08:00am   I am back at home now for the rest of the week so will be catching up on emails and doing some chart watching today and any trades I have will be detailed below throughout the day.

Market Update:

European markets closed mixed yesterday after Sunday’s French election results, the Macron win was largely priced into equities so no large moves were expected and the French CAC-40 index closed 49 points lower at 5383 after a promising start. The German DAX-30 was also lower by the close (-155 points) although the UK FTSE-100 ended the day flat, losing just 3 points and is not much higher this morning.

The U.S. markets ended the day very slightly ahead although the Nasdaq and S&P-500 did reach record intraday highs earlier in the session, although the S&P index is still struggling to get over the 2400 level for any length of time. The biggest share move in the U.S. was Apple which rose 2.5% and as a result lifted it’s market capitalisation to over $800 billion for the first time. Asian markets had a relatively quiet session after Monday’s gains with the South Korean elections and Australian budget in trader’s minds today.

Crude oil is also in focus as the price of UK Brent Crude falling 0.8% to $48.69 yesterday and OPEC hurriedly issuing a statement regarding further production cuts that many traders see as a panic move after last week’s large price falls. The news has had limited effect and Brent is trading just over $49 this morning but the daily chart is still looking overbought with resistance around its 20-day moving average – I will send out a chart this morning to subscribers illustrating a possible future move.

Trading Diary:

09:55am    Just entered a ‘long’position on my German DAX-30 chart.  More details later, I am off for a cycle ride with some neighbours.

11:15am     Back home now and I can see the DAX-30 position is still ok and currently in profit by +17 pips. It’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern on the 30-min timeframe with a 38 pip stop loss.

11:40am    Now also in a ‘long’ position on my S&P-500 15-min chart.  It is a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A set-up with an 8 pip stop loss.  Not sure how long this trade will last as the volumes are very low on this index today so I will keep a close eye on it – which is not something I will normally do.

12:15pm     Now out of my DAX-30 position with a +41 pip profit.  I am still in the S&P trade but I remain vigilant as the chart is still quite ‘jumpy’

13:35pm    Due to the way the U.S. markets are reacting/moving at the moment as they going for the day I have surrendered for safety reasons and I am now out of my S&P-500 position. It has given me a profit of +30 pips and I more than happy with today’s total so far so I will not resume my chart watching after I return from lunch.