Tragedy Strikes

First off, my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives today. You will have to excuse me for being short today but this is not the way I would have liked to see a possible top be put in the US equity markets. While there has been conflict with Russia and The Ukraine/ all over the Middle East, it is a shame that a lot of people do not take into account the loss of life of so many innocent people. Today is an absolute tragedy that just did not have to happen.

As for the markets, the Dow Jones is currently more than 200 points lower than the highs made this morning. Due to this tragic event today Oil, Gold and US Treasuries skyrocketed. Oil is almost $104 as I write this, Gold is $1322 and the Ten Year Note is trading well below 2.50% @2.44. The US Dollar settled at 8057 with the currencies relatively quiet compared to all the other markets.

Here are 2 charts, to display how wild the swings were today in both Gold and Oil. Both charts are of the hourly time frame. Please click on the charts.

Before the news hit today,  Oil was trading below 102 after making a high of 10310 earlier in the morning. Gold was trading around 1304 and jumped a touch more than $20 on the news before fading back down to finish the NY session @1317. As the news got worse with Israel going in on foot to Gaza, both Oil and Gold went absolutely crazy to the upside with Oil trading up near $104 to finish the day.

Now when the markets get like this and hang off every piece of news that hits the wires, yes it is one big giant GAMBLE! As easy and fast these markets went up and the stock market fell, they can just easily do the opposite in a flash. The smart thing to do is protect profits if you were lucky and give the markets a couple of days to digest. Both these conflicts in the news today have been in the news for quite some time now, we get flare ups and then everyone thinks things will get better. Right now I do not need to guess what will happen next.

Let's hope the violence does not escalate further, if you are going to trade, yes there is opportunity but you can get killed if you are not careful. Trade at your own will if you must!

Enjoy the weekend with the people you love.
TraderMartin