08:20am   Nice quiet day planned here at home so any trades I find will be reported below.

Market Update:

U.S. markets yesterday closed mainly down with the main Dow Jones-30 index falling a total of nearly 200 points over the last two days, mainly due to  disappointing profit figures from a variety of companies including IBM that contributed 57 points of that drop.  First quarter results from the financial sector is exceeding expectations however and is giving confidence to traders that the 2016 rally was genuine and not a result of a new President coming in.

The overnight Asian trading session ended mixed with traders treading carefully ahead of French elections although the situation between the U.S. and North Korea has quietened slightly and stronger Japanese export data also helped indices in the region.  This morning’s European are looking fairly bullish as traders eye up this weekend’s French election outcome and we also have Bank Of England Chief Mark Carney talking later so traders will watch carefully regarding his thoughts on the upcoming UK election and Brexit negotiations.

Crude oil price fell dramatically yesterday by around 3.9% globally with U.S. WTI Crude closing at $50.44 per barrel after the weekly crude oil inventories showed a less than expected fall in stocks although we have seen a small bounce overnight and it is currently sitting at $50.69 and yesterday’s price action showed the $50 level could be important going forward.  The Gold price is still being constrained by the small resistance level at $1295 even though traders are not particularly enthusiastic about spending money in equity markets, it is currently at $1278.88 after falling $9.26 during yesterday’s session.

Trading Diary:

09:25am    I have just got into a ‘short’ position on my UK FTSE-100 30-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 26 pip stop loss.

09:50am    Just been invited out on a cycle ride by some ageing fitness fanatics so I have brought my stop loss on the FTSE position down to 20 pips but kept the target open.

11:45am    Back home now and the FTSE-100 position is still trundling away around break-even and I am also in a ‘long’ position on my Brent Crude Oil chart. It’s a Strategy-B pattern from my Master-The-Trend system manual and I have a 21 pip stop loss.

12:20pm     Off out to lunch, leaving the stop losses where they are for moment.

15:00pm     I have just got back from a rather long lunch hour and noticed that both my earlier positions have been stopped out so my score so far today is -41 pips.

15:50pm    The markets are fairly volatile this afternoon so I am finishing my trading for the day – back here tomorrow for the final trading session of the week.

07:10am    Early start for me today as I have a meeting in the village at 8am, but I will be back in a few hours and I am then spending the rest of the day catching up on emails and also doing some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

Main market news yesterday was the snap election decision from Prime Minister Theresa May here in the UK and this contributed to the negative close across Europe on Tuesday – markets do not like uncertainty and across the EU there are further elections are coming up to destabilise the status quo.  Last night’s U.S. markets also closed mainly down after Goldman Sachs reported earnings well below expectations and continuing worries over Syria and North Korea kept traders on the defensive.

The overnight Asian market did not fare much better with virtually all indices coming in with losses for the session although there is some glimmers of buying this morning in Europe although that may not last too long. As expected, the falls in equity markets has given Gold a slight boost although it is still struggling to get over the $1290 level it touched on Monday – we are also seeing a small amount of profit taking this morning so we could see further falls. Crude oil is suffering from burgeoning U.S. stocks and news out of Saudi Arabia yesterday caused some volatility – their exports are falling this month but this is countered by rising production despite calls for OPEC restrictions to bolster the price. U.S. WTI Crude is at $52.36 after four straight days of declines and I cannot see much support until the $51.50 level.

Trading Diary:

09:25am   Been back home for 15 minutes and I am now in a ‘short’ position on my 15-min Gold chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with an 11 pip stop loss.

11:00am   Out of my Gold position now with a +24 pip profit, the price has come down nicely as equity markets have risen slightly.  Off for a cycle ride in the sun in 10 minutes so probably no more chart watching until after lunch.

14:20pm   Just got back home and it’s too sunny outside to do any more chart watching indoors so that’s it for trading today – back tomorrow bright and early.

07:55am   I am planning to some chart watching here at home this morning and early afternoon ahead of a 5-day trip away so any trades I have will be detailed below.  After today, I will be back in front of my screens next Wednesday (19th April)

Market Update:

Widespread pessimism is spreading across markets as President Trump maintains that the U.S. Dollar is currently too strong and hints at measures to reduce its value and there are also doubts regarding his foreign policy going forward. As well as these uncertainties, the U.S. company reporting season is upon us and banks are up first with JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup due to release latest earnings later this afternoon and talk on Wall Street is for lower than expected numbers.

