08:35am   I am back after a short holiday and am planning a day at home catching up on emails plus doing some chart watching from time to time. Any trades I take will be detailed below in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

European and U.S. equity markets were generally bearish at the start of this week’s trading as investors continue to worry about the effects of further trade tariffs in global trade. Virtually all the major European bourses ended in negative territory as unease continues to grip German, French and British markets during this period of Brexit negotiations and car manufacturers also suffered as the fallout from Trump’s aggressive stance on import duties continues to drag on. In the U.S., the Dow Jones 30 index fell 1.33% to close at 24,252.80 (-328.09 pips) and the S&P-50 was down marginally more percentage wise after reports emerged that President Trump is preparing further trade sanctions against China.

The overnight Asian trading session started sharply down after the U.S. markets closed negatively and although the was some recovery as bargain hunters emerged, most indices in the region failed to rise enough to put themselves ahead for the day.  The only exception was the Japanese Nikkei-225 index which was down as much as 200 points earlier in the session but ended just below 4 points in the black at the close.

Oil markets are grappling with both positive and negative news and are whipsawing between positive and negative numbers. Brent Crude had a largely positive day on Monday as supply concerns emanating from Libya with news emerging that the new regime in the country has handed over oil supply control to a new entity which is bound to cause problems in the short term. The worldwide global benchmark (Brent) rose 47 cents yesterday to close at $74.64 and slightly up this morning at $74.86 although a rise maybe be capped by the 20-day moving average at $75.30 so watch for trading opportunities.

Trading Diary:

14:05pm    It has been a quiet morning as far as trade opportunities go but I have just returned from a relaxing lunch out and spotted a ‘long’ set-up on my FTSE-100 chart (30-min timeframe).  It’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern so I am now in the position with a 30 pip stop loss.

15:35pm    While opening a position on my DAX-30 chart I have also noticed my FTSE position has been stopped out at -30 pips.  Anyway, the DAX trade is another  Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern but this time the stop loss is higher at 59 pips. The price is quite volatile so it shouldn’t be a long trade – either way !

16:00pm   The DAX price has just touched 12185 so giving me a +59 pip profit so in the interests of my daily profit I have closed the position off at that level.   My overall score for the day +29 pips, very happy with that.