“US markets pause to remember the 41st US President.”

The New York Stock Exchange and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index were closed on Wednesday as a mark of respect for former US President George H.W. Bush who last week died aged 94. The last time the US Market was closed for the death of a former President was 2007 when traders stopped to pay respect to President Gerald Ford.

The Aussie Dollar pulled back sharply on Wednesday after 3rd quarter GDP figures showed the Australian economy grew at a significantly slower pace than economists expected. Annualised growth for the 3rd quarter was 2.8% which was a big miss given economists were expecting 3.3%. 0.7241 is the next area of support for the AUD v USD which is the 200 EMA on the 4-hour chart. This level may be tested today when the latest Trade Balance numbers are released.

The Bank of Canada released its December policy statement Wednesday and sent the Canadian Dollar sharply lower. The market was expecting the Bank of Canada to raise rates again in January, however, their policy statement on Wednesday noted the recent $14 a barrel slide in the price of oil and said. “In light of these developments and associated cutbacks in production, activity in Canada’s energy sector will likely be materially weaker than expected.” With Canada’s economy so heavily reliant on Oil production and Oil prices traders immediately priced out their expectations for a January rate hike with Spring of 2019 the next likely time frame for the BOC to consider raising rates.

All the major gaps from Monday have now closed bar the NZD v USD which is pulling back as I write and is only 10 ticks away from Friday’s close. With some US markets closed on Wednesday is it difficult to get a gauge if US markets will continue their slide when they reopen on Thursday. If European markets are any guide the negative sentiment is still weighing with the FTSE and DAX both down over 1%.

The Life of a Trader. Part 1

Your challenge as a trader is to control your temptation and trade only your specific plan. Open your platform, look at your charts, see price move and you could be tempted to take a trade that follows no logical consistent approach to execution or risk management. Sadly, this is what happens to many traders, they cannot help themselves and succumb to the market’s temptations. You must avoid this at all costs and only trade a specific plan of execution and risk management that can be repeated again and again. I am perfectly happy to sit and wait for my trade set up. Just because I have not been filled on a trade this week does not mean I need to force a trade for the sake of trading. There are dozens of great trading opportunities every year, all I need to do is wait for them.

There is no high impacting economic data due for the European or US trading sessions today so all eyes will be on stock markets for some market direction for currency traders.

Any trade updates throughout the day will be sent via Trade Time. You can also follow my daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram by searching for TrainwithAndrew. Make sure you subscribe to the Andrew Barnett YouTube channel after watching today’s Sunrise video below.

About the Author: Andrew Barnett

Andrew is a professional trader and successful investor who has a strong focus on education. He is a regular Sky News Money Channel Guest and one of Australia’s most awarded and respected financial experts and is regularly contacted by the Australian Media for the latest on what is happening with the Australian Dollar. Director at LTG GoldRock, Andrew Barnett, guides thousands of traders around the world in the live market on a daily basis, advising them on buy and sell directions, as well as trading his own personal account. Andrew, a regular keynote speaker at trading and wealth-creation events throughout the Asia Pacific region, is an authorized representative registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

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The post Today’s Key Market Drivers: 6th December 2018 appeared first on LTG GoldRock.