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

FX CHAT: Fiscal tightening keeping payrolls cheer in check

Running theme across notes from economists in reaction to the payroll report: A solid reading that may not continue as payroll taxes and government spending cuts work into the economy. "The labor market was in decent shape before the sequester began and before the impact of the Jan. 1 payroll tax hike started to work through, but that does not mean these two factors--a tightening worth about 1.5% of GDP--will not reduce payroll growth in the months ahead," says Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomic Advisors. Fiscal tightening is also a hurdle the Fed will want to see the economy pass before dialing down its bond-buying stimulus.

last one now - FTSE 3 min

Remember it's US DST changes this weekend, so there'll be 3 weeks during which everyone will be able to get into a mucking fuddle over news release times. :o)

Guess it might confuse the Yanks.

Sunday 10th March 2013 US clocks are moving forward an hour.

On Sunday 31st March 2013 the UK clocks will also move forward an hour.

Well have a good weekend all, I've closed FTSE short 6464 so am happy..

Steady!

Nice work Shortie.

Budget 2013: Osborne urged to focus on house building

It is understood that the CBI will tomorrow call for a new focus on housing in order to revive the construction and building industry and help boost gross domestic product.

In a boost for George Osborne ahead of the budget, which will be unveiled on March 20, it is understood the CBI will reiterate its strong support for the Chancellor’s desire to keep the country’s finances under control and pledge its continued backing for the Government’s debt reduction programme.

Construction accounts for 7pc of the British economy, but output fell sharply in January, down 7.9pc, according to government figures released on Friday.
The latest Office for National Statistics figures and the Markit/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index survey suggested that the sector had contracted every month since last October.

Prepare for a new market dip

INVESTORS are being urged to safeguard their portfolios from market shocks following record-breaking rallies in Britain and America.

The FTSE 250 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit all-time highs last week as investors piled into shares while dumping “safe haven” assets, such as gold.

February saw the largest monthly outflow of gold on record, according to Deutsche Bank. A massive $5.5bn-worth (£3.7bn) of gold was sold through exchange traded funds (ETFs), which allow investors to track the price of the precious metal.

David Schwartz, the stock market historian, said: “Markets rarely rise in such a straight line. There have been only two occasions in the past 94 years that the FTSE All-Share has had a better run, and in both cases shares subsequently fell sharply. Markets are ripe for a correction.”

Next week from Digitallook:
"Week ahead: US and Chinese data to take centre stage
The coming week will see markets re-focus on the flow of economic data Stateside, with several very important indicators due to be released. Chief amongst these are the monthly retail sales report on Wednesday and the University of Michigan´s consumer confidence gauge on Friday.

Chinese data will also rise back to prominence starting this Saturday when Beijing will release a raft of macroeconomic indicators. These will be supplemented by monetary data further along in the week. As regards the latter of these releases, economists at Investec point out that attention has been shifting towards Total Social Financing, which includes borrowing from the shadow banking sector and is therefore a more inclusive indicator of lending trends in China.

Meanwhile, and in the Eurozone, all eyes will be on the EU summit which is to be held on Thursday and Friday. The assembled leaders are expected to evaluate countries´ progress with respect to last year´s Council recommendations made for each. Their respective stability programmes, which are to be sent to the Commission, will also be under discussion.

First however, on Monday European investors will have to deal with a ‘speed bump’ in the form of GDP releases in various small – but crisis prone – periphery economies such as Cyprus and Greece.

Lastly, and most importantly, back in the UK the main statistics release in the coming week will concern the latest industrial production figures, which are due out on Tuesday. However, what markets will be most preoccupied with, Investec adds, are the reports that the government might modify the Bank of England´s mandate. There will also be “chatter” surrounding fiscal policy and the contents of the Budget package on March 20th."

German Trade Balance 15.7B consensus 17.9B previous 16.8B

BOJ nominee vows swift action as orders data disappoints

TOKYO | Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:12am GMT

(Reuters) - The Japan government's choice to lead the country's central bank promised on Monday to move quickly to implement fresh monetary stimulus to lift the struggling economy, a case underlined by a surprisingly sharp drop in a gauge of capital investment.

Declaring that "speed is important", Haruhiko Kuroda said he would do whatever it takes to hit the Bank of Japan's inflation target of 2 percent - even though the economy has rarely seen that level of inflation since the early 1990s.

