07:30am   An early start for me today as I have some errands to run in town before I settle down in my study for the rest of the day to catch up on emails and do some chart watching.

Market Update:

Although markets were fairly bearish last week, the overnight Asian market saw gains in the Japanese Nikkei 225 index (+7.16%) Hang Seng (+3.16%) and the Australian ASX (+1.64%) even though Chinese Import/Export data came in lower than expectations as the markets there got back to work after their new year lunar celebrations. This optimism has spilled over to this morning’s European session where all the major indices have gapped higher on Friday’s close with the London FTSE100 already over the 5800 level, well above its recently established 5600 support.

The Crude Oil market continues to provide a focal point for equity traders as the volatility spills over to share markets. Last week we heard rumours of back-tracking by certain OPEC members on production levels so we may see a cut in output soon and this news has caused some bullish sentiment in both U.S. WTI Crude and Brent Crude, pushing both commodities higher in recent days. The U.S. benchmark hit a low of $26:00 on Thursday bit has now recovered well and is sitting at $29:19 as I type this update. Brent Crude is even higher at $33:20 having hit a medium term support at $29:90 last Thursday although a low of $27:08 was seen towards the end of January.

Trading Diary:

08:00am    It’s always risky taking a trading first thing on Monday morning as the markets are opening over here but there could be a ‘short’ UTB trade setting up on my Brent Crude Oil chart – the trade will trigger if the price falls below $33:24 in the next hour or so.

08:10am   The Brent Crude price has just fallen quite rapidly so I am now in a ‘short’ position with a reasonable 25 pip stop loss.

08:50am   Just closed off my Brent position after a brief fall and rebound. I have come away with a +32 pip profit.

09:05am    Out now into town for an hour or so.

11:15am    Not much on my charts for the past half an hour, so out on a cycle ride then lunch afterwards at the Lord Nelson.

15:00pm     Just back from lunch and had a chance to scan my charts but nothing much happening so that’s it for my trading today. The lack of volume is mainly due to the U.S. President’s Day holiday.