An attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil processing facility has caused a temporary shut down of 5.7 million barrels a day of oil output. This naturally caused oil to trade significantly higher today.

With oil strengthening significantly, a short was found in the EURCAD risking 19 pips for a potential 85 pips to our daily target at 1.4589.

Price made its way lower throughout the session and the trade was closed at our target.

A number of central banks will be announcing interest rate decisions this week, including an expected cut by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday.

It could be a busy week for oil as lost production is restored and price settles lower.

Good luck with your trading!

The USD has been weak since Tuesday’s ISM Manufacturing PMI for August fell to 49.1 – hinting further at a contracting economy. Today the ISM Non Manufacturing PMI came in at 56.4 – above expectation of 54. This helped to reverse the slide in the USD and a short was taken in the EURUSD risking 18 pips for a potential 51 to our downside target at 1.1016.

The EURUSD had already made its upside target but ran into sellers just in advance of the news release. We took advantage of this and hoped for a 100% retracement back down to the low of the day. We protected profits as price moved lower…taking the risk out of the trade. Price was unable to close beneath yesterday’s high and we closed the trade at the London close.

Traders will be watching the NFP number on Friday very closely. A substantially higher number than the expectation of 160K will likely rally the USD further. This release tends to create lots of volatility. Also Fed. Chair Powell will be speaking 30 minutes after the U.K. close.

Good luck with your trading!

The EURUSD moved quickly higher as the U.K session got underway and vertical moves are not sustainable. As the sellers entered above yesterday’s high and price made two red candles, a short was taken risking 12 pips for a potential 33 pips to our daily target at 1.1068.

This is a high probability trade setup and the pattern would be complete if price had just made it back down to its Asian session low. Price tends to retest important levels and after a quick bounce higher, price continued to our daily target and closed the trade.

It’s been a tricky week. Traders have been waiting on Fed Powell’s comments on Friday at Jackson Hole for further clues as to U.S. interest rate cuts and the health of the U.S. economy. The lack of resolution in the U.S. – China trade talks is not helping the U.S. or world economies.

I’m surprised that the 1.1000 level has held up this long for the euro and a bigger surprise is that the 1.2000 level has yet to be breached in the GBPUSD.

I’m still comfortable shorting in to both when the setup presents itself but expect a bounce at these levels in the near term.

Good luck with your trading!

Germany’s economy is contracting and a bearish sentiment prevails for the E.U.’s largest economy.

Despite all the volatility in U.S. stock markets on Wednesday, the USD index managed to move upward and continued higher today.

After a slew of economic news releases for the U.S. today, the EURUSD moved sideways for an hour then broke to the downside. A short was taken risking risking 14 pips for a potential 28 pips to our daily target at 1.1100.

Price continued down to our target and the trade was closed. The Euro weakness was also apparent in the higher octane EURJPY which also moved lower to test its Asian session low and yesterday’s low.

Building permits and housing starts will be closely watched on Friday for the U.S. It would not be unusual to see the USD pull back to close the week after four up days, but strong economic numbers may give it further resilience.

Good luck with your trading!

The AUDUSD continues to move lower and after retesting its Asian session low and failing to stay above it, a short was taken, risking 13 pips for a potential 30 pips to our daily target at .6738. I prefer a 3:1 reward to risk early in the U.K. session but 30 pips is not bad in the current market for an intraday trade.

Price continued lower and we locked in some profit and used a structured stop in advance of the U.S. session. when price continued lower to our target the trade was closed.

The market remains very jittery and reactive to not only scheduled economic news releases but also to “tweets” and Fed comments.

A strategy that continues to work well intraday is to lock in profits allowing some wiggle room, but not letting a profit turn into a loss due to a headline surfacing on Bloomberg.

Be selective in your trade setups and don’t be greedy when it comes to taking profits.

Good luck with your trading!

My preference will continue to be to short the GBPUSD on days of USD strength coupled with nothing favourable coming out of the U.K. – Brexit-wise.

It wasn’t that long ago that this pair could find some contrarians (buyers) on dips below 1.2500. Now 1.2000 is in sight, where it will likely have some difficulty getting through and moving lower…although a 34 year trendline low is at 1.1960.

Today as the pair rallied and failed early in the U.S. session overlap…making a lower high, a short was taken risking 20 pips for a potential 74 pips to our daily target at 1.2113. Price moved lower and we closed the trade at the U.K. close.

We may as well get used to it, President Trump has an interesting style of negotiating. After positive comments of progress being made with the U.S. – China trade talks last week, harsh criticism of China followed and optimism for resolution diminished once again. As the global economies slow even further, the likelihood of further interest rate cuts in the U.S. increases.

Good luck with your trading!