The overnight Asian market closed mostly negative with the Japanese Yen rising as investors and traders rush to safe haven products in the wake of perceived global instability. The Shanghai Composite came out ahead, rising 0.07% to close at 3277.04 and also the South Korean Kospi closed up 19.70 points as the Bank Of Korea announced they were keeping rates on hold once again.

Crude oil markets had another volatile session as news emerged that U.S. stockpiles fell slightly more than expected although this encouraging situation could not keep prices up and WTI Crude ended Wednesday’s session at $52.78, down 67 cents from a daily high of $53.73.  As expected, Gold is still riding high on a wave of safe haven buying, it hit another 2017 high at $1286.60 yesterday and is not far short of that level this morning as the European trading session gets underway.

Trading Diary:

10:25am   I have just entered a ‘short’ position on my 15-min S&P-500 chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B with a 28 pip stop loss.

13:40pm    Just got back from lunch and seen that my S&P position is still trundling along and sitting currently at -8 pips.  It has got close to its first target of +28 pips earlier but missed it by one pip.

14:40pm   My S&P-500 trade has just been stopped out at -28 pips and almost immediately a ‘short’ Gold position has just triggered, it’s a UTB price-reversal pattern with a 17 pip stop loss.  This will not be a very long trade as we are leaving for the airport in an hour so if it does not move down fairly quickly I’ll have to set a target.

15:05pm   I have decided to come out of my Gold position as the price has come down quite well in the last 20 minutes and I have plenty of other things to be getting on with now. My score is +43 pips giving me an overall profit for the day of +15 pips and a weekly total of +157 pips. I’ll be back here next Wednesday but in the meantime I hope you have a nice relaxing few days away from the screens.

08:30am   Quiet day planned here at home and any trades I take will be detailed below.

Market Update:

Tuesday’s trading session saw U.S. and most European equities fall as geopolitical issues are coming to the forefront after traders have started to analyse the likely consequences.  Both the Dow Jones 30 and S&P-500 endured large falls although they did recover some losses by the close with IT and the financial sector experiencing the biggest drops.  The overnight Asian session followed on from the U.S. session and closed mainly down with only China’s Hang Seng Index showing signs of optimism.

As expected, Gold is benefiting from a flight to safety, it rose just over $23 yesterday to close at $1274.40 and is around the same level this morning although there could be some profit taking through the day.  Crude oil is on the move upwards again as rumours from Saudi Arabia emerge that they are asking OPEC to extend production limits through to the second half of 2017. U.S. WTI Crude Oil closed up 27 cents yesterday at $53.38 and is slightly higher this morning as the price is once again heading for the minor resistance level at $55.

Trading Diary:

11:05am    Nothing to report on the trading front yet this morning – off for a quick cycle ride now.

13:15pm    Back home now after lunch and I’ve got into a ‘short’ position on my S&P-500 15-min chart. It’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up with a 20 pip stop loss.

14:25pm   I am going out for an hour to help a neighbour and as the U.S. markets are understandably volatile at the moment I left my stop loss at -20 pips to give the trade some room to manoeuvre and set my target at +20 pips.

15:40pm    Just returned home and I can see my earlier trade reached its 20 pip target.  That will do me for the day, back here tomorrow for the last day of the trading week in the UK (due to the Easter Weekend)

08:40am   Back home after a short break away and I am planning to be here at home watching charts from time to time this morning/early afternoon so any trades I find will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

Markets started the trading week mixed with U.S. equities largely flat although last night’s Asian session closed slightly up but there does seem to be a growing sentiment across trading floors of concern regarding various global problems that are dominating news headlines.  U.S./Russian relations over Syria are causing oil prices to rise with WTI Crude closing up last night at $53.51 and Libyan oil field closures should keep prices in a bullish mood for the next few days and we could see a return to the  $55.00 resistance level at sometime this month.

The long but steady rise of U.S. equity markets since the end of last year does appear to be over for the time being as traders lose confidence in the new President being able to change economic conditions as quickly as he imagined plus the aforementioned geopolitical issues that are going on in Syria and North Korea and various European countries.  This growing uncertainty is helping the Gold price as investors move towards safety, the yellow metal is heading back towards the $1260 resistance level today so watch for a possible reaction (that’s a euphemism for “trading opportunity)  It is currently trading at $1256.90

Trading Diary:

09:45am   Nothing to see on my collection of favourite charts so far this morning so I am off for a cycle ride in the sunshine.

13:25pm   Due to some bad luck out on my cycle ride, I’ve only just got back – so I’m going to have a couple of hours chart watching now to see if I can pick up a trade somewhere.

