rather than pick out individual stocks to trade, it can often be worthwhile to trade the indices themselves, especially in times of high volatility.

for those so inclined, i attach below charts for FTSE and FTSE 250, though one might equally be tempted to trade Dow or S&P, which is significantly broader in its coverage, or even NASDAQ

for ease of reading, i have attached 1 year and 3 month charts in each instance

QE is a fact though i guess at some time there has to be some reconciliation - not sure if that's true actually ..... in the meantime, there has been consistent improvemnt in the general us economy in recent months, and even the growth in f/e is not to be sneezed at ..... meanwhile, india also now looks to be recovering its senses

Some info on the Baltic Dry Index:

Baltic Dry Index Sees Worst Quarter in 14 Years as Oversupply and Low Demand Continues to Plague Industry
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/baltic-dry-index-sees-worst-122000584.html

The BRICs are doing alright yes but only as a result of the propping up of their major trading partners. If the world stopped printing money growth would quickly reverse. On QE of course there will need to be some reconciliation, namely inflation. The only boom I can currently see is in unimparred commodities and has been for some time now.

MARKET TALK: Pimco Sees US Growth Losing Traction in 2013

12:24 EST - Pimco, home to the world's biggest bond fund, sounds downbeat on the US growth next year. The latest quarterly report out of the company's December cyclical economic forum shows Pimco expects US growth of between 1.25% and 1.75%, down from the firm's call of 2% growth this year. Pimco has argued for a new normal, or a world of more subdued growth, after the Lehman crisis. The call is driven by Pimco's expectation of "untimely fiscal tightening and increasingly ineffective monetary easing." Still, other regions fare even worse with Pimco looking for a mild recession of 1%-1.5% for euro zone, and 0.5%-1% growth for Japan. Pimco also expects China to grow at a rate of 6.5%-7.5%.

Obama, Boehner talk and exchange new offers on "fiscal cliff"

WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:37am GMT

(Reuters) - Negotiations to avert the "fiscal cliff" ahead of a year-end deadline intensified as President Barack Obama and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner spoke by phone on Tuesday after exchanging new proposals.

It was latest sign of possible progress in efforts to avoid the automatic steep tax hikes and spending cuts set for January 1 unless Congress intervenes.

GBP Claimant Count Change -3.0k consensus 5.9K previous 10.1K

GBP Unemployment Rate 7.8% consensus 7.9% previous 7.8%

GBP Average Earnings Index 3m/y 1.8% consensus 1.9% previous 1.8%

Euro-zone Industrial Output Falls, Signaling Weak 4Q

Industrial production fell in the 17 countries that use the euro in October, suggesting the bloc's economic downturn deepened at the start of the fourth quarter. Weakness in euro-zone factories was more severe than expected and underscores the prospect that the region's shallow recession in the second and third quarters of 2012 will grow more severe in the fourth quarter. That would tighten the screws on governments seeking to cut their debt levels in a bid to escape the region's fiscal crisis. Eurostat, the European Union's official statistics agency, said Wednesday that industrial production in the euro-using nations fell 1.4% in October from September, missing economists' forecasts in a Dow Jones poll last week for no change. With the exception of the previous month's 2.3% decline, that was the worst outturn for the bloc's factories since September 2011. Output in year-to-year terms fell 3.6% in November, the steepest annual drop since December 2009. The fall in industrial production in October casts further doubt on the ability of euro-zone countries to return to growth in the near term. Weakening economies make it harder for governments to cut their debts because rising unemployment and falling tax receipts all cause public borrowing to rise. Official data last month showed the euro-zone economy shrank 0.1% in the third quarter after contracting 0.2% in the second quarter, putting it back in recession, according to a commonly used definition.

GB unemployment figures looking much better. 82000 reduction in total unemployed.

Skinny, I keep getting the Motley fool email as well, the offer keeps expiring tomorrow, and tomorrow, ...

Seymour :-)

The crazy thing is, I thought I'd de-registered with them about 10 years ago!

5921.5 is what my short now averages on the FTSE100, I'm in no hurry to close out either..

I've still got my short order set at 5950 but am tempted just to go short now (5940)

Info from Reuters:
Charts show the ... UK's FTSE 100 index ... and the euro zone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 slipping into 'overbought' territory, with their relative strength index (RSI), a closely-watched momentum indicator, above 70.

"The market is getting 'overbought', which doesn't happen very often. We're ripe for at least a pause, and maybe a pull-back," said Kepler Capital Markets trader Patrice Perois. "Volumes have been extremely low, which means that the rally remains fragile regardless of the newsflow."

U.S. Stock Futures Rise Amid Fed Support Speculation

U.S. stock futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend a five-week high, amid speculation the Federal Reserve will expand stimulus measures and as lawmakers continued talks on the budget.

USD Import Prices m/m -0.9% consensus -0.4% previous 0.5%

Gold Prices Climb on Easy Money Hopes Ahead of FOMC

--Comex February gold up 0.5% at $1,717.80 a troy ounce --Traders optimistic that Fed will announce new accommodative measures --Dollar retreats, making dollar-denominated gold cheaper for foreign buyers By Tatyana Shumsky NEW YORK--Gold futures rose Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's last policy announcement for the year as hopes of more easy money bolstered investor appetite for precious metals. The most actively traded contract, for February delivery, was up $8.20, or 0.5%, at $1,717.80 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Federal Open Market Committee is due to conclude its last monetary policy-setting meeting for the year Wednesday, with an announcement due out at 12:30 p.m. ET. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will then hold a press conference at around 2:15 p.m. Traders' attention has focused on the future of the Fed's inflation-sterilized bond purchasing program called Operation Twist. The program, which involves selling short term Treasurys to buy long-dated Treasury bonds, is due to expire at the end of the year. Gold prices have rallied on past easy money efforts from the Fed, as concerns about inflation drove investors to buy hard assets like precious metals to safeguard the value of their wealth. Some market participants have speculated that the Fed is likely to extend Operation Twist indefinitely, while others said the central bank will end the program in favor of new accommodative measures. Analysts at Commerzbank said the Fed is likely to retire Operation Twist, and instead opt to expand the size of QE3, the bank's mortgage-backed debt purchasing program. "There is much to suggest climbing gold prices, in other words," Commerzbank said in a note. A weaker dollar also supported gold prices. The greenback slipped against a trade weighted basket of currencies, with the ICE Dollar Index falling to 79.940 recently, from 80.132 earlier. As the dollar weakens, investors who use other currencies to fund their purchases tend to flock to dollar-denominated gold futures, because the contracts become cheaper in their home-currency terms.

J Boe says no; Obama not being reasonable - Bloomberg

Eurozone crisis live: EU finance ministers to discuss banking supervision

MARKET TALK: India Indust Production a Short-Term Plus for INR -BBH

9:47 EST - With India's stronger-than-expected October industrial production, Brown Brothers Harriman's Ilan Solot says it's a good day for his short-term long INR view. But a persistently high CPI threatens the rupee's longer-term outlook. That makes November's CPI due Friday critical to whether the Reserve Bank of India will cut rates at its Dec 18 meeting or early next year -- a temporary negative for the currency, but something longer-term investors would likely welcome as a measure to boost India's economy. If USD/INR breaks below 54, he says it'll be testing 53.60, but a break above 50 would signal a more constructive dollar outlook. USD/INR firms slightly to 54.31, from 54.32 late Tuesday, according to FactSet.