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

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

and dow just may have cracked 14,300 barrier

.

Interesting DOW chart Harry!

BOJ holds fire as Shirakawa era ends, braces for new leadership

TOKYO | Thu Mar 7, 2013 5:17am GMT

(Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged on Thursday, holding fire to wait for new leaders who are expected to usher in bolder measures to try to end nearly 20 years of mild deflation.

The result was by unanimous vote and in line with market expectations. Investors think new stimulus measures will come at the BOJ's next meeting on April 3-4, when Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, a vocal advocate of aggressive easing, is expected to have taken over as governor.

BoE faces knife-edge decision on bond buys

LONDON | Thu Mar 7, 2013 6:34am GMT

(Reuters) - The Bank of England will make clearer on Thursday where its priorities for nursing Britain's ailing economy lie, with opinion split evenly on whether it will unveil another round of bond buying after a policy meeting.

In the past week, dismal data on bank lending and manufacturing has been accompanied by a softening of rhetoric from the central bank, and a willingness to consider new and unconventional policy options to kickstart growth - despite the fact that inflation remains well above target.

Something very wrong with some of the charts atm. Suspect a MAM glitch. Yesterday evening they were showing the DOW up over 400 points, but in fact the decimal point had drifted in the wrong place!

Have gone short on FTSE @ 6444 with very tight sl - crazy markets

ECB to hold line on bond buys, keep rates at 0.75 percent

FRANKFURT | Thu Mar 7, 2013 8:17am GMT

(Reuters) - The European Central Bank will eschew dramatic action on Thursday to help Italy or other euro zone countries caught up in its backwash, despite the threat of political turmoil in Rome reigniting the bloc's debt crisis.

The ECB is expected to hold its interest rates at a record-low 0.75 percent and keep its growth and inflation forecasts largely unchanged at its monthly meeting, which got under way at 08:00 a.m British time.

I know you enjoy Twittering, Skinners...

Fight, fight, fight!

But the Shadow MPC are going hawkish on rates.

Hils - What an oxymoronic sentence when used to describe central bankers :-)

"They’re supposed to be responsible people, deeply intellectual, profound thinkers, worrying about inflation for decades to come."

There are as many 'rumours' floating around about a rate hike as there are about chunky leaving Man Utd this summer - I think the former more likely :-)

Spanish 10-y Bond Auction 4.92|2.3 previous 5.20|1.6

China backs stronger N Korea sanctions
that's both interesting and very curious ..... i wonder what brought about that significant change of stance by NK's long-time champion

