It appears that the markets are beginning to shake their holiday slumber. Considerable action on the forex, commodities, and equities fronts have given traders opportunity to post gains during the early U.S. session. Over on the signals page, there are a number of live trades currently active. With a bit of luck, many of them will close in the green and pad our trading accounts ahead of the new year.

This morning has been active on the news front. Here are the key numbers facing the U.S. economy:

Event                                                              Projected              Actual

Continuing Jobless Claims (Dec. 15)                 1.900M              1.943M

Trade Balance (Nov.)                                        -$67.70B          -$69.68B

Wholesale Inventories (Nov.)                                   0.4%               0.7%

Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (Dec.)           62.0                 67.6

The U.S. indices are showing strength, with the DJIA up 40 points and the S&P 500 moderately in the green ignoring the increase in Continuing Jobless Claims.

It will certainly be interesting to observe the performance of U.S. equities next week. The first trading week of the year can be a volatile time to be in the market. Often, institutional players set the tone by taking long-term positions in any variety of markets. If the DJIA and S&P 500 establish fresh all-time highs early in 2018, we could be in for another bullish calendar year.

Headlines

Unless they are shocking or threaten political stability, news headlines such as the ones listed below do not typically move markets. But, when placed in the proper context, they give us insight into what is actually occurring in a region or economy. In addition to today’s metrics, there are a few headlines hitting the newswires that are fascinating:

• “U.S. Housing Has Gained $2 trillion In Value For 2017”
• “Retailers Experience Greatest Increase In Holiday Sales Since 2011”
• “One Of The Worst Years Ever For Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters”

This group of headlines points to a strong American economy. Despite the money and productivity lost to the active hurricane season, consumption and real estate are up dramatically.

With the Trump Tax bill being finalized and the FED projecting three rate hikes for the coming year, we are very likely to have extended periods of optimal trading conditions in 2018. Volatility will regularly face the USD, giving us considerable opportunity to aggressively engage the forex majors.