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

i agree with you hali, and indeed after a quick thought, i have shorted Dow at 13342 ...... it is of course the first day of trading of the fiscal year in usa, which helped rationalise my decision

have also sold a slice of AAPL at 548 but shall retain core (groan!!)

Well - I have chickened out. Was targeting 6200 - but nerves have got the better of me and I bottled at 6040 having trousered a very, very healthy profit. Was not prepared to loose it - although I still expect it to get to my 6200 I am afraid to say I bottled it.

Happy New year to you all - mine has certainly started well - and at the risk of being shouted down - do take a look at AMER - I still think it has legs and is starting to be picked up by many on their radar. Good Luck all - I will look in from time to time.

In general, not many business have been established over the last five years in European countries or north America. Even in Asia and south America, the situation has been bad.

I conclude that there is not many competitors for many of those who survived the downturn, so the rebound should continue for many companies over this year. IMO

AMER was tipped by the Indie or similar

ahoj - what is your definition of "not many" and in what sector?

That was a goodly run you had there BHunt! Congratulations! - reckon you did the right thing to cash in, but what do I know...

Well done bhunt - cynic, if you mean the NMX3720 - it was me that kept/keeps banging on about it.

Cynic: That is generally true regardless of sector.
Do you agree or not? Why?

Cynic re: "shortie - was it you who told me about HG&HC index?"

Affraid it wasn't me...

Awsome day and apart from GKP & GENL, pretty much everything else on my watchlist was in the blue! Long may it last, though I think it may just be the New Year feel good factor (post Santa rally that never happened!) Greece seems to have faded from the headlines, so maybe the Eurozone is healthier than expected! (I wish!!!) I wonder what the next crisis will be?

must have been skinny then i guess

because, ahoj, i don't think it would stand up to scrutiny.
it seems to be accepted that more and more people have become self-employed ..... it follows that they will have nearly always set themselves up as companies

have taken some profits on this surge.

h, am hoping it's going to run until friday, so buttocks clenched until then!

harry - put in a trailing stop

No shit Sherlock!

Bigger fights loom after U.S. "fiscal cliff" deal

WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 3, 2013 6:30am GMT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face even bigger budget battles in the next two months after a hard-fought "fiscal cliff" deal narrowly averted devastating tax increases and spending cuts.

The agreement, approved late on Tuesday by the Republican-led House of Representatives and signed by Obama on Wednesday, was a victory for the president, who had won re-election in November on a promise to address budget woes, partly by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

But it set up potentially bruising showdowns over the next two months on spending cuts and an increase in the nation's limit on borrowing. Republicans, angry the fiscal cliff deal did little to curb the federal deficit, promised to use the debt-ceiling debate to win deep spending cuts next time.

Republicans believe they will have greater leverage over Democrat Obama when they must consider raising the borrowing limit in February because failure to close a deal could mean a default on U.S. debt or another downgrade in the U.S. credit rating. A similar showdown in 2011 led to a credit downgrade.

"Our opportunity here is on the debt ceiling," Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said on MSNBC. "We Republicans need to be willing to tolerate a temporary, partial government shutdown, which is what that could mean."

There is much to be said regarding what did and what did not happen on Capitol Hill over the frantic New Year sessions but in essence what has happened is that Bush-era temporary tax cuts have now become Obama-era permanent tax cuts on those earning less than $400K ($450K jointly), thus adding some $4tr to the deficit over the next decade. Clearly the US looked at the idea of living within its means and didn’t like what it saw. House Rep speaker Mr John Boehner stated that, “The Federal government has a spending problem that has led to a $16tr national debt that threatens our country’s future.” Too right John. The focus of the debate now turns to spending cuts on which no progress has been made (but don’t tell the algos!). Note too that, unofficially, the US just broke through its debt ceiling just as markets were hailing the fiscal equivalent of three weeks worth of Fed debt monetisation.

i'm no economist nor even an accountant, but the 2 sides of the argument look to be along these lines .....

REPUBLICANS
Keep low or even lower taxes to allow people to spend money as they wish.
Cut benefits and thus massively lower federal spending

C says - that smacks of "Who cares if the poorest 25/30% of the population sink even lower. They don't contribute much anyway."


DEMOCRATS
Raise taxes, but not make them draconian
Pump even more money into the system and hope that that kickstarts the economy, the increased activity, and thus tax-take being used to lower the deficit (eventually), leading to greater (perceived) well-being and confidence across the board.

C says - it's a dangerous ploy, but in my mind the better option. By good fortune, the US economy (and many other too) is now picking up - see the assorted house building stats - and unless the Republicans end up screwing the country for their own self-interest, a version of this latter proposal looks to be the better, albeit that the Day of Reckoning may just be kicked further or even a long way down the road

Neither side agrees on a solution or way forward as both sides are career politicians. Democrats and Repubicans alike will do what they believe will gain them the most votes and not whats right for the country.

The problem however remains the same. The US simply spends far more than it makes and is heavily in debt. Debt repayments are the reason why its slashed interest rates and has resorted to financing its borrowing by printing money. This policy in turn can not continue without weakening the strength of the dollar which in turn affects wealth and inflation.

The US is recovering is what the headlines say, and any rise in taxes or cut in spending will push the recovery back into recession. This is complete crap, theres no real recovery happening in the US right now. The US is heavily borrowing and printing money, its this stimulation thats keeping positive figures coming. Stop feeding the fire and we'll see just how long it takes to go out.

From a economics point of view taxes should be raised to balance the books and spending cut. Or increase interest rates so the banks start stimulating the economy. Either of these policies would bring around hardship, and political suicide, but ultimatly have to be done sooner or later.

was it Nero who fiddled while Rome burned?

Different kind of fiddling! :-)

US will NOT stop printing money and it is a matter of fact, that whatever the impetus, the US economy is now showing signs of life ...... as is China (in particular)

there is also no chance whatsoever that US will impose a harsh regime of spending cuts and/or rises in interest rates. That course would plunge US into recession, and take the rest of the world in its wake.

thus we will see yet another round of self-interested brinkmanship and yet another sticking-plaster solution put in place ....... the process to which is all specifically designed to create a heavily volatile market!