07:50am  I had planned to spend a quiet day at home in front of my charts but I’ve been invited out for a clay pigeon shooting day so no trading until tomorrow.

Market Update:

Although U.S. markets are still in a bullish trend, the bullish momentum is slowing as we approach the Federal Reserve’s March rate meeting in a few day’s time. Expectations are close to 100% for a rate rise this month but traders still seem to be sitting on their hands at the moment, waiting to see what the wider reaction will be tomorrow once the FOMC statement is released.  The overnight Asian trading session ended mixed even though there was fairly bullish news out of China regarding industrial production which was higher than expected at +6.3% although retail sales did disappoint at ‘just’ 9.5% – western economies dream of figures like that.

Crude oil is continuing to fall with U.S. WTI Crude now sitting at $48.35, a long way from the highs of $55 that was seen at the end of last month. Worries regarding over production in the U.S. and Russia still weighs heavily on the market and traders are marking time at the moment ahead of this week’s Crude Oil Inventories report on Thursday.

Europe’s trading session is opening cautiously today with concerns over the UK’s Brexit plans that now include a possible Scottish breakaway and there are also Dutch elections that the EU are watching carefully for signs of growing Far-Right dissent.

07:30am   As it’s Non Farm Payrolls day in the U.S. I will not be trading today but I will be back in front of my charts next Tuesday morning after a long weekend break.

Market Update:

U.S. markets closed mainly flat on Thursday as traders await today’s jobs report. Initial surveys earlier in the week suggest the numbers will be good which raises the probability of a Fed rate hike as early as next week so we could see a fall in equity indices when the Non Farm Payrolls are announced in around 6-hours.

The overnight Asian session was mixed as traders over there also await the U.S. jobs report although the main news in the region last night was the impeachment of the South Korean President Park Geun-hye prompting a snap election within the next two months. European markets are looking fairly bullish this morning after a largely positive session on Thursday and throughout the day there is a steady flow of economic news from the region which could potentially affect indices.

Oil is continuing to slide and U.S. WTI Crude is now below the significant $50 level and is currently sitting on its 200-day moving average again. The global oil glut does not want to fade away and remarks from President Trump on U.S. oil self-sufficiency has prompted increased shale production which is just making the issue worse.   Gold is also below a key level, it fell down through the $1200 support yesterday on U.S. Dollar strength and is now heading for the next support at $1180.

08:20am   Another quiet day at home planned so any trades I have will be detailed below in my Trading Diary

Market Update:

Wednesday’s U.S. trading session saw equity markets decline after large falls in Crude Oil prices and encouraging employment numbers for February which is expected to be confirmed tomorrow when the monthly Non Farm Payrolls announcement is made.  U.S. WTI Crude fell 5.38% to $50.28, it’s largest one day drop for over a year due to inventory reports that U.S. stocks rose by 8.2 million barrels in the past week.  There is a perceived support level at $50 which was touched briefly late yesterday afternoon and any move below this is a fairly bearish sign for the sector – prices have recovered slightly overnight and WTI is trading around the $50.75 level this morning.

Encouraging employment numbers should be good for equities but at the moment it merely signals that the Federal Reserve will be more likely to raise interest rates when they meet next week and this would be bad for business as it increases their borrowing costs which in turn has a direct effect on the bottom line. Surveys this week suggest a +90% chance of a rate hike on March.

Asian markets were mostly negative at the close except for a late rally in the Nikkei 225 where a weaker Japanese Yen brought buyers out.  Chinese PPI data showed a surprise rise to 7.8%, well above expectations and also ahead of government targets and this curtailed any buying enthusiasm.  European markets are opening slightly down as traders adjust their positions ahead of tomorrow’s U.S. jobs report. There was nothing in the UK’s budget announcement yesterday to spur the market on and London’s FTSE-100 index has fallen from a high of 7400 last week and is sitting at 7288 this morning although price could find some support at its 20-day moving average.

Trading Diary:

09:50am   I have just entered a ‘long’ trade on my 15-min GOLD chart, it’s a UTB price-reversal pattern and my stop loss is a paltry 10 pips.

