08:40am    I am planning a relaxing day at home today, catching up on emails and doing some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I take will be detailed in my Trading Diary  below.  This will be my last day in front of the screens until Monday.

Market Update:

U.S. traders are still in a buying mood on the back of economic reforms and tax changes by President Trump, the S&P-500 index closed higher for a fifth consecutive session and closed at another all time high at a whisker under 2350. Another driver of equity markets is the perception of an earlier than expected rate rise by the  Federal Reserve, this is seen as confidence by the U.S. Central Bank and the financial sector is quite bullish at the moment on these expectations.

The overnight Asian session was not as bullish though with Japanese shares closing slightly down but both Chinese equity indices finished in the black and the Australian ASX-200 ended largely flat after gaining and losing throughout the session.  Oil markets are falling as much as they should be given the high U.S. stock situation at the moment, WTI Crude ended Wednesday’s session largely even at $52.96 but has seen slight gains in early trading this morning and is currently sitting at $53.19.  The production cut agreed by OPEC members and other large producers seems to be having some effect in keeping prices steady, it is reported that there is a near 90% compliance with the agreement which is far higher than most traders would have expected.

Trading Diary:

09:25am   I have just entered a ‘long’ position on my WTI Crude chart, it is a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up on the 15-min timeframe and my stop loss is a reasonable 21 pips.

10:20am    Just had another scan of my favourite charts and there’s nothing else to see at the moment so I am off shopping with Head Office and then a cycle ride before lunchtime.

14:15pm   I’m back home after lunch and can see my earlier WTI Crude trade has been stopped out at -21 pips.   Nothing else to get excited about at the moment, I will have another look in an hour or so.

15:30pm   Final look at my charts and no opportunities so I am turning off my screens and finishing early.

Back in front of my screens on Monday after a long weekend away.