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

That is indeed a comfort to me cynic. A nice trip to the sunshine when the temperatures rise a little would be perfect :)

next trip is probably early May, but you'ld then complain it was too hot - especially with full burqua now required even on the beach!

European leaders reach deal on EU budget, Council President Herman Van Rompuy announces

EU leaders have reportedly reached an agreement on the budget for 2014-20 after marathon talks in Brussels.

The deal was announced by European Council President Herman van Rompuy, who said it was "worth waiting for".

The details are not yet public, but it is understood to involve the first ever reduction in the EU's multi-annual budget.

Countries including the UK and the Netherlands had been pressing for cuts at a time of economic austerity.

EU leaders seal long-term budget deal

EU leaders agreed a seven-year budget after a bargaining session in Brussels lasting more than 24 hours.
Herman Van Rompuy, European Council president and chair of the negotiations, tweeted: "Deal done! #euco has agreed on #MFF for the rest of the decade."
No further details were available but it is thought that fiscal hawks, including the UK and Germany, have prevailed over those member states seeking more robust spending.


If it was that radical an agreement, do you not think there would have been a lot of banging and shouting from those who won - whatever that may mean?

The calm that has descended upon euro-zone markets could be tested in the next few weeks, as Italy heads for the polls and Spain prepares to reveal the extent of its budget deficit, while economic data will be closely scanned for evidence that the region is emerging--or struggling to emerge--from recession. According to opinion polls, a center-left coalition is likely to win Italy's elections but may still have to forge an alliance with Mario Monti, the outgoing technocrat prime minister, to form a government. In Spain, the focus is on the state of the public sector's finances, given the belated regional overruns that wrecked Spain's deficit-cutting efforts in 2011. Spain is aiming to narrow its 2012 budget gap to 6.3% of gross domestic product, although a figure closer to 7% is expected. Banks will also get an opportunity to begin paying back some of the second batch of emergency, cheap loans doled out by the European Central Bank in February 2012, giving markets more of a sense of the degree to which euro-zone monetary conditions have begun to tighten ahead of the ECB's next meeting, where the drag on growth from a strong euro will again come under scrutiny. This is the known worry list: --Monday, Feb. 11: French December industrial production. Euro-zone finance ministers meeting. --Tuesday, Feb. 12: Spanish and Italian T-bill auctions. Greek T-bill auction. European Union finance ministers meeting. --Wednesday, Feb. 13: Italian and German bond auctions. --Thursday, Feb. 14: Euro-zone preliminary fourth-quarter GDP data. --Friday-Saturday, Feb. 15-16: G-20 finance ministers meeting in Moscow. --Sunday, Feb. 17: Cypriot presidential election. --Tuesday, Feb. 19: German ZEW February economic-sentiment indicator. Spanish T-bill auction. Greek T-bill auction (to be confirmed). --Wednesday, Feb. 20: German bond auction. Portuguese T-bill auction. --Thursday, Feb. 21: Spanish and French bond auctions. Flash euro-zone February PMI data. --Friday, Feb. 22: German Ifo February business-climate index. First weekly repayment announcement of LTRO II money. --Sunday-Monday, Feb. 24-25: Italian general elections. --Monday, Feb. 25: Italian bond auction. --Tuesday, Feb. 26: Italian T-bill auction. Spanish 2012 budget-deficit data (to be confirmed). --Wednesday, Feb. 27: Euro-zone November M3. Italian bond auction. --Thursday, Feb. 28: Final Spain fourth-quarter GDP data. German February labor data. --Friday, March 1: Final euro-zone February manufacturing PMI data. --Monday, March 4: Euro-zone finance ministers meeting. --Tuesday, March 5: European Union finance ministers meeting. Final euro-zone February services PMI data. ESM T-bill auction. Greek T-bill auction (to be confirmed). --Wednesday, March 6: German bond auction. Euro-zone revised fourth-quarter domestic-product data. --Thursday, March 7: Spanish and French bond auctions. ECB interest-rate decision and press conference. German December manufacturing orders. --Monday, March 11: Portugal fourth-quarter GDP data. --Tuesday, March 12: Italian and Spanish T-bill auctions. --Wednesday, March 13: German and Italian bond auctions. --Thursday, March 14: Irish T-bill auction (to be confirmed). --Tuesday, March 19: Spanish and ESM T-bill auctions. Greek T-bill auction (to be confirmed). --Wednesday, March 20: Portugal T-bill auction --Thursday, March 21: Spanish and French bond auctions. --Monday, March 25: Italian bond auction. --Tuesday, March 26: Italian T-bill auction. --Wednesday, March 27: Italian bond auction.

Crumbs! And I thought we were in for a quiet afternoon! The DOW has whizzed! I've just gone short again (at 34007).

That's a damn good price Toya, should def come good! (34007!)

.

Leave her - she's been making 'marmalade' :-)

Sticky finger?

A bit personal - even for a Friday! :-)

Oh heck - sticky fingers indeed! I was over-excited ... 14007 for all you pedants out there lol!

Told you! Over excited & a sticky finger! I know what goes on in the kitchen when making marmalade!!!

It's certainly hot-stuff Harrycat!

Nice one Toya, I should have gone long on the Switz, oh well...

Here's something to think about, from MarketWatch.com:

Global ‘credit supernova’ turns 2013 bull into bear

Bill Gross warns about Fed’s cheap-money schemes

(MarketWatch) — Bill Gross predicting a “Credit Supernova.” Yes, that’s what the “Bond King” sees dead ahead. He knows, his firm has $2 trillion at risk of collapsing into the “Black Hole” coming after the Credit Supernova, when the Federal Reserve cheap money finally explodes in America’s face, brings down the economy, again...

... People forget, too much, too fast. Tim Geithner: “There was no memory of extreme crisis, no memory of what can happen when a nation allows huge amounts of risk to build up.” Blinder: “When the good times roll, investors expect them to roll indefinitely. When bubbles burst, they are always surprised.”

Views?

My view is, from what I've been reading, that we'll see a pull back to around 6000 in the short term; and then possibly, depending on how the economy pans out over the course of the year, we may hit the 7000 target that some analysts suggest. I am not convinced that we will however - it is very much a case of keeping an eye on events.

Don't forget: that 7000 level was hit at the height of the dot.com bubble!

There was an interesting article in The Times on Saturday. Haven't time to type it all and don't subscribe to it online, but here's the link:

Peering into the crystal ball, he sees a sudden, violent change. Beware!

The article also mentioned something I have been reading elsewhere recently: "Shares sales by company directors, in the US at least, outnumber purchases by more than 9 to 1."

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Goldman Sachs has grown cautious on global equities in the near term, cutting its recommendation to neutral from overweight over a three-month basis. They said the equity market needs time to digest recent gains and the potential for a strong rally from here is likely to be limited as U.S. equities are already trading above their estimates of current fair value and European equities only have upside to fair value. "While we have strong conviction in our longer-term view we are more uncertain about the near term. Asset prices have moved a long way and are now very close to our 3-months targets leaving unusually low cross-asset dispersion in our 3-month return expectations," said Goldman in a note that published Feb. 8.