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

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.

Is that my fault? I only said it might be worth watching as it might be more volatile than usual. I'm not allowed to advise you whether to buy or sell.

ahoj, you were lucky not to get that in red ink.!!! ;o)

:O) Hey Hils still loving the Fat Spanish Waiter? :O)

Chris - be careful :-))

skinners - I miss her wit:O)

EUR Revised GDP q/q -0.6% consensus -0.6% previous -0.6%

Hils, could the oil price volatility be a knee-jerk reaction, I understand these are quite common at the moment. :>)

Good ol Merve.

Bank governor Sir Mervyn King suggests splitting up RBS

Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King has said there is a case for splitting up Royal Bank of Scotland.

He told the Banking Standards Commission that there was a "good bank, bad bank" within bailed-out RBS.

The healthy arm, separated from the problem assets in the rest of the bank, would be capable of attracting funding to lend to the UK economy.

He said the arguments for restructuring RBS "sooner rather than later are powerful ones".

why not separate RBS and NATWEST give RBS to the scots as a "going away present"?

Interesting article on MarketWatch.com re price of oil and Chavez:
Why oil prices dipped on Chavez's death

Ha bloody ha, Plateman. :)

CC,

Fat Spanish Waiter. Dunno what you mean?

Not so sure Hils, put his CV in at Old Trafford last night :O)

edit - The Special One :O)

Fergie's not going anywhere, CC. Last night's defeat will make him even more determined to stay on and bounce back stronger.

Besides which, did you know that Jose's 16 year old daughter is enrolled at Camberwell Arts College? That'd be a long commute to make each day from Manchester. :)

USD ADP Non-Farm Employment Change 198K consensus 172K previous 215K