08:25am Ahead of a long weekend away starting this evening, I shall be here at home catching up on emails and also doing some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I find will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.
Market Update:
U.S. equity markets hit another all-time high last night as both the S&P-500 and Dow Jones 30 indices closed at record levels despite tech stocks falling across the board. The rising oil price helped the energy sector rise over 1% which gave markets an overall optimistic feel as Wednesday’s trading session came to a close but the overnight Asian session did not carry on this optimism as Chinese economic data failed to hit expectations. The Shanghai Composite closed virtually flat but the Hang Seng lost 103 points by the close with Japanese and Australian markets also down on the day.
Oil prices are being held up at the moment by and expected increase in demand although the U.S. WTI Crude Oil price seems to have hit a ceiling around the $49:40 level so we could see a small fall from this level for the rest of the week. The International Energy Agency has raised its global forecast for oil demand for the rest of the year and this is underpinning this week’s price rise. Gold has suffered a near $40 drop in value this week as money has poured into equities but price is now very close to its 20-day moving average (at $1316) so watch for a potential bullish price reversal around this point (I will send out a chart to subscribers soon)
Trading Diary:
09:45am Not much to see on my charts at the moment so off for a cycle ride.
13:25pm Just back from an early lunch and I have joined in on the general bearishness in equity markets at the moment. I have taken a ‘short’ position on my FTSE-100 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern with a 18 pip stop loss.
13:55pm Now also in a ‘long’ position on my Brent Crude chart. This time it’s a Strategy-A pattern from the Master-The-Trend system and stop loss is also 18 pips.
15:40pm I have just closed off my Brent Crude position at +35 pips, the price has reached a small resistance close to the $56 level so I deemed it sensible to come out and preserve some profit. My FTSE position is still trundling along but not really moved much into much of a profit yet, it is currently sitting at +9 pips.
16:15pm Surprisingly the price on my FTSE chart has just fallen quite quickly just before the session close so I have taken advantage of this move and closed my position off at +29 pips giving my a total for the day of +64 pips.
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.
09:05am I am planning a restful day at home which will include some chart watching from time to time so any trades I find will be reported below.
Market Update:
Traders in the U.S. are shifting focus into riskier assets as concerns over Hurricane Irma and North Korea subside and this resulted in a record close for the S&P-500 last night. The index closed at 2488.11 which was equal to a record high reached on 8th August and we could see a small bearish reaction soon as profit takers come into the market and the narrower Dow Jones 30 index jumped 259 points also on the back of this optimism.
The overnight Asian trading session benefited from this bullish sentiment and almost all the region’s indices closed in positive territory and this morning’s European session has also seen some concerted buying in the first hour or so. Traders are buoyed by new UN resolutions designed to reign in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and expected missile tests did not materialise at the weekend which helps market optimism so we could see further highs this week. These rises in equity markets has understandably affected the Gold price and it has come off the high at $1357 and is now trading around the $1325 level although there does seem to be some bargain hunters around buying this morning in the past hour or so.
Crude oil is continuing its roller coaster ride and U.S. WTI Crude Oil is trading between the $50:25 and $45:50 levels and at the moment the Daily chart is suggesting a small move up from today’s $47:75 level. There is still some uncertainty on how much effect on price that the hurricanes are going to have on refining capacity so that price could be volatile for the next few days.
Trading Diary:
09:25am Just taken a ‘short’ position on my Brent Crude Oil chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up and my stop loss is 18 pips.
11:00am Just glanced at my charts and seen that my Brent position has been stopped out at -18 pips.
11:20am Off for a cycle ride then lunch, back this afternoon for some more chart watching.
16:05pm Nothing to report this afternoon, I am switching off my screens and will be back here tomorrow morning.
08:30am Quiet morning planned here at home catching up on emails and doing some chart watching ahead of a planned trip to London after lunchtime.
Market Update:
At the start of a new trading week we are seeing equity markets looking surprisingly optimistic for two main reasons – there was no North Korean missile tests this weekend as many had predicted and although the Hurricane Irma has wreaked considerable damage across parts of Florida it is widely accepted that the impact has not been as bad as expected and as a result U.S. equity futures are on the rise this morning.
