08:20am   I am getting back to a ‘normal’ working timetable today after a few weeks away so I’ll be in front of my screens watching my collection of favourite charts from time time as well as putting the final touches to my latest monthly instalment of the Trading-Education eBook – that will be available for download later this afternoon.

Any trades I take will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

World indices in general are upbeat and mostly closed ahead for last week after a period where the U.S./China trade war has taken centre stage. Most traders will be watching the upcoming meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin for clues as to market direction this week but earnings are also in focus especially in Europe.

The first Asian trading session of the week ended earlier today on a slightly negative note as Chinese second-quarter GDP growth figures came in largely as expected at 6.7% although this figure was lower than the previous quarter so traders were pessimistic on the whole. There is some perceived lightening of mood between China and the U.S. regarding their trade tariff ‘war’ so we could see gains in Asian stocks as the week progresses.

Oil markets are again slipping as increased production and supply seem on the cards for the rest of the month, last week’s movement in Brent Crude was mainly down although the price has found some support at the 20-week moving average so we could see some improvement by the end of July. Concerns over Libyan oil exports are growing less as normal port activities are resumed as the state oil company has now resumed production from one of its larger oil fields.

Gold has once again reversed around the $1237 support area and is looking bullish this morning due to a weaker Dollar and declining Asian stocks. There could be a move up to the minor support/resistance level at $1247 in the next few days so watch for trading opportunities.

Trading Diary:

09:20am    As is quite usual on a Monday morning the markets are still settling down after a few days holiday so there’s nothing to see at the moment on my collection of favourite charts so I am off for a run.

12:30pm    Nothing to report so far today, off out for lunch now.

16:05pm    Been out of the house for most of the afternoon due to the lovely weather but indoors for a while and I have just taken a ‘short’ position on my 30-min GOLD chart. It’s Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern with an 17 pip stop loss.

17:50pm  The GOLD price has eventually come down sufficiently for me to cover my stop loss so I am now out of my position with a +17 pip stop loss  -  back in front of my charts tomorrow.