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

USD Core Retail Sales m/m 0.2% consensus 0.1% previous 0.3%

USD Retail Sales m/m 0.1% consensus 0.1% previous 0.5%

USD Import Prices m/m 0.6% consensus 0.8% previous -0.1%

Thanks Skinny. I could do with a nice drift south!

pretty much as expected though

Been stopped out now - and lost all the profit I made last week dammit. You can be pretty sure that 6360 is today's top!

Think I'll go out and play in the snow!

Good gracious - the FTSE just carried on going!

i have been exposing myself again .....

but not in the garden with Toya, but on C+M sector index .... fortunately i have not caught cold at all, but am currently basking in the glow of some juicy success .... and have taken the precaution of now implementing a very tight stop, so if the rise is too frothy, i'll still retain nearly all the profit

skinny - sorry to be dull, but can you remind me of the "code" for this and also for HG+HC so i can have another look at their respective charts

Your not alone Toya, FTSE rally today has also cost me plenty.....

Oh dear - Sorry to hear that Shortie. Maybe we should have taken heed of the date, though I'm not normally superstitious!

Cynic: a bit too cold up here for exposure, even with the thaw setting in

just been stopped out of C+M, but do i care? ...... do i look like it, as i go whooping round the supermarket in a bright pink wig?

FX CHAT: Sterling needs to be a lot weaker to boost UK exports
If the UK wants to use a weaker currency as the lever to support its economy and exports, the pound is going to need be a lot weaker, says Steven Englander of Citigroup. The pound needs to be below $1.50 and the euro needs to be above GBP0.90 "in order to have a significant impact on exports," he says. BOE King's comments that the central bank is in no hurry to tighten policy, even in the face of above-target inflation, is a big shift, Englander says. It would make the Bank of England the "first central bank to walk away from an inflation target" and is similar to a late 1970s, early 1980s central bank view, he says. The pound is at $1.5563 from $1.5661 late Tuesday, according to EBS via CQG. The euro is at GBP0.8648 from GBP0.8593.

WOS on a mission

The only problem with trading this short term, is the 20+ point spread.

thanks skinny - you're a * ..... have just entered those codes in my notebook, so there's a chance i won't lose them so readily yet again!

but NMX2350 (red below) has a spread of only 7 or 8 and is almost as volatile




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

dow certainly seems reluctant to hold above 14,000, but it's quite a bold move to short it without careful monitoring ...... nevertheless, it is pretty tempting, not least because VIX shows "extreme greed" at 87

and while i was gibbering on the phone, dow dropped 25 points, but have still shorted at 13966 with 100pt stop

Dow down 50, footsie up 40, is that right or is it not? As we normally follow them.

UKX - was that one of those Elliott Wave things?

close enough, though ftse still shows as +46 with dow -38 ...... some of the prices you guys get given are pretty random (crooked!)

I thank you.

Stan - there is quite a daily divergence.

By Eric Morath U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said his agency is on a path to need a $45 billion taxpayer bailout within five years if Congress fails to take action to reverse growing financial losses for the Postal Service. The Postal Service recorded a nearly $16 billion loss during its last fiscal year. Mr. Donahoe said Wednesday the shortfall is likely to grow worse without the ability to make significant cost cuts, including ending Saturday delivery and placing postal workers on a private health-care plan. "Time is not on our side," he said during testimony to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. "To preserve our mission to provide secure, reliable and affordable, universal delivery service--and do so without burdening the American taxpayer --the Postal Service needs urgent reform to its business model." A majority of last year's loss was tied to defaults on required prepayments for future retirees' health care. On Wednesday, Mr. Donahoe said even if those payments weren't required, it will soon record operating deficits of between $10 billion and $15 billion annually. Last week, the postmaster said the agency would end Saturday delivery of mail but not packages, despite previous mandates from Congress to deliver six days a week. That action drew an angry reaction at the hearing. Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.) said the move could mean residents in rural Montana must wait five or six days to receive excepted mail. He said the change disproportionately hurts remote communities. "If we're going to have a Postal Service that works for urban America, it damn well better work for rural America," he said at the hearing.

Thanks skinny I don't usually notice such things but did today for no apparent reason.