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

...
Speaking after the meeting with Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said losses to Russian investors in Cyprus were not yet clear, but added that VTB's Cypriot unit would not be affected by measures taken by the government there.

He added that he believed it would not be necessary for Russia to provide any additional financial assistance to Cyprus.

"What is happening is a good signal to those who plan to move their capital to ... Russian banks," Shuvalov was quoted as saying. "We have very stable banks."

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) – European shares steadied on Tuesday, with some investors using the previous sessions' steep sell-off to buy back into the market, but uncertainties about the broader implications of the Cyprus bailout kept a lid on any gains.

"We hooked masses of selling yesterday afternoon, but in the absence of a 'bad news chaser', now we can have the quarter-end rally, so watch those new shorts being squeezed," said Justin Haque, broker at Hobart Capital Markets.

So guys: beware of short positions. I took profits yesterday and have just gone long on the FTSE at 6380.

Had a wonderful slide on my Spanish short first thing today!

despite WOS's spotty results, HG+HC Index is roaring yet again - unbelievable performance in recent weeks

Hmm, not sure my long FTSE was such a good idea... it's already going against me :(

Cynic - WOS isn't a constituent of NMX3720.

i'm amazed .... anyway, that index proved to be a veritable duke of york this morning .... glad i didn't allow myself to be suckered in

btw, from where does one glean the constituents of this and the C+M indices?

Household Goods & Home Construction

That post from skinny #11606 is worth a read cynic. Appears you are a dying breed!!! ;o) but even though the french are consuming less, the chinese are now drinking as much as the french can export.

i recollect that french wine consumption has been on the decline for a number of years - prob since they decided rat-arsed drivers after a rabelaisian sunday lunch really were too much of a menace for their heritage to bear

you're certainly right that the chinese are buying up a huge %age of french fine wines ..... it will have great snob value at a dinner, even if they then commit the sacrilege of mixing it with coca cola

skinny - many thanks for that list .... surprised how many of those names i have never even heard of! .... can you grab the C+M list too?

Same site cynic.

Osborne is speaking @10am.

assumed so, but equally assumed it was a "protected" site

Why pay if you don't have to :-)

FTSE
i have copied the following from one of GF's sites this morning .....

The FTSE this week has finally broken its downtrend on the news over and uncertainty over Cyprus. After 5 down days in a row the FTSE managed to pick up a bit on Friday, but failed to retake the trend line.
Expect a retake of the trend today but a failure to make a new high suggests a correction looming.

I'm short on FTSE and DOW today. Watching the DAX also.. 1hr Charts below

DAX daily below, thinking of going long..

Shortie, re the DAX, I noticed this yesterday (Reuters):

Berkeley Futures associate director Richard Griffiths ... said clients were looking to buy "put" options on the German DAX < .GDAXI> equity index, which give the right to sell an index in the future and are often used on expectations of a market fall.

I've closed my long FTSE at a miniscule profit as I'm not sure which way it's going to go.

Nothing much out til later today.

10:00am GBP Chancellor Osborne Speaks

11:00am GBP CBI Realized Sales

12:30pm USD Core Durable Goods Orders m/m

USD Durable Goods Orders m/m

1:00pm USD S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI y/y

2:00pm USD CB Consumer Confidence

USD New Home Sales

USD Richmond Manufacturing Index

4:30 pm CAD Gov Council Member Cote Speaks

Thanks for that Skinny.

This little snippet made me smile: 'Russian businesses are unlikely to continue to patronize Cyrus. Press reports quoted one Russian businessman’s wry observation that the EU had killed Cyprus in one day: “When the Russians leave, who is going to stay at the Four Seasons for $500 a night? Angela Merkel?” '