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

Apple profits nicely tucked away, glad I closed out my shorts yesterday rather than rolling over...

Well done Shortie - I should have more courage yesterday!!

Look at those crosses on the 5 minute chart, still one to watch,

Shares of Apple (AAPL) are bouncing back from yesterday’s 3% sell-off, currently up $17.08, or 3.5%, at $503. A somewhat surprising development given the decidedly mixed coverage from the Street today. The shares were cut by Pacific Crest’s Andy Hargreaves to Sector Perform from Outperform, on worries about smartphone saturation limiting growth starting next year. And Merrll Lynch’s Scott Craig cut his price target to $630 from $720, while Stifel Nicolaus Aaron Rakers cut his price target to $725 from $825, both warning investors are conflicted and demand seems uncertain.

There were also some positive words, though. Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley reiterated her Overweight rating on the shares, writing that the risk-reward balance seems favorable going into the January 23rd fiscal Q1 earnings report. And Cowen & Co.’s Matthew Hoffman this morning reiterates an Outperform rating, writing that despite fears of slack demand for the iPhone, “Our checks run counter to that sentiment; Apple’s smartphone share has risen sharply q/q, from 16.4% to ~23.5% overall (based on our 208MM C4Q12 forecast) while C4Q12 U.S. smartphone share likely increased to >35% from

Speaking of Apple, Bloomberg’s Edmond Lococo this morning writes that the company has begun to offer payment plans in China for purchasers of iPhones and MacBooks, as a means to more effectively compete with low-priced goods in that country.

And an article by DigiTimes’s Jessie Shen says that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) is likely to secure orders to produce Apple’s custom chips, and may already be working on engineering samples of the processors, with production happening some time after 2013, citing DigiTimes’s own research analyst, Nobunaga Chai.

Upside momentum is flattening out now, for a continued rally the FTSE needs to push through Mondays intra-session peak of 6134, last weeks low of 6053 is the first key support area I think.

Thanks for the chart Shortie.

Looks like the 1:30 figures may be reasonable!

CAD Foreign Securities Purchases 5.62B consensus 9.45B previous 13.26B

USD Building Permits 0.9 M consensus 0.91M previous 0.90M

USD Unemployment Claims 335K consensus 369K previous 371K

USD Housing Starts 0.95 M consensus 0.89M previous 0.86M

Number of people filing for first-time jobless claims drops 37,000 to 335,000 in latest week, U.S. government says.

BoA numbers good but CITI horrid

================

dow going like a train now

Continuing claims higher.

USD Philly Fed Manufacturing Index -5.8 consensus 7.1 previous 8.1

Dreamliner: Boeing 787 planes grounded on safety fears

17 January 2013 Last updated at 14:48

All of Boeing's flagship 787 Dreamliners have been temporarily taken out of service amid safety concerns.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued a directive to temporarily take the planes out of service while safety checks are carried out.

I believe that's the highest finish on the FTSE since 2008.?

Just been filled FTSE short 6,167.75

I'm debating a further short. May wait till Monday though..

6171.8 is the highest point recorded so far, new top since 2009.

6073 then becomes the support

I have the IG high @6172.8 and actual @6164.67?

On edit :- and surely that's a new high since 2008?

I always said- Governments are in trouble, but companies are cashing in. Money printed goes to the hand of the companies.

6135 and 6053 are still the key levels I believe....

Waekness in Sterling I think has more to do with it than companies cashing in...

Well I was obviously premature in closing my FTSE long at 6040 - should have stayed the course - but I chickened out. hey ho.

Have stayed out since - but considering a short term short now we at these heady heights. Good luck all