The overnight Asian market has also been fairly upbeat also as a result of no action on the Korean peninsula in the past few days, the South Korean Kospi Index rose 0.66% and the Japanese Nikkei 225 rallied 1.415 (+271 points) by the close as traders look for more risky investments. This attitude is going to have an effect of the Japanese Yen and Gold as they are considered havens when risk factors loom large, the USD/JPY has risen this morning on this sentiment and Gold has gapped down from Friday’s close at $1346:30 and is now trading at $1336.95. There is a small support area for Gold around $1332 so do not expect it to fall below this level this week but watch out for trading opportunities around that point in the next few days.
Crude oil values fell sharply on Friday over concerns that Hurricane Irma is going to upset refining capacity resulting in a build up of crude stocks in the coming weeks, it fell over 3% into the close on Friday but has gained back some of the losses this morning as the Saudi Oil Minister has met with his opposite number from Venezuela and Kazakhstan over the weekend to discuss an extension to the previously agreed production cuts. U.S WTI Crude is currently siting at $47:63 having fallen from Friday’s high of $49:23.
Trading Diary:
11:55am It’s been a quiet morning with regard to my collection of favourite charts but I have just entered a ‘short’ position on my Gold 15-min chart. It’s a UTB Price-Reversal pattern and my stop loss is just 12 pips.
12:40pm I have just come out of the Gold trade as the price has just hit a small support level around the $1334.20 and retreated back upwards and I am also away soon as well so I wanted to close the position before I left. I have managed a profit of 24 pips and I will be back here tomorrow morning.
09:10am We are experiencing problems with our U..S. email provider (Aweber) this morning so all usual emails (daily Trading-Guidance etc.) are later than usual, apologies if you have been affected by this issue. It would seem that they are getting through slowly and delivery has been speeding up over the past hour.
I am at home this morning catching upon emails and doing some chart watching before I am off to London this afternoon for a couple of days.
Market Update:
U.S. equity markets closed slightly up on Wednesday evening after President Trump signaled his support for an extension of the government debt ceiling limit and new funding plan and partly as a result the Dow Jones closed up by just over 54 points at 21,807 and the S&P-500 was up by a similiar percentage amount despite ongoing concerns on the cost and impact of the two hurricanes that have and are affecting the south east of the country. The overnight Asian trading session was reasonably bullish although at the close indices in the region were mixed with the ASX-200 and Nikkei 225 slightly ahead but the two Chinese bourses finished the day in negative territory.
Oil values have been holding steady this morning after bullish action in the past couple of days, the problems over refining due to to Hurricane Harvey are largely subsiding as more refineries are coming back on stream so crude is being moved out of storage to satisfy this demand but to counter that there is still large oil stocks being held in the U.S. so prices are not gaining a great deal. U.S. WTI Crude closed Wednesday’s session at $49:13 (+56 cents) and is slightly ahead of that level this morning at $49:20. Gold experienced a bout of profit taking yesterday as the price hit a previous high at $1338 from November 2016, it closed the day $5:70 down at $1334:00 but is slightly higher this morning ($1338:95)
Trading Diary:
10:15am I have just entered a ‘long’ trade on my German DAX-30 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up with a 36 pip stop loss.
11:25am The price on my DAX-30 chart has risen quite dramatically in the past hour but has now reached a peak at 12365 and has started to decline so I am now out with a profit of +62 pips. As I am off to London at lunchtime I now turning off my screens and that’s it until next Monday.
08:35am Another day planned at home doing some chart watching from time to time so any trades I find will be detailed below in my Trading Diary
Market Update:
U.S. markets had their first trading day of the week yesterday after the Labor Day holiday and the Dow Jones 30 index had its largest one day fall for 3 weeks after it dropped 234 points. This pessimism was mainly due to ongoing concerns regarding North Korea and their ongoing push towards becoming a fully fledged nuclear nation although there is some unconfirmed news out of China this morning suggesting they could be considering stronger sanctions against the rogue nation and if accurate, we could see equity markets stage a small relief rally.
The overnight Asian market continued to under perform after a North Korean diplomat said his country would deliver ‘gift packages’ to the U.S. if it continued to threaten them and President Trump announced his country would be allowing South Korea and Japan to purchase an increased amount of weapons from them to bolster their defences. Virtually all indices in the region came in with negative scores with the Hang Seng Index performing worst at -284 points (-1.02%)
Unsurprisingly, Gold is continuing to benefit from jitters in equity markets and it closed up $5.10 at $1339.40 as investors kept the bullish moves going although the past few hours have seen some profit taking and the price is now sitting at $1337.45. Crude oil markets are still being affected by adverse weather in the Central America region, even though Hurricane is subsiding, there is now Hurricane Irma which is slightly more westerly but will disrupt important shipping lanes which will affect oil exports. Despite this, Crude Oil price rose yesterday as refining capacity in the U.S. increased as more plants came back on line, WTI Crude ended up $1.23 at $48.60 and is further higher currently at $48.70 but watch a small resistance area at $48.88.
