07:55am   I am planning another quiet day at home so any trades I take will be detailed in my Trading Diary below.

Market Update:

U.S. markets experienced another bearish session as the Dow Jones 30 index closed off more than 400 points in the red after an initial flurry which saw the index rise by 130 points and then tumble over 700 points. Although earnings are coming in at or above expectations, traders are still concerned that higher interest rates later in the year will adversely affect future company profits. The S&P-500 and Nasdaq also fell significantly by last night’s close with Facebook, Alphabet, Netflix and Amazon all dropping over 3%.

This negative sentiment spilled over to the overnight Asian trading session, all the major markets closed in negative territory except for Australia and New Zealand that were closed for their Anzac Day holiday. The main news in the region was the revised offer by Takeda Pharmaceutical to takeover Irish drug maker Shire, although their shares dropped by 7% as investors voiced concerns over their ability to raise the capital required to mount this $64 billion bid.

Oil markets experienced a negative session on Tuesday with U.S. WTI Crude falling $1.24 to close at $67.67 despite analysts saying that the slump that began in 2014 is now virtually over and the prospect of higher prices are a firm prospect. Rising demand in Asian plus continued troubles in the Middle East region are main reason for a rise in values and OPEC’s production curbs will also help for the rest of 2018.  Gold is befitting from falling equity markets, it rose $5.80 during Tuesday’s session to close at $1330.30 after reversing at a minor support at $1332.00 although this morning it is down by over $6 already and heading to $1322.00 again – watch this level for trading opportunities.

Trading Diary:

09:25am    Nothing much to see on my collection of favourite charts so I am off for a cycle ride.

10:55am    Just taken a ‘short’ position on my GOLD 15-min chart. It’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A setup with a 14 pip stop loss.

12:55pm    The GOLD price has just hit $1320 and started to reverse upwards so I am now out of my position with a +40 pip profit.

14:40pm    Just got back from lunch and glanced at my charts – nothing much to get excited about so far but I am getting on this afternoon with the final pieces to my monthly Trading-Education eBook so I will keep an eye on the screens from time to time.  I have got some news about the two trading systems I have been testing each month in the eBook and I now have nearly 12 months back tested data that shows some surprising performances.

15:50pm   The main markets that I watch are quite volatile this afternoon so I am switching off my screens for the day.  Not sure if I am chart watching tomorrow, I have had a few invitations so we’ll see what the weather is like in the morning.  Happy with today’s total of +40 pips