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

US banks are closed - Presidents' Day;

German ZEW Economic Sentiment 48.2 consensus 35.3 previous 31.5

EUR ZEW Economic Sentiment 42.4 consensus 35.5 previous 31.2

Was hoping that the DOW would open with a surge as they missed a day of trading, but +28 isn't going to set the markets alight.

I've had a small short @6,341.

.

USD NAHB Housing Market Index 46 consensus 48 previous 47

Still short skinny?
FTSE still looks strong!
TT

TT long time no post - no out -15.

So much for resistance!

Been lurking for some time now.
My long term holdings are doing fine but speculative oilers not so good.
And now, just waiting for the FTSE to move back down but it doesn't want to just yet!
TT

I did think it would hit 6,400 quite quickly after 6,300 - but have had a few shorts of late.

Good luck with the oilers - my biggest is BP - no words required!

Seems like there's no stopping the FTSE! I had toyed with going long(!) this morning but have stayed out of it - that's because I seem to do well for 4 days out of 5, and then blow it all on the 5th day when greed and carelessness set in.

Dell sales fall ahead of buyout but beat forecasts

Computer maker Dell has reported quarterly profits and revenues ahead of expectations, in what could be its last set of results as a public company.

The world's third largest PC maker said net profit in the fourth quarter fell 31% to $530m (£345m) compared with the same period a year ago.

Revenue fell 11% to $14.3bn, hurt by a shrinking consumer business, but still beat analysts' forecasts.

Founder Michael Dell has offered to buy the business for $24.4bn.

GBP Claimant Count Change -12.5K consensus -5.3K previous -15.8K

GBP MPC Meeting Minutes 0-0-9 consensus 0-0-9 previous 0-0-9

GBP Unemployment Rate 7.8% consensus 7.7% previous 7.7%

GBP Average Earnings Index 3m/y 1.4% consensus 1.4% previous 1.5%

Thats 6,400!

CHF ZEW Economic Expectations 10.0 previous -6.9

DOW down over 100 points atm. Doesn't seem to be anything too serious, just that they can't seem to decide on how to stimulate the U.S. economy. Might be a 'down day' on the FTSE if this persists!

It will get serious

8am.

French Flash Manufacturing PMI 43.6 consensus 43.9 previous 42.9

French Flash Services PMI 42.7 consensus 44.5 previous 43.6

German Flash Manufacturing PMI 50.1 consensus 50.4 previous 49.8

German Flash Services PMI 54.1 consensus 55.5 previous 55.7

Limited out of yesterday's FTSE @6,317 + 80 - more by luck than judgement and maybe too early.

thank goodness i took modest profit on long dow yesterday evening and reversed (13998) ...... rest of the stuff looking very sick this morning