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

good nudge .... i'll lock in the profit on 50% at +/-90 points :-)

Think I'll hold short, Jeroen Dijsselbloem comments could well lead to a case of foot and mouth..

dow is currently dithering in a 15/20 point range, though starting to fall again as i write

I was tempted to close earlier but have left both my shorts running

It's not just Dijsselwotsit who's moving the markets. Here's some more significant news, but expect the silent treatment after the markets close.

If anyone could translate or sum up please?

The rumors cite Italian daily Corriere della Sera and say a downgrade from Moody’s is coming after the close.

Shortie - Chrome will translate it for you.

And if you're looking for a bit of support, the snap happy jappy has got good demand sub-94.00.

Cityindex has gone phone only on trades....

Happy days, thanks Hilary

Well that's a pair of new slippers on the DOW, still holding.....

14411 support to be tested

Economists said the Cyprus episode may come back to haunt euro-zone policy makers if the crisis heats up again in another, larger member country.

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service, in a note, said the Cyprus crisis was credit negative for all euro-zone sovereigns and that policy makers’ willingness to “bail in” depositors was credit negative for euro-zone banks.

dow now struggling to hold +/-14,400 .... in fact i sold my balance and reversed some of it, though a bit too high (14420), but i'll sit and watch and try not to be too greedy - or stupid ..... the latter will be hard for me!

*** One significant event I meant to mention last week, but forgot ***

It's Japanese year end this coming weekend. In the run-up, lots of money invariably gets repatriated. Citi are also reporting that many exporters may be underhedged and forced to sell USDs.

:-) and out at 14464 ..... phew! actually managed to obey my own instructions :-)

dow is almost as volatile as i have ever known it (14476 as i write) and though it may well continue back up, i think it will be just due to day traders and the like .... as i am about to leave the office, i didn't fancy getting home to find that it had all slumped again

i'm now short of ftse at 6380 as i suspect it will tumble at least a little tomorrow on the back of f/e markets

There's a free-to-read comment on FT.com which summarises the fallout from this quite well.

Sacrebleu!

Why are the French drinking less wine?