08:25am   I had planned to be at home today doing some chart watching but I’ve been invited out for the day by my neighbour to a livestock auction so no trading for me until tomorrow.

Market Update:

U.S. equity markets surged ahead yesterday and the Dow Jones had its biggest one day rise since April at almost +1% as tech stocks rose and traders were optimistic about corporate tax reform which has been long promised by President Trump. There were rumours yesterday that key lawmakers together with some members of the Trump administration had found some common ground to move forward with tax policy changes.  The S&P-500 climbed 24 points to close at 2452.51 but is slightly down this morning in futures trading at 2449.85 as the price reversed at the 20-day moving average.

The overnight Asian trading session started well on the back of U.S. stock market gains but slowly waned into the morning as the U.S. Dollar lost ground although the Japanese Nikkei 225 index did manage a small rise by the close of just 0.23%.  Trading on the Hang Seng index was halted shortly after the open on concerns about the tropical cyclone Hato approached the colony, it was estimated at a number 10 cyclone signal which is the most severe.  This morning’s European trading session kicked off negatively but some buyers have come into the market and indices are slightly ahead now overall but waiting for ECB President Mario Draghi’s speech which is coming up in a few minutes.

Crude Oil markets should have a busy afternoon as we have the weekly U.S. Inventories number out at 15:30pm UK time. There is an expectation for a rise in U.S. stocks and there is also concerns over increasing production from Libya as they start to export more crude after many years of internal conflict and regime change.  WTI Crude closed flat yesterday at $47.60 and is still around that level this morning as traders sit on their hands until this afternoon’s confirmation of inventory numbers.