French 10-y Bond Auction 2.10|2.2 previous 2.30|3.1

FTSE Edges Higher Amid Upbeat Earnings; BOE Up Next

MARKET NEWS: FTSE 100 6451.61 +23.97 +0.37% FTSE 250 13930.09 +6.82 +0.05% FTSE AIM All-Share 742.64 +0.76 +0.10% TOP NEWS: U.K. Growth Seen Hampered By 4Q Setback, Euro Zone Difficulties -BCC The U.K. economy continues to face tough headwinds that are likely to dampen growth both this year and next, the British Chambers of Commerce said Thursday, while urging the government to deliver on its promises of supporting businesses and stimulating growth. U.K. Cameron: We Will Stick to Economic Plan U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will pledge Thursday to stick to his government's painful austerity drive and wider economic plan even though he will acknowledge that the challenges are huge and recent signs of progress are just the beginning of a long hard road to recovery. COMPANIES NEWS: Aviva 2012 Operating Profit Falls 10% to GBP1.89B, Cuts Dividend Insurance firm Aviva PLC (Thursday reported a 10% fall in 2012 operating profit to 1.89 billion pound, cut its final dividend to 9 pence and removed the scrip alternative in a move to improve earnings per share and give clarity to cashflows and dividend. Standard Life Net Profit Sharply Higher, Proposes Special Div U.K. insurer Standard Life PLC (SL.LN) Thursday posted a sharp rise in full-year net profit and announced a special dividend, after a significant improvement in the U.K. business, growth in its Investments unit and management actions in Canada and the U.K all boosted earnings. Cobham Posts Reduced FY Pretax Profit; FY Dividend +10% Defense technology company Cobham PLC (COB.LN) Thursday reported a 12% reduction in full-year pretax profit, raised the dividend by 10%, and said it expects its operating margins in 2013 to be silghtly lower than last year. Schroders 2012 Pretax Profit -12% to GBP360M, Raises Dividend Global asset management company Schroders PLC (SDR.LN) Thursday reported a 12% fall in 2012 pretax profit, on revenue 5% lower due to a fall in net revenue margins, and a 4% increase in costs as the company continued to invest in the business. Aggreko 2012 Profit Rises to GBP367M, FY Expectations Unchanged Aggreko PLC (AGK.LN), a supplier of temporary power and temperature control solutions, Thursday reported a rise in full year pretax profit and said that expectations for the 2013 year as a whole remain unchanged from previous guidance. IMI 2012 Pretax Profit +5%, Dividend +8%; GBP175M Buyback Program IMI PLC (IMI.LN), an engineering group, Thursday announced a 5% increase in its pretax profit for 2012 and declared an 8% increase in the full-year dividend by 8%, also reporting that it plans to carry out a 175 million pound share buyback program and to divest the majority of its Merchandising business. DS Smith Sees EPS Growth but Performance of Paper Ops Still Poor DS Smith PLC (SMDS.LN), a supplier of recycled packaging for consumer goods, Thursday said it continues to expect substantial year-on-year earnings per share growth and views the remainder of the year with confidence but said the performance of its Paper business continues to be poor. Hunting Lifts Dividend 27% on Strong Earnings Growth Hunting PLC (HTG.LN), an international energy services group, Thursday lifted its final 2012 dividend by 27% as pretax profit more than doubled and said it is confident of delivering a further satisfactory year in 2013. Balfour Beatty Gets GBP130M National Rail Contract Global infrastructure group Balfour Beatty PLC (BBY.LN) said Thursday it has won a contract worth over 130 million pounds to build two miles of the Crossrail route and a new rail station in South East London, from Network Rail. BT to Create 1,000 Engineering Jobs for New Broadband Network U.K. telecommunications operator BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) said Thursday that it will hire an additional 1,000 engineers to help with the rollout of its GBP2.5 billion fiber broadband network. ECONOMIC NEWS: U.K.'s Cable Raises Question of Increasing Government Borrowing The U.K.'s business secretary has publicly questioned whether the government should borrow more to fund capital spending, a strategy that flies in the face of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's austerity drive. BROKER COMMENTS: Cobham Results Solid, But US Defense Ebbs- Edison 0916 GMT [Dow Jones] Cobham (COB.LN) shares are 2.2% higher to 234p following FY results. The numbers are slightly ahead of expectations, says Edison Investment Research. It's due to improved efficiency savings and significantly lower tax rate than 2011. Edison notes Cobham's ramped up cost-cutting efforts in the US, but the brokerage emphasizes the many platforms on which Cobham still has growth potential. "Overall, we see today as a solid result, however not much has changed from the position at November's update," says Edison. The brokerage adds that the US defense segment will continue to decline, whilst cost cutting will soften the blow, and the search for growth is set to continue through investment in R&D. National Express Still Faces Overhang Risks -Liberum 0914 GMT [Dow Jones] National Express (NEX.LN) still faces overhang risks, Liberum Capital says, after Elliott Advisors placed 50.6 million shares in the bus and rail firm. Following the placing's completion, it will hold 9.9% of National Express. Liberum sees the disposal as locking in some of the gain while still retaining a significant shareholding in what it perceives as a long-term value play. The broker adds until the Spanish economy starts to improve and UK coach earnings recover, it expects the shares to trade at a material discount to fair value. Liberum rates National Express at hold with a 280p target price. Shares are down 9.9% to 207p. Investec Places Cobham Rating, Target Under Review 0913 GMT [Dow Jones] Investec Securities places Cobham (COB.LN) hold and 205p target under review following FY results. Says EPS is slightly ahead of Investec's estimate (at 22.6p vs 22.0p) due to lower interest and tax. Says an excellent cash performance and currency effects helped reduce year-end net debt to GBP360M against Investec's GBP444M forecast. "Cobham has ground out a solid performance in challenging defence and security markets," it says. "After a strong relative performance recently, we would not expect the shares to push on much further," it adds. Shares +2.2% to 234p. Unilever Should Sell Food Business -Liberum 0858 GMT [Dow Jones] Unilever (ULVR.LN) should sell its food business to generate new investment for other parts of its operations, Liberum Capital analyst Pablo Zuanic says. "The arguments against a sale of food do not hold water, in our view. We say there are too many categories [and] brands to fix to believe in a turnaround of the food business." Says the buy of HJ Heinz (HNZ) puts Unilever's food business in the spotlight. "The Heinz deal could bring buyers to the fore [for Unilever's food business] and entice Chief Executive [Paul] Polman to sell. We assign higher probability to this event." Has a buy rating. No target price disclosed. Shares +1.5% at 2721p. IMI Boosted By Buyback, Divestment - Investec 0847 GMT [Dow Jones] IMI's (IMI.LN) full-year results are largely in line with expectations says Investec. However it says the focus is on the long-awaited divestment of Merchandising Systems, which has been confirmed. This, along with the GBP175M share buyback underline the strength of the balance sheet for IMI and the sector as a whole, says Investec. Investec places its buy rating and 1245p target price under review. Shares are up 6.4% at 1343p. IMI Delivers Robust Set of Results - Oriel 0846 GMT [Dow Jones] IMI (IMI.LN) delivers a robust set of FY results, says Oriel Securities. Adjusted EPS of 84.3p beats the broker's view of 83.7p. It notes the dividend is also a beat, at 32.5p against its 32p view, while net debt is much better than expected, at GBP144 million against the GBP171 million forecast. Oriel says the standout number is the 19.6% margin in fluid power in 2H, despite the volume drop. It notes this demonstrates very clearly the structural change within the division and IMI as a whole. It adds the ongoing and accelerating transformation of the platform is becoming better understood. Oriel rates IMI at buy with a 1450p target price. Shares rise 6.8% to 1348p. GlaxoSmithKline Dolutegravir Data Are Significant -Shore 0840 GMT [Dow Jones] GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.LN) fresh Dolutegravir data indicate a statistically significant result, says Shore Capital. Interim data, at 24 weeks, show Dolutegravir delivered virological suppression when compared with twice-daily Isentress, the Raltegravir antiretroviral drug, it notes. "While the study was intended to demonstrate non-inferiority, helpfully superiority was also a pre-specified endpoint." Final data are generated at 48 weeks. Shore keeps a buy rating for GlaxoSmithKline. Shares are up 0.8% at 1485p.

Ooops!

German Factory Orders m/m -1.9% consensus 0.6% previous 0.8%