French Industrial Production m/m -1.2% consensus -0.1% previous -0.1%

CHF Retail Sales y/y 1.9% consensus 3.7% previous 5.1%

ROME--Italy's economy contracted 0.9% in real terms during the final three months of 2012, leaving gross domestic product down 2.8% from the final quarter of 2011, national statistics institute Istat said Monday. The quarterly figure matches a preliminary estimate and analyst forecasts, while Istat revised down the annual figure from an earlier 2.7% estimate. Rising sovereign borrowing costs and a slew of tax hikes have caused Italian gross domestic product to contract for six consecutive quarters and the government's own forecasts are for the recession to last another two quarters. Details revealed Monday showed that domestic consumption fell 0.5% in the fourth quarter from the previous three months and 3.9% from the same period a year earlier, with household consumption down 0.7% and public consumption inching up 0.1% from the third quarter. Private purchases of durable goods were down 11.1% from the final three months of 2011, Istat said. Fixed investments declined 1.2% on the quarter and 7.6% on the year, Istat said. Imports fell 0.9% while exports grew 0.3% from the previous three months. Late Friday, Fitch Ratings cut Italy's sovereign credit rating to BBB+ from A-, keeping its outlook negative, warning that fourth-quarter trends increased the risk that Italy's recession, described as "one of the deepest in Europe," would last longer than previously expected. Fitch said it expects Italian GDP to shrink 1.8% in 2013 and for the budget deficit to be 2.5% of GDP.

Italian Bond Yields Nudge Higher On Fitch Rating Downgrade

By Nick Cawley Italian government bond yields rose Monday after ratings agency Fitch Ratings downgraded the country's credit rating by one notch to BBB+ from A-, and left it with a negative outlook, pointing to increased political uncertainty and a non-conducive backdrop for further structural reform measures. The latest ratings action is unlikely to increase the cost of borrowing for banks pledging Italian banks as collateral as it only brings Fitch in line with rivals Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service, the move still highlights the risk to Italy's credit-worthiness as a political gridlock complicates efforts to revive the country's beleaguered economy. Elections last month failed to produce a clear winner, with parties opposed to austerity measures finding favor among Italian voters. The yield on the 10-year Italian benchmark bond rose 0.08 percentage point to 4.66%, according to data from Tradeweb, while shorter-dated two-year Italian debt added 0.06 percentage point to yield 1.81%. "We would expect peripherals to remain on the back foot over the immediate term and that while we continue to believe the market is taking insufficient heed of the political risks besetting Italy we are doubtful as to whether Fitch's rating action will prove to be the trigger for a more generalized reassessment of these risks," said analysts at Rabobank in a note to clients. Indeed, the latest setback in Italy didn't deter investors from buying bonds sold by other euro-zone countries with shaky finances. The European Central Bank's pledge to do whatever it takes within its mandate to preserve the euro has allayed fears of the fate of the common currency and has given returns-starved investors the confidence to buy riskier debt. Italian government debt continued to underperform Spanish debt with 'yield spread'--an indicator of relative riskiness of debt--between the two countries continuing to contract. The yield spread between the Spanish and Italian 10-year government bonds is now down to just 0.08 percentage point having been quoted around 0.75 of a percentage point prior to the Italian elections at the end of February. Yields on Italian government bonds rose sharply after the inconclusive general elections on Feb. 24-25 left the country in a political stalemate. While Italy's budget deficit is more modest compared to Spain's and Italy has a lower unemployment rate, Spain benefits from a more stable political backdrop as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy enjoys a strong majority in parliament. A strong and stable political background will enable Spain to ask for official financial assistance should the country's economy falter even further. Italian government debt will remain in the spotlight this week with the Italian Treasury scheduled on Wednesday to sell up to five and a half billion euros ($7.15 billion) of conventional two- and 15-year bonds and up to EUR1.75 billion of four- and five-year floating-rate notes.

Stocks set to back off record highs

U.S. stock futures were slipping Monday, showing that Wall Street could be ready to take a break from last week's record-breaking rally.

After a week of record highs and a better-than-expected jobs report, investors will have little corporate or economic news to digest.

FTSE @ 6497 - time to go short me thinks

Small short @6,496

So what caused that quick jump?
Am short from 6486 and watching to see what happens from here.
TT