10:15am    Just entered a ‘short’ position on my UK Brent Crude 15-min chart. It’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern and the stop loss is a relatively high 32 pips but that does reflect the volatility and large moves in the market since yesterday’s U.S. inventories announcement.

11:05am   My Gold trade has not really achieved much so far, it’s still languishing around break even but the Brent Crude price has come down quite nicely and I have just closed my position off at +139 pips.

12:10pm   Just scanning through my charts and I’ve seen that my Gold position has been stopped out at -10 pips.  Lunch out soon so I will update this diary later this afternoon.

14:45pm   Back from lunch and nothing much to see on my collection of favourite charts so I am going to finish for the day – happy with my +129 pip score.

08:10am   Back from a short trip away and a quiet day planned here at home  - today’s trades are detailed below.

Market Update:

U.S. equity markets are seeing a cooling of the recent bullish momentum with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its first negative score for many weeks, it ended yesterday’s session at 20,924 down almost 30 points. Investors and traders are unsure of the effect of the probable interest rate hike this month and Friday’s U.S. jobs report is going give further confirmation of the Federal Reserve’s intentions regarding their monetary policy.

After the world’s largest economy had a slight downturn yesterday, the overnight Asian trading session was never going to really bullish and most markets closed slightly in the red with the Chinese Hang Seng being a notable exception, finishing up 0.37%.  Equities were dragged down on escalating geopolitical risks and a surprising Chinese trade deficit revealed, exports were largely as expected but imports grew at a faster pace.

European markets are opening lower this morning as traders have real appetite for buying at the moment, there are worries over French elections plus we have the UK budget looming and a U.S. rate rise expected.  Crude oil is still suffering form over capacity and high stocks and U.S. WTI Crude is down to $52.69 this morning although it has found some support at its 50-day moving average – watch this situation today for trading opportunities to the upside.

With an expected U.S. rate hike, the attraction of Gold to investors is waning slightly and it close down $9.71 last night at $1215.50 and is falling further this morning – its sitting at $1212.98 currently.

Trading Diary:

08:15am   Just entered a ‘short’ Master-The-Trend position on my WTI Crude chart, more details soon.

08:25am    The above position is a Strategy-A pattern on the WTI Crude Oil 30-min chart and my stop loss is 15 pips.

09:15am   I have also entered a ‘long’ position on my German DAX-30 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern with a 23 pip stop loss.

10:40am    The Dax price seems to have hit a small resistance point on its travels upwards so I have come out of my position with an acceptable +30 pips and I’ve just entered a ‘short’ Master-The-Trend Strategy-A trade on my Gold chart (12 pip stop loss).   My Crude Oil trade is still hovering around break even so just leaving that alone for the moment – busy morning…

10:50am   Going off for a cycle ride for an hour or so now, leaving the stop losses on my existing positions as they are but leaving the profit targets open.

12:20pm   Just got back and seen that my Gold position has been stopped out at -12 pips.  My WTI Crude trade is at +19 pips but has not moved much recently so I will review it again before I go out for lunch.

12:40pm   I have just closed off my WTI Crude Oil position at +21 pips as it has not dropped much further and I am out now for a couple of hours.  My score so far today is +39 pips.

15:00pm   Just got back home and had a quick look at my collection of favourite charts and they all seem fairly ‘busy’ but nothing in the way of profitable patterns so I am going to call it a day as far as trading is concerned today.

Back in front of my screens tomorrow morning.

08:45am   No trading for me today as I am preparing for a 4-day trip this morning and leaving this afternoon, back on Tuesday night so I’ll be back in front of my screens next Wednesday morning.

Market Update:

Global markets are taking a small breather after a fairly meteoric rise over the last week, traders are waiting for Fed Chief Janet Yellen’s thoughts later this afternoon on the U.S. economy and her plans for her next rate rise. Most investors are betting on a rise towards the end of this month of between 0.25% and 0.50% although February’s U.S. jobs report next Friday will give us more clues.

U.S. markets closed down yesterday as traders booked some profits and the European indices have started off this morning in the same vein. Overnight, the Asian trading session was largely negative on similiar concerns and the South Korean Kospi Index fell the most during the session on worries over a worsening relationship with China with diplomatic tensions coming to the forefront.

