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

Short @6268.

Madness. Which caught me out :(

Iain,good to see you posting again mate,how you keeping ???

Mega

Fine thanks. Not so much in the last half hour :-) still. Lurking etc

Should have stuck with my WOSY long from 2901. But! Being a genius I dabbled a FTSE short. Far too early . Lol

Its all getting a bit silly!

Iain - you are still well up on WOS - a nice share BTW.

If any of you children want to go short, I'll be happy to take the other side and save you some costs. :)

Cheers Duck

Hilary, even you must be wondering when the correction is coming? Surely any long positions are now made with tight stops?
I have started to take profits on stock I hold so that I have cash available ready for the dip.

This reminds me of when I put a rubber glove on an Industrial air hose. In my wild youthful days. It groaned and creaked. Inflated grossly . Then finally .....
Zeppelinesque

... and once I'm satisfied it's turned, Harry, I'll start trading it the other way. But, until then, I'm not going to worry about a load of ifs, whats, whens and maybes.

Hils - is that a mixed metaphor? :-)

I can see 6,400 being hit pdq here.

Duly noted, hilary! I shall stop trying to second guess the market and follow the trend.
"... and once I'm satisfied it's turned......." I think it may happen pretty quickly though. (Damn.....second guessing again......)!

I hope you are out of AAPL - currently @451.26 - 12.2%

Make you own mind up!


Samsung profits up 76% as mobile earnings double

Samsung Electronics said its profits surged 76% in the last three months of 2012, on the strength of its booming smartphone business.

Net income rose to a record 7.04tn won ($6.6bn; £4.2bn), up from 4.01tn won in the same period a year earlier, beating analysts' expectations.

The Korean firm said its mobile profits more than doubled over the same period.

Last year, Samsung became the world's biggest smartphone maker, overtaking Apple, its main rival in the sector.

"Overall its earnings momentum remains intact," said Lee Se-chul, from Meritz Securities in Seoul.

Samsung Drops After Warning Won May Cut Earnings $2.8 Billion

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) fell to the lowest in almost two months in Seoul trading after saying the strengthening won may cut operating profit by at least 3 trillion won ($2.8 billion) this year.

The world’s largest maker of mobile phones, TVs and computer-memory chips dropped as much as 2.4 percent to 1,418,000 won, the lowest since Nov. 30. The 2013 forecast overshadowed a better-than-expected 76 percent jump in fourth- quarter profit to 7.04 trillion won.

Apple’s Growth Slowdown Fuels Concern of Shift to Value Stock

Apple Inc. (AAPL), after years of hyper growth that made it the world’s most valuable company, is starting to look more like a value stock, according to some analysts reacting to the iPhone maker’s financial results.

At least 20 analysts lowered their price targets after Apple on Jan. 23 reported its slowest growth rates in years and said the trend will continue. The stock fell 12 percent yesterday, and has dropped more than 35 percent since September.

Those ifs, whats, whens and maybes can sometime weigh very heavy, Skinners, doncha know! :o)

Hils - I thought it was 'ifs buts maybes' or if 'ifs and buts were pots and pans' bwtfdik :-)

Hmmmm. You're right, although I wasn't even thinking of said expression when I posted.

Would that really make what I said a mixed metaphor though?

No, I was probably being obtuse!

All quiet atm - a bit out of Euro land @9.