is seen as good news for traders and the People’s Bank Of China raised their rate by 0.10% in a mood of confidence.

Oil values rose yesterday as well which also boosted equity markets after a surprise fall in U.S. stock inventories, WTI Crude closed at $48.74 last night (+29 cents) but is up further this morning as the positive sentiment continues. Gold also reacted positively to a measured increase in U.S. rates, it started Wednesday’s session just under the significant $1200 level and by last night it was sitting at $1219.10 and currently it is at $1222.90 and looking at its next target near to $1244.00.

Europe is looking bullish this morning as well, the optimism is carrying on from last night and UK traders are awaiting the Bank Of England’s interest rate decision although a hold is already priced into the markets so anything else will cause a big move.

Trading Diary:

09:10am   I have just entered a ‘long’ position on my German DAX-30 chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 16 pip stop loss.

09:50am   Just taken a quick profit on my DAX position, I have come out with +22 pips.

10:30am    Now in a ‘long’ position on my Gold 30-min chart using the same set-up as my previous DAX-30 trade. My stop loss this time is 21 pips.

12:25pm    The Gold price has shot up quite well in the last half hour so I have taken the profit and come out with +81 pips giving me a total of +103 pips today.

13:00pm    Happy with my score so far, so I am finishing my chart watching for the day – back here tomorrow.