08:45am   Another quiet day planned at home so if my chart watching results in any trades I will detail them below in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

U.S. equity markets closed mainly flat yesterday after a couple of days of gains, with retail stocks keeping any potential rise in check. Retail data released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau was better than expected and this has increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will instigate one more rate rise this year, most probably in December according to several polls.  The overnight Asian trading session was more upbeat however as a raft of corporate earning announcements showed that business is currently thriving in the area although the Japanese Nikkei 225 index did succumb to some late selling which resulted in small loss at the close.

The Crude Oil price staged a late rally during yesterday’s trading session as latest figures showed a drop in U.S. Crude Inventories, there was a fall of 9.2 million barrels in the last 7-days to 469.20 million barrels in stock but concerns of a global glut is still going to cap any price rise.  U.S. WTI Crude touched its $47.00 support line and has since bounced back up, it is currently sitting at $47.85 and advancing towards its 200-day moving average at $48.15 – I will send out a chart to subscribers this morning showing potential trading opportunities.

Gold did not quite reach the resistance level at $1295 on Friday and has retreated back to its current level of $1270.60 and looks to be heading to the 20-day moving average at $1266 so watch today for a potential bullish reaction at this level.

Trading Diary:

10:30am    I have just entered a ‘long’ position on my S&P-500 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 12 pip stop loss.

12:10pm   Nothing much else happening on my charts at the moment  so I am off for a cycle ride.  Keeping the S&P position’s stop loss at 12 pips.

13:20pm    Back home now and seen that my S&P-500 position has been stopped out at -12 pips.

13:30pm    There is a ‘short’ Master-The-Trend trade pattern setting up on the oil charts but it is too close to the Inventories numbers being released to risk a position.

14:10pm   Just got into a ‘long’ position on my FTSE-100 15-min chart, it’s another Master-The-Trend Strategy-A set-up with an 8 pip stop loss.

Update – Thursday 10:30am   Due to an unforeseen power cut yesterday afternoon I was no longer able to post here but I can tell you I closed the above FTSE-100 position off by phone at 17:50pm at +10 pips giving me an overall score for the day of -2 pips.