08:40am   I am back in front of my screens today after a few days off so any trades I take through the day will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

U.S. markets are still looking bearish as a number of factors weigh against the bulls this week. Economic data released overnight regarding fixed asset investment growth, industrial output and retail sales all missed expectations and as China is an important part of the global economy, any jitters here has wider consequences across the rest of the world.  Traders are also coming to realise that promised tax cuts and reform from President Trump look unlikely to materialise before 2018 and this is putting a dampener on equities at the moment. The S&P index of the top 500 U.S. companies fell again at the close last night and closed at 25778.87, down by 0.23%, well below the recent record high of 2596.90 that was achieved last week.  The price is currently bouncing off a minor support level at 2566 so watch for trading opportunities around this number.

Overnight Asian markets were also down on the Chinese data and falling oil prices hit energy stocks as well with the Japanese Nikkei-225 index suffering most with a drop of 351.49 drop as Japan Petroleum Exploration fell by 4.23%.  With global worries over equities abounding at the moment you would expect a rush of money into safer commodities and Gold has not disappointed as it bounced well of its 200-day moving average yesterday and is sharply up this morning. The price is sitting at $1283.90, up from last night’s close of exactly $1280.00

Oil is suffering at the moment after WTI Crude hit a high of $57:89 last week on OPEC production restraint but the International Energy Agency has now cut its Oil Demand Growth Forecast by 100,000 barrels per day for the rest of 2017 and early 2018 meaning production is once again going to exceed demand. Traders I’ve talked to this week are looking at WTI falling to $52:00 by the end of this month.

Trading Diary:

09:35am   I have just taken a ‘short’ position on my S&P-500 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A set-up with a 16 pip stop loss.

10:15am   Now taken another ‘short’ Master-The-Trend Strategy-A position, this time it’s on my U.S. WTI Crude Oil chart – more details soon.

10:25am  The WTI Crude trade has a 17 pip stop loss and unusually I am watching this one carefully as we have Crude Oil Inventories after lunch which usually moves the market significantly.

10:35am   There is a temptation to stay with the S&P-500 short trade as the market is ultimately heading down this week but I more than happy with the current +42 pip profit so I am now out of my position. Off for a cycle ride now back in front of my charts in an hour or so.

13:50pm   I am now out of my second trade with a small profit of just +13 pips for a number of reasons. Firstly the volumes have reduced drastically in the run-up to the U.S. Crude Oil Inventories so price is not moving much currently and not heading down as I expected and also the price has had some trouble getting below the $54:93 level all morning so I am out at $54:95. Third reason is I’ve been invited out for a late lunch and I  did not want to leave the trade unattended during this period of uncertainty.  Happy with my day’s score of +55 pips so I am switching off my charts now as well but will be back here early tomorrow morning.