14:40pm    Just got into a ‘short’ position on my S&P-500 chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern and the stop loss is a higher than usual 62 pips as I am on the 1-hour timeframe.

15:55pm    I have just come out of my S&P-500 position, the price has come down very nicely but it’s still quite ‘jumpy’ so I have decided to close the trade rather than watching the screen non-stop which is not the way I like to work – it’s simply not relaxing and too much like hard work.  My score is +122 pips and that’ll be good enough for today’s session.

Back here tomorrow morning.

07:35am     As it is the U.S. Non Farm Payrolls announcement today I traditionally do not trade but will be back in front of my screens next Tuesday – I hope you have a nice relaxing weekend break.

Market Update:

Markets have been dominated by the overnight news that the U.S. launched a cruise missile attack on the Shayrat Airbase near Homs in Syria. At times like this there is normally a rush to safe-havens and the Japanese Yen and Gold have rallied with the latter trading as high as $1269.30 in the past 6 hours although it has fallen back slightly to $1262.50 at the moment.

The overnight Asian session was choppy to say the least as traders digested the news from the Middle East and pondered over the likely consequences although at the close only the Hang Seng index was down, all others where slightly up on the day.   The European trading session is just getting underway and at the moment most bourses are relatively flat as traders wait for key employment figures from the U.S. at lunchtime  as it is the first Friday of the month and Non Farm Payroll numbers are once again released.

As is quite usual, any escalating conflict in the Middle East brings higher oil prices as traders worry over supply issues and overnight both WTI Crude and Brent Crude have rallied. The U.S benchmark rose to a high of $52.67 just after news of the air strike emerged but has fallen back slightly and is currently trading at $52.49.

08:30am   My plans today are to do some chart watching while catching up on emails and Skype calls so any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

Focus at the moment is on President Trump’s much anticipated meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping with trade and North Korea high on the agenda.  Although no big decisions are expected, markets have been reacting negatively in advance of any breaking news from the conference and concerns over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are growing as it is becoming obvious that the UN are just going to sit around and do nothing.

Other geopolitical issues are affecting sentiment as well with the Syrian conflict looming large as it puts the U.S. and Russia at loggerheads once again and markets are reacting negatively with U.S. equities ending Wednesday’s session largely down and overnight the Asian markets were similarly bearish with only the Shanghai Composite closing very slightly up.

Oil markets, as expected, had a fairly volatile session yesterday due mainly to increased trading volume after the U.S. Crude Oil Inventories. Stocks grew unexpectedly which had a negative effect on prices and WTI Crude ended the day down by 37 cents at $50.79 after enjoying a good run-up over the last couple of weeks from the $47 support level.

Trading Diary:

09:10am    I have just entered a ‘long’ position on my Brent Crude Oil chart – it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern with a 19 pip stop loss.

10:15am     Out of the Brent position, happy with +20 pips.  Out for cycle ride now in the glorious sunshine, I will send out a chart screenshot to subscribers to the system when I get back.

11:45am    I entered a ‘long’ position on my DAX-30 chart a short while ago, it’s another Master-The-Trend pattern as before and my stop loss is 11 pips.

12:40pm    The DAX price has shot up quite well in the past 15 minutes and I have now closed off my position a +37 pips.

14:50pm     Back from lunch and it’s too sunny to be inside so that’s my chart watching done for the day  –  happy with the +57 pip score today.

08:15am    I am here at home all morning and part of the afternoon so any trades I find will be detailed below.

Market Update:

Markets on both sides of the Atlantic are looking fairly bullish at the moment following remarks from U.S. President Trump in which he is promising to cut financial regulation that was put in place after the global crash in 2007/2008.  Traders are also eyeing up the forthcoming meeting between Donald Trump and the Chinese President Xi Jinping where they will be discussing trade and North Korean concerns, sentiment is generally upbeat ahead of the two leaders attempting to solve a variety of problems, not least is the problem of Kim Jong-un and his global ambitions of nuclear supremacy.

The overnight Asian trading session ended positively on the whole and this is spilling over to the start of the European session where focus is on the French elections at the moment. The Far Right candidate Marine Le Pen is seen as losing traction which is good for stability within the EU and if she ultimately loses the vote, it will discourage others who are interested in leaving the European economic club.

Crude oil is seeing a slight resurgence and has risen well over the last couple of weeks.  U.S. WTI Crude found solid support at $47.00 and is now trading around the $51.40 level although we could see some profit taking today/tomorrow. There will also be some volatility as we wait for the weekly U.S. stock numbers, there is an expectation of slight fall in the inventories over the last 7-days.

