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

Moved my stop on UKX short to entry, haven't got a clue where it's going :O)

That's me stopped out for nowt.

hard work, and was fortunate to make a modest turn on Dow this evening ..... closed out now at a reasonable profit ... it would have been more had i waited another 15 minutes, but who cares

Dow currently 13,148/13,154

FTSE 5,934/5,940

US cancels vote on Boehner's fiscal cliff 'Plan B'

US Republicans have cancelled a tax vote in Congress, less than two weeks before a deadline for budget reform.

Republican House speaker John Boehner proposed the bill, which would have raised taxes on high earners. But right-leaning Republicans rejected it.

Analysts say the rejection has weakened Mr Boehner's position in negotiations with the White House.

Politicians need to agree fiscal rules by 1 January, or steep tax rises and deep spending cuts will take effect.

wow! glad i had the sense to shut dow long before bed last night .... shame i didn't reverse it too! ..... just shorted ftse as i'm sure -25 (as it stands) will be much greater later .... ftse 250 will probably drop far more but that index not yet open for trading

Damn!!!!! The fine art of kicking yourself :O) Could have equally gone the other way though, such is the casino of playing the indeces. Well done to those who had the battle to stay short.

one could say that it also shows the danger of leaving certain positions open overnight ..... and stops, guaranateed or otherwise, are all very fine, except that stock indices have a nasty habit of spiking momentarily

Just had a small long @13,170 - it looks like the fall last night hit 13,019 @01.15.

about right, but when i checked in at about 07:00 this morning Dow could have been traded about 30 points lower ..... all a bit "whizzy" isn't it :-)

Isn't Obama in a better position now?

probably, and for sure this nonsense will be resolved prior to armageddon, but the markets will react to every nuance and twist until then

I'm staying well away from it, for that reason - would need to be near my screen, and have no wish to be tied to my computer all day

not when you can be tied to the bedposts!

I'm still short FTSE and DOW rolling over daily, both have now swung to profit.

GBP Current Account -12.8B consensus -14.1B previous -17.4B

GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing 15.3B consensus 14.3B previous 6.0B

GBP Final GDP q/q 0.9% consensus 1.0% previous 1.0%

GBP Index of Services 3m/3m 1.1% consensus 1.1% previous 1.2%

GBP Revised Business Investment q/q 3.8% consensus 3.5% previous 3.7%

ok you smartarses - where do we go from here (Dow = 13122 = -187 and FTSE = 5900 = -61 and FTSE 250 = 12300 = -125)?

If we are still here after 11:12 - I suggest the pub!

i've got to drive down to B-on-A this afternoon, so i'll keep the bibulation until i get there!

Well we're still here and I'm still short, FTSE to test 5900 support, DOW 13115 support held and I think it'll test again today.

Thanks for the charts Shortie - I'll hold my albeit small, long for now, on the assumption that as the World didn't end at 11:12, the yanks will make the right noises at somepoint soon.