08:55am   Nice relaxed start to my first day back tradign after my honeymoon – I am planning to be at home for most of the day catching up on a mountain of emails and also doing some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I have will be reported below.

Market Update:

U.S. equity markets closed mostly down yesterday ahead of earning’s season where over 180 companies in the S&P-500 are reporting latest revenues in the next few weeks although the Nasdaq finished up as optimism is riding high for tech companies to come in with positive profit announcements. Traders are also waiting for the Federal Reserve’s rate announcement tomorrow afternoon, most traders are expecting a hold after a rise at the previous meeting – expectations are still for at least one more rise before the end of the year.

The overnight Asian trading session ended rather more mixed by the close a few hours ago, with the main indices finishing flat to lower with the Australian ASX-200 bucking the trend and closing up by 0.65% (+37 points) after large rises in industrial and healthcare shares.  The Gold price was holding steady yesterday after hitting a small resistance area at $1258 which was a high for July but we are seeing some profit taking this morning and the price has now fallen to $1252.90 although movement could be limited until the FOMC announces their decision tomorrow.

Oil prices were up slightly yesterday on news that Saudi Arabia will slow exports from August and OPEC are putting pressue on certain members to fall into line with previously agreed production cuts. U.S. WTI Crude is at $46.44 at the moment, up from last night’s close of $46.34 and the price looks to be heading for the small resistance area at $47.00.

Trading Diary:

09:25am    I entered a ‘long’ position on my S&P-500 15-min chart a short while ago, it was a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up with an 18 pip stop loss.  My chart is showing that trading volumes are quite low so not sure how long the trade will last, I will keep a closer than usual eye on the position due to the situation.

11:20am   My S&P position is doing ok so far, so I am staying in for a bit longer  -  it is currently sitting at +19 pips.

14:35pm   The S&P-500 price has risen well over the past few hours but it is now coming down slightly so I am out of my position with a +68 pip profit.