08:30am   Things are slowly getting back to normal after my house move and I shall be mainly here in my new home office today catching up on emails and Skype calls plus doing some chart watching.  There is also an updated Trend-Line Trade-Alert Sheet for subscribers this morning.

Market Update:

Last Friday’s U.S. Jobs Report showed a larger rise than expected, there were 227,000 positions created against an estimation of around 170,000 although the actual unemployment rate did edge up from 4.7% to 4.8%. This was generally good news for equities and the Dow Jones 30 index had it’s best one day rise this year (up +186 points) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed at another record high (5,666.70).

This bullish sentiment has spilled over the early morning Asian trading session and most indices closed positively despite a lower than expected Chinese PMI number a few hours ago but the Australian ASX-200 did buck the trend and closed lower on disappointing retail sales over the Christmas/New Year period. Crude oil values are showing slight gains as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate – Donald Trump has imposed limited sanctions against selected individuals following ballistic missile tests and there is now a perception that wider sanctions will be imposed in the coming weeks which will limit oil exports from the country so lowering global stocks.

U.S. WTI Crude is up at $53.97 this morning after closing at $53.66 on Friday night. Gold is still edging up towards its 200-day moving average on uncertainty over Trump’s policies but there does seem to be a small ceiling formed last week around the $1225 level, watch this closely this week for trading opportunities.

Trading Diary:

09:35am   It’s quiet on my ‘favourite’ charts so I am off for an exploratory cycle ride along the lanes of my new (Mid-Suffolk) neighbourhood.  Back in an hour or so.

11:10am   Been back home for 10 minutes and spotted a ‘long’ trade setting up on my Gold 1-hr chart which has now just triggered  -  it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern and I am in the position with a 21 pip stop loss.

12:15pm    The Gold price has gone up quite quickly in the past 30 minutes or so and as I am happy with the +34 pip profit it has achieved I am now out of the position.

Off out for some lunch now but back in front of my screens this afternoon.

15:30pm  There has nor been much on my charts in the past hour since I’ve been back home which is not a big surprise as the charts need some time to calm down after the U.S. session open but I have just found a ‘short’  Master-The-Trend set-up on my Brent Crude Oil chart. It’s a Strategy-B pattern this time with a 35 pip stop loss and I have been in the trade for a few minutes.

16:45pm   Now out of my Brent Crude position at +35 pips so total for my first trading day of February is +69 pips after a total risk of 56 pips.