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

looks to me as if Dow will rocket .... go to www.cnnfn.com to see why

I take it you mean the following breaking news.... (Warren Buffett says he has offered funding to prop up bond insurers, whose shaky finances threaten Wall Street. More soon.) Good to see he has confidence in the industry, which could offer support to DOW.

i wouldnt get too excited. It didnt take to long for street to see through GM's numbers. Sitting on the side lines until momentum is clear. has anyone bought into RIO today. Im taking the risk and shorting overnight as can't see how their numbers can justify the SP if the BHT bid does not go through. Covered with buy order on the June contract just in case it goes pear shaped. :-)

It looks like Warren Guffett had offered funding to the three largest bond insurers, one has already rejected the offer, and still awaiting a reply from other two.

In December, Berkshire Hathaway announced plans to open Berkshire Hathaway Assuarance Corp. a bond insurance business in New York State. Can't see Warren Buffett taking on any poor debt, only AAA+ to his benefit.

It show that the markets were looking for a reason to head up today, so I wouldn't be short this afternoon.

Strikes me that Wall st appears to have had enough of doom and gloom for a bit, and anything positive will lead to a climb, we have seen several down days since start of last week, a lot of bad news is now factored in, so perhaps a slight recovery before the next big down leg???

if your brave enough follow through in the same direction on the Hang Seng overnight as pretty much a 100% correlation, provided shanghai doesnt start a new down trend with playing catch up

stroreysj .... has it not occurred to you that BHP may not be the only interested party?

Staying short on the DOW I think, breakout possible but I think more pressure on the downside IMHO......

cynic quite possibly thats why I covered with a June buy. Hopefully if it continues to bounce I can take more out of it before the next expected market leg down. Leaves me 4 months for something to happen and might be able to get in at a lower price. Given up trying to call the volitility so collar all my spreadbets. If im lucky i trade the extremes in different time periods. If not my losses are limited

explosive ..... very dangerous to short at the current level .... make sure you have a sensible stop in place

Cynic - Only a 3 rolling point bet, can't see it doing anything more than 300 points max. I'm bebating on just letting this run over the next few weeks. Not set a stop loss as of yet as am watching it also but will do later.

Need to start taking my own advice and trusting my research and instincts, yesterday stated i thought pound should strengthen against dollar, from 19500 to 19600 in a day, also showed Signalwatch to call 12300 as top of triangle (watching for a break out) boy has that happened this afternoon... I was too slow and still too scared of making another wrong call to act, may wait an hour to see if/how far it pulls back before making any decisions...:)

ironically - at the same time that explosive went short - I went long with a small bet - but have just bailed out now and gone short. Still learning.

edit - my short just got stopped out = perhaps I had too tight a stop and the momentum was still upwards ??

Bhunt - Good call, debating on placing another short at these levels but won't as if it goes against I'll end up with a margin call, the first rolling bet is easily covered but a second could be a disaster and maybe not worth the risk... Hope your all doing significantly better than I am today.... Can't win 'em all..!!

I think you are spot on Ted that markets have seen enough doom and gloom, and were looking for any positive bit of news to rally. Could rally tomorrow as well, but still expecting a larger correction soon. Will look closely for a good shorting time on the FTSE.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIKkCUkXfGX-D9oJ0KDZ4kcITQcwD8UORLKO0

More on the Buffett offer..

FTSE is at an interesting point .... 5900/5910 has proved pivotal in the past, and certainly tried briefly to nudge through that point ...... certainly would not short o'night but rather watch Dow.

if Dow holds current sort of levels through close, or even loses only a little bit of the current steam, then London could well open strong again, for F/E will follow US ..... hope that makes sense!

If it wasn't for the fact i love my sleeps, i would consider opening a long on the Hang Seng if the Dow closes strongly...

have just been shut out of my Dow long but at a decent profit .... will now watch and contemplate whether or not to dabble again either long or short

Ted .... you can easily open and trade a position in F/E now ... or at least you can in IG

Thanks Rich, yes i know, but just thought they would gain a lot more when their market opens playing catch up...?