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

Halifax HPI m/m 1.3% consensus 0.2% previous 1.0%

This extract from Dominic Picarda (a Chartered Market Technician and has co-ordinated the IC's trading coverage since 2006.)
"The rally in European equities is in good shape. The DAX and FTSE have both got off to a flyer in 2013. And I believe that both have the potential to continue this run. Unlike the US indices, I believe that the German and UK markets are genuinely cheap. As such, they are especially well placed to benefit from global economic recovery and from ongoing cheap money from the ECB and elsewhere.

On a very near-term view, the FTSE is both overbought on its daily and intraday charts, and this needs to resolve itself in order for the upside to continue. Any correction now does not need to be too dramatic. In fact, it may well be a mild one, as so often occurs when a market is in a strong uptrend."

CAD Ivey PMI 52.8 consensus 51.3 previous 47.5

I had thought this was a joke, but clearly it is being talked about quite seriously - see link below:

Krugman joins the $1-trillion-coin brigade

Which companies to benefit? Network Rail unveils £37.5bn investment plan

A £37.5bn plan to develop the UK's railway network over a five-year period has been announced by Network Rail.

The plan, covering the five years up to 2019, promises faster journeys, 170,000 more peak time commuter seats and improved reliability but depends on making savings and rising fares.

Consumer group Passenger Focus welcomed investment but said it was important to keep travel costs "under control".

Network Rail is responsible for Britain's railway infrastructure.

Online shopping bolsters Christmas sales

Strong growth in online shopping stopped retail sales falling in December, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Sales in December were up 1.5% compared with a year earlier, while like-for-like sales, which exclude new store openings, rose 0.3%.

Without a 17.8% jump in online non-food sales, total sales would have fallen.

German Trade Balance 14.6B consensus 15.4B previous 14.9B

Following on from post #10438
This extract from Dominic Picarda (a Chartered Market Technician and has co-ordinated the IC's trading coverage since 2006.)
"I have been calling for the European indices to sell off a little more in order to set up another really decent leg of upside. And that is now what is happening, with both the DAX and the FTSE having shed their previously-overbought intraday momentum readings. This is entirely healthy stuff, as no rally can simply proceed in a straight line for all that long. I don’t think it’ll be long before we are on the way back up, though. As soon as we get evidence of a decent intraday revival, I shall go long once more. Fresh bull-market highs await both indices."

Euro-zone jobless rate highest since records began, no surprise really...

The Greek newspaper Kathimerini has reported that, over 2012, the total amount of Greek non-performing loans exploded higher, rising some 50% from December 2011 levels at 16% to 24% in December 2012. Kathimerini is quick to point out that, in total these non-performing loans add up to €55bn. This means that the sum of non-performing loans already exceeds the total funds now set aside to recapitalise the local credit system at €50bn. In turn this means not only that every single euro of the €50bn hypothecated to the Greek banking sector is accounted for by the gaping hole created by bad loans, but that Greece is already €5bn short!

The problem is no longer of sovereign debt anymore but what seams to be overlooked is the fact the countrys financial system is insolvent. If banks are unable to make money lending to an insolvent population then wheres the financing for any recovery going to come from. Does this situation just apply to Greece? I think not.....

They will sell some of the assets and feed into the country to cope with those problems.
Don't worry so much.

Oh yeah course they will Ahoj, like they got plenty of assets to sell that buyers are lining up for...!

6091? has been the ceiling since Feb 2011.

Looks like a pretty convincing, current ceiling!

4th Quarter Earnings reports kick off in the US today.
“With what we believe will be a so-so earnings season immediately ahead and the debt ceiling debate looming next month, we now see the stock market running into occasional pullbacks or periods of consolidation during the next six to eight weeks,” noted Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at Davidson Cos.

Also in the US today:
National Federation of Independent Business said its small-business-optimism index for December edged higher, but it was still the second-worst reading since March 2010.

Alcoa’s shares climbed after hours after it said it swung to a fourth-quarter profit and expects global aluminum demand to grow 7% in 2013, compared with 6% in 2012.

“Alcoa’s results are generally considered a bellwether for the global economy, and the fact that the aluminium giant forecasts higher demand in 2013 appeased investors,” said Stan Shamu at IG Markets.

GBP Trade Balance -9.2B consensus -9.1B previous -9.5B

German Industrial Production m/m 0.2% consensus 1.1% previous -2.6%

FTSE dithering at 2 year highs - waiting for the US of A to open I guess.

6106.8 opened another FTSE short position, this takes me to 4 open positions.

Shortie, confidence is being built. Be careful!

Shortie - I entered @6,109.

I also got filled at 6092 after hours Friday and closed that @6,072.

I've been taking some money off the table today - so its bound to carry on up - you have been warned! :-)

Looks like BHunt would have been fine to keep his Long FTSE running even longer!

I've just come across this from Reuters:
Short-sellers circle US stocks as confidence wavers