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

The averages have been revised up.

Toya - Yazz or so it seems!

Ah right, here's the explanation:

The U.S. created a modest 157,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9%, but the economy added one-third of a million more jobs in 2012 than previously estimated, with a large chunk coming in the final months of the year.

Yeah-yeah-yeah Skinny, let's dance and make merry!

'NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury yields turned lower on Friday after U.S. government data showed weaker-than-expected job growth in January and a rise in the unemployment rate.'

The above statement makes more sense than that rocketing DOW!

U.S. Jan. manufacturing PMI 55.8 vs flash 56.1

I expect the DOW will find this positive, too

I am still running with my short albeit at a loss atm. This just cant keep going against he news- can it??

bhunt - 4 minutes to find out! :-)

USD ISM Manufacturing PMI 53.1 consensus 50.8 previous 50.7

USD Construction Spending m/m 0.9% consensus 0.6% previous -0.3%

USD ISM Manufacturing Prices 56.5 consensus 56.3 previous 55.5

.

Harry - I know its apples and oranges, but :-

Small short @6339

I like charts, so don't feel guilty about posting variations. Shame there isn't one in the header so that I don't have to keep posting them.

Harry - one of my favs.

Wow - what a chart! I hope this is not the way the DOW will go 'cos I've just gone short at 13990 - simply irresistible. My earlier short from 13930 is not looking so happy but I'm sure it will cheer up soon...

was thinking of buying (again) having bought in a little earlier at 13942, but 14000 may indeed prove a resistance, purely as a psychological round number - and indeed, i note it has pulled back marginally from that level

Its been a tough week!

Do you buy your fruit and veg in Lidl or summat, Skinners? Gotta say I ain't ever seen an apple or an orange which looks anything like 10790. :)

Hils - its an idiom or is that idiot! :-)

Are you sure the thread's big enough for more than one idiot? :)

Credit Suisse's Humungous Gold Call