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

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.

MARKET TALK: Fed Expected to Replace Twist, but If Not, USD to Surge

10:22 EST - If, by some major surprise, the Fed announces Twist is expiring at the end of the month with no new replacement, Miller Tabak's Andrew Wilkinson says the dollar would likely surge higher in a "knee-jerk" reaction. Nearly everyone is expecting the Fed to replace Operation Twist, and Fed officials have hinted at it in recent speeches, Wilkinson says. That sets up the market, which has priced in such expectations, to do a whole lot of nothing following the FOMC's statement, he says. The "Fed is going to keep the pedal to the floor," Wilkinson says. Ahead of decision and Bernanke remarks, EUR/USD up about 0.3% on day at 1.3047, according to EBS via CQG.

USD 10-y Bond Auction 1.65|3.0 previous 1.68|2.6

MARKET TALK: Layers and Layers of Support in Treasurys

12:21 EST - Solid domestic buying at 10-year sale reflects just how comfortable investors are in their belief that the Fed will deliver on more Treasury buying. Risk is that the central bank disappoints, either with no replacement to Twist or a program smaller than $40B a month. But even then, traders cite layers and layers of support in the Treasurys market when prices start to decline. The rationale is that if the Fed doesn't buy more bonds, stocks will suffer, sending a bid back into Treasurys anyway. Benchmark 10-year notes now flat on the day to yield 1.651%.

Dow off to the races.

Fed Expands Asset Buying, Links Rates to Joblessness, Prices

The Federal Reserve said it will buy $45 billion a month of Treasury securities starting in January, expanding its asset-purchase program, and it linked the outlook for its main interest rate to unemployment and inflation.

“The committee remains concerned that, without sufficient policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor-market conditions,” the Federal Open Market Committee said today at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Washington.

The Fed said interest rates will stay low “at least as long” as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5 percent and if inflation “between one and two years ahead” is projected to be no more than 2.5 percent. The committee “views these thresholds as consistent with its earlier date-based guidance.”

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is using his unlimited authority to buy Treasuries in an unprecedented effort to stoke growth and reduce 7.7 percent unemployment. The Fed acted in its last regular meeting of the year as lawmakers and the Obama administration continue talks to avert more than $600 billion of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that threaten to throw the country into a recession.

Stocks and Treasury yields rose after the statement. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.3 percent to 1,431.93 at 12:35 p.m. in New York. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was 1.69 percent, compared with 1.66 percent late yesterday.

With Germany onside, EU nears banking union deal

BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:44pm GMT

(Reuters) - Germany signalled on Wednesday it was ready to back plans to give the European Central Bank new powers to supervise banks across the bloc, raising the prospect of a breakthrough on the European Union's most ambitious financial reform.

Last week France and Germany had clashed openly over parts of the plan, but with little time left for the EU to meet a commitment to complete the framework for a common bank supervisor by the end of the year, both countries redoubled efforts to settle their differences.

actually, little change from cash dow at london open this morning .... QE was already priced in

I've had a small short @13,310 - FTSE still above 5,950.

when i took my last bit of profit just now, i accidentally shorted at 13303 at the same time, and decided to let it run

Dow back on its trend line and looking to breach it.

Closed +73.

breached north or south? ...... my accidental short is doing nicely for now

South.

there's a shame (for now) :-) ...... i doubt i'll maintain that short over the w/e, even though dow has probably overstretched itself for now ..... i suppose the rising 13161 (per your chart) is a reasonable downwards target for now