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

EUR Final Services PMI 47.9 consensus 47.3 previous 47.3

UK retail sales grew at fastest rate for years in February

UK retail sales grew at their fastest rate in more than three years in February, as the drier weather coaxed shoppers back out onto the High Street.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said like-for-like retail sales were up 2.7% on the previous year.

That is the fastest rate of like-for-like sales growth since December 2009, the group said.

GBP Services PMI 51.8 consensus 51.1 previous 51.5

just bought back into HG+HC Index again (9574) as it was barely up today, whereas C+M is zipping away (already in) ..... it's always a bit of a scary call as that index is very volatile indeed, but i always play both of those indices with a sensible stop in case i get it all wrong

Are we running on Premium BS?

the markets in general? .... not exactly; bonds are singularly less than exciting, and there is a huge wall of money (to use today's sexy phrase) that needs to be invested somewhere .... once there is momentum, it becomes almost self-fulfilling - until everyone says buy; and then it's time to sell :-)

Not the market is taking any notice of anything today :-

USD ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI 56.0 consensus 55.0 previous 55.2

cynic,

Sometimes forget it is about shifting money in a return chase.

Cheers,
KidA

is that the polite version of saying greed rules until fear sets in?

shorters getting burnt today.

i would hold my hand up, but no longer can :-) ....... however, i reversed that position and have made up a sizeable chunk (stump?) of that loss

I went short @6,398 this morning and closed +10. Short again @6,414 - still holding and have a limit in @6,444.

So I will be paying the ex dividend payment in the morning!!

FTSE dfb just spiked up to 6,451 - limit removed last night for now.

Merve the Swerve speaks this morning.

Venezuela enjoys the world's largest oil reserves.

Hils, are you saying this is not genuine concern?

White House says US reaffirms support for Venezuelan people as country 'begins a new chapter'

GBP Halifax HPI m/m 0.5% consensus 0.4% previous -0.2%

Skinners,

All I'm saying is that Venezuela have got a drop or two of oil. I doubt Chavez's death will affect equity and currency markets, but the commentary I read each morning is definitely suggesting that traders should keep half an eye on the oil markets for the time being.

Following the breaking news of Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez death, which has no direct impact on the currency market, traders should, nevertheless, keep an eye on the Oil market, as it may produce some volatility. Venezuelan Vice President Mr. Maduro is expected to win the elections and become Chavez's successor. There was some incendiary comments from Maduro after the announcement of Chavez's death, which Reuters reports: ”We have no doubt that commander Chavez was attacked with this illness,” Maduro said, repeating a charge first made by Chavez himself that the cancer was an attack by “imperialist” foes in the United States in league with domestic enemies.

"This report should be bullish for oil" says Eamonn Sheridan, editor at Forexlive. At the time of writing, US Oil futures are quoted at 90.83 after sharp fall off a double top from early February in the 98.00 vicinity. Venezuela enjoys the world's largest oil reserves and the oil-related bonds being traded are of enormous size, suggesting that the oil community may go through a phase of hyper-sensitivity on any indications of political unrest in the country. As Valeria Bednarik, chief analyst at FXstreet.com notes: "Although the news has little to do right now with the forex market, Venezuela is an oil producer, and therefore, we may see some wild action in oil and that could affect forex market." She tips to keep an eye on this and its correlation with oil, "particularly at the European and the US opening" she said.

Thanks Hils - unfortunately my biggest oiler is BP.

hilary, But Oil is still falling. From 93-94 fallen to 90-91 now.