08:00am   I will be at home today catching up emails and doing some chart watching so any trades I find will be detailed below.

Market Update:

U.S. equity markets closed Tuesday’s trading session at another record high on comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin regarding his determination that promised tax reform will be completed by the end of this year and could also be backdated to the beginning of 2017 which will have a positive impact on his country’s economy. Fading concerns about North Korea also helped the main S&P-500 index close up by 0.34% to close at 2496.48 last night and traders are now eyeing the significant 2500 level although we have seen some profit taking in the futures market this morning.

The overnight Asian trading session has finished mainly up as well on the back of U.S. market optimism with the Japanese Nikkei 225 performing the best at +0.55% although both main Chinese bourses (Shanghai Composite & Hang Seng) finished slightly down a short while ago.  European markets have opened mixed however with London’s FTSE-100 down by nearly 30 points on the open and the Dax-30 trading flat after a volatile start.  Gold has fallen just over $30 this week so far but has risen slightly overnight as equity markets soften this morning, it is trading currently at $1331:40 and we could see a further fall towards the 20-day moving average.

Crude oil prices continue to be volatile as higher U.S. stockpiles keep a lid on price rises despite reports from OPEC that demand will increase as we go into the winter months. U.S. benchmark WTI Crude rose 24 cents yesterday to close at $48:34 but is slightly down this morning at $48:11 and sitting right on its 200-day moving average.

Trading Diary:

08:15am   It’s often quite risky to take a trade this early in the day but a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern has emerged on my S&P-500 chart and the stop loss amount is low so I have just taken a short position. The stop loss is just 10 pips.

08:55am   The S&P-500 price is becoming more volatile so I am now out of my position with a quick +12 pip profit.

10:40am   Just got into my second Master-The-Trend position of the morning, it’s on the WTI Crude Oil 15-min chart and my stop loss is 13 pips.  Unusually I will keep a close eye on the price as we have the Crude Oil Inventories announcement just after lunchtime.

13:25pm   Did not expect to be in the WTI position for this long but the price has not really risen much and it is now starting to become unpredictable so I have just closed the position ahead of the U.S. session open in a few minutes.  My score is +13 pips.

Finishing my trading for the day and off for a cycle ride in the sun now.