Trading Diary:

10:10am    Nothing to report from my charts and the sun is shining outside so I am off for a cycle ride for a few hours.

12:15pm    I’ve just got into a ‘long’ position in my WTI Crude Oil chart, its a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 10-pip stop loss.  The Crude Oil Inventory numbers are being released soon so it’s not an ideal time to get into a trade with this instrument but I will show you a way to do it while also reducing the risk.

12:25pm    When you are anticipating a fair amount of volatility on a chart that you are currently trading, one way of reducing risk is to slowly bring your stop loss upto break even – but not too quickly as you could see yourself being stopped out prematurely.  It is still too early for me as the position is only at +2 pips but I am watching the price carefully – this is the only time I actually sit on front of my screens for any length of time, usually I will trigger the trade and only return every 30 minutes or so.

12:50pm     Just brought my stop loss upto -5 pips as the score currently at +6 pips.

13:05pm     Now the stop loss is at break even although I will close it off soon as I am due out for lunch soon with friends.

13:25pm     Off out in 5 minutes so I have closed the position off at +20 pips.

15:15pm     Back home now but off again soon so no more trading for me today, back here tomorrow morning for my last day in front of the charts this week.

09:50am   A slightly later than usual start to this dairy today as I have had some technical ‘issues’ with our website this morning but all seems to be getting back to normal now.  I am here at home today so any trades I find will be detailed below.

I cannot however, seem to get the Market Update to appear here so I will try again tomorrow !

Trading Diary:

10:55am   Just entered a ‘long’ position on my 30-min S&P-500 chart, it’s a UTB price reversal pattern with a 19 pip stop loss.

11:30am   I have now come out of my S&P-500 position with a quick 20 pip profit.

12:50pm    Nothing to report on my collection of favourite charts, I am now off out for lunch with some other traders.

14:55pm   Been back here at home for around 20 minutes and I can report that I’m in a ‘long’ position on my Brent Crude Oil chart.  My stop loss is 24 pips.

15:20pm    Forgot to add that the above trade is a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern.

16:35pm     Just came out of my Brent Crude position, the price has shot up quite well in the past half an hour and I am off out in a minute as well. The trade managed +46 pips giving me a total of +66 pips for the day, a nice start to April’s trading score.

Back here in front of my charts tomorrow morning – hopefully the tech issues will not repeat themselves and I can publish a Market Update as well.

08:45am   Late start to my trading day as I returned home from London just after 2am this morning. If I do have any trades today I will post details below in my Trading Diary.

Trading Diary:

U.S. equity markets staged some bullishness yesterday as we approach the last day of trading for the first quarter of 2017.  The financial, healthcare and energy sectors were the best performers of the session with UnitedHealth and Goldman Sachs amongst the highest risers of the day. The rising oil price has helped energy companies with WTI Crude ending up at $50.35 (up 1.7%) on lower U.S. stocks and supply concerns in Libya.

The overnight Asian session ended mixed at best as Chinese traders start to analyse the possible outcome of a meeting next week between the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.  The U.S. President has already stated that the conversation will be ‘difficult’ as he is determined to close the enormous trade gap between the two countries.

European markets have had a mostly negative start to the last day of the month where there’s going to be a fair amount of selling as traders adjust their positions before closing their books for the first quarter.  Investment companies need to present a favourable outlook to their customers at the end of each quarter and these adjustments (also know as ‘window dressing’) are needed to present their last there last three month’s work in a good light and also justify their generous fees.

Gold is coming off the highs reached earlier this week, it touched the $1260 level again but has retreated back as money has flowed out safe havens and back into equities (for the time being). It is currently trading at $1242.55 having broken down through  its 20-day moving average but is quite oversold according to my MMOSc indicator so we could see a small rise today.

Trading Diary:

10:20am    Just entered a ‘long’ position on my 15-min FTSE-100 chart, it’s a UTB Price-Reversal pattern and my stop loss is a whopping 9 pips.

10:55am    Just taken a quick profit from the FTSE position, I am out now with +10 pips.

11:10am   Now in a ‘short’ position on the same FTSE-100 chart as previously, this time it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 10 pip stop.

14:00pm    Just returned home from lunch and seen my FTSE position has been stopped out at -10 pips.

14:25pm     Typically for a Friday afternoon, the markets are all over the place and I have some better things to do now out in the sunshine than watch charts after a fairly successful week so that’s it for trading today.  I will be back in front of my screens next Tuesday morning and I wish everyone a nice relaxing weekend break.