08:30am   I am at home for most of today catching up on emails and Skype calls plus doing some chart watching from time to time so any trades I take will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

Lower corporate earnings weighed on investor sentiment in Europe yesterday and this is broadly continuing this morning. U.S. indices closed mixed last night with the Dow Jones up by just 0.04% and the wider S&P-500 index finishing flat as traders seem reluctant to commit to more buying at the moment. Strong corporate earnings and tax cut optimism has helped markets rise to record levels this year but a delay in Trump’s tax reforms will have an effect on Wall Street this week so we may have seen the highs reached already.

The overnight Asian trading session closed mixed after a lacklustre showing in the U.S. and traders digested the latest trade data out of China earlier this morning.  The Japanese Nikkei-225 index witnessed some profit taking after hitting a 26-year high on Tuesday and closed 0.01% down but the Australian ASX-200 was up by the close (+0.03%) as mining and financial shares performed well.

Gold has been trading in a fairly narrow range in the past few weeks with the 50-day moving average acting as strong resistance although price action on the weekly chart does suggest a small move up this month, so this could coincide with a drop in equity markets – watch for trading opportunities.  Crude oil prices took a breather yesterday after a good move up as Chinese imports slowed causing WTI Crude to fall 32 cents by the close last night to $56:92 although there is limited buying this morning which is pushing the price above $57:00. The price has just reversed at the 200-week moving average so we could see further falls in November.

Trading Diary:

09:35am   Just taken a ‘short’ position on my German DAX-30 15-min chart. More details in a moment.

09:45am   The trade I’ve mentioned above is a UTB price-reversal set-up with an 11 pip stop loss.

11:40am   I have been invited out for a cycle ride with some neighbours so the DAX-30 position is closed with a +35 pip profit, more than happy with that for the morning session.

12:40pm   I have managed to get into a ‘long’ position on my 30-min GOLD chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 22 pip stop loss.  We are obviously close to the U.S. trading session open so not sure how long I will be in the market.

13:30pm   I am watching the GOLD chart constantly as it is starting to become volatile but still in the position at the moment.

14:20pm    The GOLD price has shot up but has become more volatile so I am now out with a +49 pip profit.

15:00pm   Happy with today’s score (+84 pips) so switching off my charts now, back here tomorrow as usual.