Trading Diary:
14:05pm This morning was quiet with no excitement on my charts and I have just returned from a 2 hour cycle ride so I will be back watching my screens for the next few hours.
16:00pm I have not encountered any trade opportunities in the last couple of hours, some of the markets that I normally watch have been quite volatile and others have just drifted sideways but I shall be back tomorrow to see what’s available on my charts.
08:35am I am planning a day at home catching up on the many emails that have come in following the release of my new 200MA trading system eBook last night. I will also be doing some chart watching so any trades I take will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.
Market Update:
U.S. financial markets were closed yesterday due to their Labor Day holiday and this impacted on general trading volumes but the overnight Asian trading session was fairly steady but still affected by North Korean activities. Although Chinese PMI data came out better than expected today, this good news was outweighed by North Korea’s latest nuclear tests which has caused traders and investors to once again move towards safe haven assets such as the Japanese Yen and Gold although we can see that enthusiasm waning slightly in the past few hours.
Gold reached a 2017 high during yesterday’s trading session at $1339.70 but has retreated slightly and is now trading around the $1331.00 level and looks to be heading for $1325 in the next couple of days which coincides with the 20 period moving average on the 4hr chart. Crude oil is recovering slightly from the price falls that occurred last week following refining disruption in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. U.S. WTI Crude touched a low of $45:56 last Thursday but has since recovered and is now trading at $47:48 this morning and looks to heading for its 200-day moving average ($48:00) so watch for a reaction around this level.
Trading Diary:
10:10am Nothing much to see on my collection of favourite charts so myself and some fellow traders are off for a cycle ride.
11:15am We’ve just got back indoors and entered a ‘long’ position on my U.S. WTI Crude Oil chart. It’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A set-up and my stop loss on this occasion is 22 pips.
13:05pm Ignore some of the information above ! My position is on my Brent Crude chart and it’s a Strategy-B set-up – apologies for the typo.
14:25pm I have just closed off my Brent trade with a +71 pip profit as the price has risen well after the U.S. trading session open. I am more than happy with my score for the day so I am closing off my screens now and will be back at my desk tomorrow morning.
07:55am Today is the last trading day of August and I will be at home this morning watching my charts and catching up on emails ahead of a short break from my screens until next Tuesday.
Market Update:
European and U.S. equity markets were mainly optimistic yesterday and on the whole closed ahead on encouraging economic figures that were released through the day. Technology stocks lead the way in the U.S. so although the S&P-500 only rose +0.46% on the day, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index was up by 1.05%. Employment figures were up with data released yesterday showing around 237,000 jobs were added in August and GDP also showed an increase of 3.0% ahead of the 2.7% estimate.
This optimism on the whole was carried through to the overnight Asian trading session where Chinese Manufacturing PMI figures came in ahead of expectations although Non-Manufacturing numbers were slightly down and contributed to small falls in both Bejing and Hong Kong stock exchange indices. The oil industry is continuing to be affected by the adverse weather in Texas with 24% of U.S. oil refining capacity now shutdown which has caused petroleum futures to rise more than expected and should also have a negative effect on crude oil values, U.S. WTI Crude fell 48 cents during yesterday’s trading session to close at $46:31 and is further down this morning at $45:93.
Gold has come off its highs slightly as traders move over to equities, it touched a high of $1325:80 on Tuesday but suffered a negative session yesterday to close at $1308:35 and is $3:40 down from that level this morning – expect further falls today, although price action on the 4-hour chart is fairly bullish at the moment.
Trading Diary:
11:10am Just taken a ‘long’ position on my Brent Crude Oil chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern on the 15-min timeframe with an 11 pip stop loss. This will be a fairly quick trade I would imagine as I am off at lunchtime.
13:05pm I am off in a short while for the rest of the day so I have closed my position at +20 pips and today’s small profit means my overall point total for August is +510 pips. As mentioned earlier this morning, I am now away from my screens until next Tuesday.