Crude oil is now quite a way from the $55 high of last week mainly due to rising U.S. inventories plus news from Russia that promised production cuts are not really been implemented and this has driven the price down to $52.53 at the close last night, although it has recovered slightly this morning.

 08:15am  This will be my last day in front of my screens until next Wednesday as we are away on a short break tomorrow afternoon for 4-days. Any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

Main market news is the record high that U.S. equities reached during Wednesday’s trading session. The Dow Jones index of 30 leading companies closed above the 21,000 level and the rise was the best of 2017 – up 1.46% although the financial sector did even better at +2.8% with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to the bullish move. The wider S&P-500 closed up 1.37% (+32.32 points) at 2395.96 but did hit 2400.90 before retreating back slightly and this bullish sentiment is attributed mainly to a growing hope that Trump is going to follow through on most of his campaign promises regarding the economy and also that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this month which is a good signal that the Central Bank believes the U.S. economy is in good enough shape to withstand a rate hike.

Yesterday’s bullishness spilled over to last night’s Asian trading session and most bourses were up throughout the night although the two main Chinese indices did fall back just before the close.  After yesterday’s sterling performance in Europe, traders are more cautious this morning with only limited buying ahead of tomorrow’s U.S. jobs report.

Crude oil is continuing its slide from recent highs, U.S. WTI Crude is now well below the resistance at $55 and fell 39 cents yesterday to close at $53.64 and is still trading around that level as Europe begins trading.  Gold is moving down this morning after a fairly volatile session yesterday, it has found some support at its 20-day moving average this week and should revisit the $1255 level in the next few days.

Trading Diary:

10:10am    Just entered a ‘long’ position on my DAX-30 1-hr chart using a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern and my stop loss is 20 pips. No other opportunities at the present time, the S&P-500 is just going sideways on small volume ahead of tomorrow’s Non Farm Payrolls report and Crude Oil has only just settled down to a definite trend (bearish).

10:15am   Off out in the strong winds for a cycle ride…

12:10pm   Been back home for 10 minutes and the only set-up I’ve noticed is a potential ‘short’ trade on my Brent Crude Oil chart. My DAX position is ok at the moment, it’s been languishing around +10 pips for a while now.

12:25pm   The Brent Crude price has fallen sufficiently and I am now in the above mentioned trade, it’s another Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 13 pip stop loss.

13:45pm   I have just come out of my DAX-30 ‘long’ position, it has struggled for most of the morning to make any headway and it has just managed to get to 1:1 target – so my score for this trade is +21 pips.   My other trade is still doing ok (+28 pips currently) and coming down nicely so I will leave it for a while and see where it gets to.

14:25pm   Just close off my other position (Brent Crude Oil) —  it has managed +52 pips so my score for the day so far is +73 pips.  Off for a late lunch in a minute.

15:40pm   Back home now but calling it a day on my trading, happy with the +73 pip score.  Back in front of my charts next Wednesday.

08:45am   Around the house for most of the day so any trades I have will be reported in my Trading Diary below.

Market Update:

Donald Trump’s much anticipated speech late yesterday offered little confirmation of any economic policy change in the next few months but U.S. equities have still moved higher in the overnight futures market, the S&P-500 touched a new high of 2372 but retreated back slightly as European markets get going this morning.  Traders are now concentrating on the Federal Reserve’s next rate move and expectations are for a rise this month given the optimism across a wide range of sectors together with encouraging company results this year and the sentiment for a hike in the minimum lending rate has given the U.S. Dollar a boost.

The overnight Asian session finished mainly upbeat as traders were relieved that there were no big surprises in Trump’s speech with the Japanese Nikkei Stock Average 225 beating all others and rising 274 points to close at 19,393 and heading for the significant 20,000 level.  Crude Oil markets will be fairly quiet this morning as we wait for the weekly U.S stockpile situation, the U.S. WTI Crude price is retreating back from the resistance point around $55 although its 20-day moving average is providing some support so watch for some interesting moves later this afternoon once the numbers are released.

Trading Diary:

09:20am     Nothing too exciting occurring on my group of favourite charts so I am off on a cycle ride for an hour or so.

