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

Fed Expected to Hold Steady on Stimulus Despite Debate Over Risks

Federal Reserve officials will spend much of a meeting next week debating the potential risks from the central bank's stimulus plan, but Chairman Ben Bernanke has already signaled he believes the costs of inaction are even greater.
The U.S. central bank looks set to keep buying $85 billion a month in mortgage and Treasury bonds in an effort to encourage investment and bolster a weak economic recovery.

USD TIC Long-Term Purchases 25.7B consensus 39.3B previous 64.2B

Stock Futures Flat Ahead of Data

U.S. stock-index futures were little changed Friday on the back of the Dow's longest winning streak since 1996 as traders awaited a round of U.S. economic data and digested the Fed's review of banks' capital plans.

Today's Markets

As of 8:40 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat at 14452, S&P 500 futures were unchanged at 1556 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 3 points to 2803.
The blue-chip averaged climbed for its tenth session in a row Thursday, hitting a record closing high for the eighth-straight session. The broader S&P 500 is within two points, or about a tenth of a percent, away from its all-time peak as well.

After the closing bell Thursday, the Federal Reserve released its review of the capital plans submitted by the nation's largest banks. Most received a green light, with J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) receiving a conditional non-objection, and BB&T (BBT) and Ally Financial getting rejections.

Skinny - yes I did - thank you

Both FTSE short and gold long stopped out for good profit.

Might leave gold alone now for a while and go back into FTSE short

USD Capacity Utilization Rate 79.6% consensus 79.4% previous 79.2%

USD Industrial Production m/m 0.7% consensus 0.4% previous 0.0%

Back in FTSE at 6498 short with 6500 as SL for now

SL now6492

USD Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment 71.8 consensus 78.2 previous 77.6

USD Prelim UoM Inflation Expectations 3.3% previous 3.3%

Wall St 1hr, hopefully 14470 will be taken out to leave 14411 support...

SL now 6477 - I am liking this but a mistake to have ignored gold

stopped out for a nice profit at 6477

Good trading today, 2 decent profits taken no losses so far.

14497 short again

Lets see how long the channel lasts...

IMF tells EU to act boldly and fix the banks

LONDON | Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:07pm GMT

(Reuters) - The European Union must be bold in putting its banks on a stabler footing, starting with a tougher health check for lenders this year, the International Monetary Fund said.

The Washington-based watchdog said in its first ever formal study of the EU financial sector as a whole that the bloc had made significant progress but more was needed because financial stability remains fragile.

announcement that cypriot authorities are going to "confiscate" 10% of all bank deposits over e100,000 and 6.75% of deposits < e100,000 may well upset markets on monday especially in Spain and Portugal.

Well the move does kind of cross a financial rubicon, but I suspect the market may well ultimately like it as it certainly goes a long way to solving a problem which didn't look like going away any time soon. It's also a non-discretionary tax which doesn't affect consumer choices.

Somehow, I doubt the Russian money launderers who are alleged to have deposited all their washed money into Cypriot banks will be too chuffed about it though. :o)

It certainly would have been better to be a borrower in Cyprus rather than a depositor, we hope George doesn't find out this is a great way to pay off his deficit! It might be a good idea to clear more space under the bed.

Or fully invest all of it in equities. Saver rates are so poor at the moment in the UK that, apart from Cash ISA's, any other form of investment seems a good idea. Mr C is into fine wines, though he seems to be drinking more than he lays up, but another way to get a better return if you know what you are doing!