07:50am Planning a day at home today with meetings and Skype calls but also some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I have will be reported below in my Trading Diary.
Market Update:
Despite continuing aggression from North Korea, the markets are shrugging off concerns for the region and have surged forward in the past 24hrs. U.S. equity markets closed ahead on Tuesday with the Dow Jones-30 index closing almost 57 points up (+0.26%) and the overnight Asian trading session was equally as bullish with average gains of between 0.50% to 0.75% across the board. Traders have shifted their focus from the Korean issue across to problems in Texas and the damage left in the wake of tropical storm Harvey. Oil refining has been heavily hit and stocks in that sector are sharply down again and this is going to affect the U.S. oil stock situation as less crude is being processed.
The UK equity market has been quite volatile in the past week or so and this is partly due to low trading volumes because of summer holidays but there is also no clear roadmap emerging for Britain to leave the EU and until this becomes more clear you can expect the FTSE-100 to oscillate wildly with no clear trend. Although recent price moves have been unpredictable there does seem to be a fairly strong support around the 7300 level so watch for further reactions if price does drop that low this week – it’s currently sitting at 7368 now and we could see price near 7400 sometime today.
Gold has benefited from the uneasiness in Asia resulting from the unpredictable behaviour of the North Korean leader, it rose almost $17 on Monday but reversed around $1325 yesterday and now looks to be moving down towards the support/resistance level at $1295 – watch for trading opportunities here.
Trading Diary:
08:45am Just entered a ‘long’ position on my Gold 15-min chart, it’s a UTB price-reversal pattern and my stop loss is a very reasonable 15 pips.
10:00am Off out for a cycle ride, not much else happening on my usual charts. Leaving my stop loss at 15 pips but target not set.
11:15am Back from cycle ride and trade doing ok at the moment (+28 pips) so I will stay in a little longer and see what occurs. I have brought the stop loss upto break even for protection.
11:50am The Gold price has risen well and I am more than happy with the current +54 pip score so I am now out of my position.
11:55am Off for early lunch now and as I have amasses a decent score this morning I am switching off my charts for the rest of the day. Back here tomorrow morning.
08:35am Quiet day planned at home catching up on emails and doing some chart watching from time to time – any trades I find will be detailed below.
Market Update:
Global news is being dominated by the launch of a missile by North Korea which was aimed at waters north of Japan in a move which is seen as further provocation towards the U.S. and its allies. The overnight Asian trading session has seen equity markets slump as a result with major Chinese and Japanese indices posting negative closing figures although the Japanese Nikkei 225 did not fare as badly as was expected and this morning’s European session has got off to a negative start as well.
Yesterday’s U.S. trading session was affected by the fall-out from tropical storm Harvey which is sweeping much of Texas, with large U.S. insurer Travelers contributing a large percentage of the losses in the S&P-500 due to expected pay-outs resulting from the storm damage. Another casualty from the freak weather is the Texas oil industry as production is disrupted and oil refining capacity has lost millions of barrels this week and this is causing some volatility in crude markets as there is expected to be a glut of crude waiting to be refined. U.S. WTI Crude fell as a result by $1.09 yesterday to close at $46:79 and is further down this morning at $46:66.
As equity markets slide on North Korean concerns Gold is understandably experiencing a surge in price, it rose $16:85 yesterday to close at $1309:80 and is further up this morning at $1324:85 and looks to be heading for the next minor resistance around the $1342:00 level. The rush for safe-haven products is also favouring the Japanese Yen which is up against all currencies this morning.
Trading Diary:
08:50am Nothing much happening on my collection of favourite charts* at the moment so I am off for a cycle ride in the sunshine. (* S&P-500, FTSE-100, DAX-30, Gold, WTI Crude & Brent Crude)
11:10am I am now in a ‘short’ position on my WTI Crude Oil chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up with a 20 pip stop loss
13:55pm Back from lunch and seen my WTI trade has been stopped out at -20 pips.
14:45pm Now in another Master-The-Trend Strategy-B position, this time it on my S&P-500 15-min chart and the high stop loss of 64 pips reflects the current volatility in some markets today.
16:10pm My S&P position has come in to profit by a small margin and due to the previously mentioned volatility I have decided to close the trade off in case of any wild swings in the next hour or so. The trade has managed a +90 pip profit, giving me an overall score for the day of +70 pips and a total for the month of +436 pips. Back here tomorrow morning for some more chart watching
