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

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

One in four Germans would back anti-euro party

(Reuters) - One in four Germans would be ready to vote in September's federal election for a party that wants to quit the euro, according to an opinion poll published on Monday that highlights German unease over the costs of the euro zone crisis.

Germany's mainstream parties remain solidly pro-euro despite grumbling over bailouts of countries such as Greece. A German taboo on nationalism, rooted in atonement for the crimes of the Nazi era, has helped to muffle eurosceptic voices.

But the poll conducted by TNS-Emnid for the weekly Focus magazine showed 26 percent of Germans would consider backing a party that wanted to take Germany out of the euro and as many as four in 10 Germans in the 40-49 age bracket would do so.

I can't find anything obvious TT.

1hr FTSE 100 chart, I'm also running short today two bets in place...

DAX daily

Daily DOW

Daily Gold for those trading it.. Is it about to stage a rally on a reverse sell equities and back into commodities move... I hope so...

.me too - as I am long on gold

CFDs at IG offer contracts of £1 per $1 move ..... but gold rarely moves more than say $10 in a day, so that sounds somewhat strange - i.e. it's a minuscule contract ..... think i'll double-check!

===============

i did, and the above is spot on to make a bad pun

Are the Greeks due another bailout soon?
Italy's elections?
Or just profit taking in USA?

Am looking for any reason for a fall in ftse100 in next two months.

"sell in may and go away" ..... is that a good enough reason for you?
or you may prefer to short once (if) dow reaches 14,545

.......of course, don't forget to re-invest on St. Ledger day!

Is this a trick question "Am looking for any reason for a fall in ftse100 in next two months." ?? If not maybe start by spending a few hours on bloomberg and forbes..

300pts+ fall.

Conflict between China and Japan over the disputed islands, or an escalation of the European debt problems could spur a fall. In the US if the banking system was made to address its bad debts we'd see a system requiring a bailout. This would act like a giant mop against the mass increase in money..