07:55am   I am planning a quiet day at home today, catching up on emails and doing some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I take will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

The U.S. Dow Jones 30 index posted another record close last night as the Federal Reserve felt enough confidence in the economy to raise interest rates for the third time in 2017, this time from 1.25% to 1.5% and it also raised its GDP forecast for 2018 to 2.5% from 2.1% previously. The index closed at 24,585.43, up 80.63 points on the day and it also hit a record intraday high as well although the wider S&P-500 index closed virtually flat at 2662.85 as the financial sector brought the average down.

The overnight Asian trading session ended subdued on the Fed’s announcement plus the Hong Kong Monetary Authority raised its rate from 1.5% to 1.75% and People’s Bank of China also raised their rates in line with the  earlier news from the U.S.  The majority of indices ended in negative territory although the Shanghai Composite did buck the trend towards the end and finished up 0.55% at 3290.17.  In contrast to these rate hikes, there is not expected to be any movement today when the UK and the EU announce their decisions on interest rates in a few hours. The UK has seen wages stagnate and inflation rise above projected levels so Bank Of England Governor Mark Carney will want to keep borrowing costs low as the country progresses through the Brexit process.  The European Central Bank is also expected to vote for a rate hold this month although the voting outcome will be keenly watched by traders for clues to future direction in 2018.

Oil prices are on the move this morning after lower U.S. Crude Stocks are announced for this last week, the country’s stockpile has reduced by 5.1 million barrels over the last 7-days to 442.99 million barrels which is the lowest level since late 2015. WTI Crude fell to a low of $56:53 during yesterday’s volatile session but is now slightly higher at $56:81 although UK Brent Crude is coming off the highs of Tuesday and is currently trading at $62:87.

Trading Diary:

11:30am   Just taken a ‘short’ position on my UK Brent Crude 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up and my stop loss is 24 pips.  Off for a quick cycle ride in the sunshine now.

12:40pm   Now out of my Brent position, the price has come down well but is now consolidating after hitting the $62:00 level  — my score is +34 pips.

13:40pm   I have now taken a ‘short’ position on my WTI Crude Oil chart, it’s on the 15-min timeframe and it is another Master-The-Trend set-up although a Strategy-A pattern this time. My stop loss is 16 pips.

14:35pm   I have taken a quick profit on my WTI Crude position as the price action is quite volatile due to the U.S. trading session open,but happy with the +18 pip result.  My overall score for the day stands at +52 pips which more than adequate so I am going to switch my screens off for the day.