12:15pm    Nothing to report so far trading-wise, I am now off out for an early lunch.

13:20pm    Just got back at my desk and I’ve entered a ‘long’ position on my German Dax-30 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A set-up with a 13 pip stop loss.

14:35pm  The Dax-30 price has come up quite nicely and I have just come out of my position at +30 pips  –  happy with that for my first trade of the day (and month) so I’ll finish the session on that high note and be back here tomorrow.

Today is the last trading of February 2017 and this is a quick sum-up of my various trading system performances over the past 4-weeks.

In total I took 19 trades during the month, 17 of those were Master-The-Trend set-ups and the other two were Master-The-Reversal ‘UTB’ patterns.

Of those trades, 15 came out as winners and I had 3 losses and one trade ended at break even (zero pips).  My total profit February was +337 pips.

08:20am   Back home after a short break away and I shall be here in the study for most of the day catching up on emails and doing some chart watching. Any trades I have will be reported below.

Market Update:

U.S. markets are making news once again, the Dow Jones 30 index closed at a record high for the twelfth session in a row last night, it hit 20,851 briefly before settling back to close at 20,837 (+0.08%) with the wider S&P-500 up a similiar amount. This bullishness has been caused by speculation of good news from Trump in his speech at tonight’s joint Congress session where he’s expected to announce an increase in defense spending, a cut in taxes and also cuts in other sectors he deems to be ‘wasteful’.

The overnight Asian session was equally bullish on this impending news with most indices up except for the Hang Seng which fell back into negative territory in the last few hours and this morning European trading session is getting underway in a fairly subdued manner with no large rises any sectors so far.  Crude oil is still trading at close to its highs of 2017, as mentioned before U.S. WTI Crude has been in a small price corridor between $50 and $55 since the middle of December and due to the apparent success of OPEC production cuts the price is closing in on the upper resistance line (currently at $54.05 and falling).

Gold is still rising even though traders are still buying into equities, the price hit $1263.70 during yesterday’s session before falling back overnight and settling around the $1252 level for the past few hours.  The daily chart shows price well over the 200-day moving average which is a bullish sign although we could see a return down to the $1240 this week.

Trading Diary:

09:20am   There are a couple of possible opportunities coming up on my Gold and both Crude Oil charts – more details soon.

09:40am   The above mentioned trades have triggered so I am now in ‘short’ positions on my Gold and WTI Crude charts. They are both Master-The-Trend strategy-A set-ups and my stop loss on the Gold trade is 14 pips and the WTI position has a 13 pip stop.

09:55am   Just taken a quick 18 pip profit from the Gold position and I will send out a chart screenshot to subscribers soon to explain why…

14:10pm   The WTI Crude price has eventually come down nicely and I have just exited my position with a +54 pip profit.  Time to ride out for a quick lunch for an hour or so.

15:30pm    Back home now and I can see no upcoming trade opportunities in the next 30 or 40 minutes so I am going to call a halt to my trading for the day (and the month) as I am more than happy with the day’s +72 pip score —  I will be back here tomorrow morning.

07:50am   Full-on day helping the builders here so no chart watching today but I will be back in front of the screens next Tuesday after a long-weekend break.

Market Update:

U.S. markets closed broadly ahead again yesterday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average completing its tenth record close in a row to finish up 34 points at 20,810 although the wider S&P index of the biggest 500 companies was only up by 0.04% at the closing bell last night. Overall the markets are still positive and financials faired well yesterday on the back of comments from the newly appointed U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin who is keen to push through economic reforms well before the government’s summer recess.

Overnight Asian markets did not perform so well though with most indices ending in the red on mixed corporate news but the Shanghai Composite did provide some relief by closing 1.6 points up. This morning’s European markets are currently trading slightly down on yesterday’s close and this may not improve much if U.S. traders start booking profits later today before the weekend break.

Oil markets are again trading near their highs of 2017 although there does seem to be a price ceiling at $54 for WTI Crude which was almost hit again yesterday so expect some further selling today as this week’s U.S. stock situation is once higher than expected. WTI Crude is currently trading at $54.22 and falling towards its 20-day moving average.