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

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?” '

Thanks Toya, Jeroen Dijsselbloem backtracked on his comments yesterday and rumours of a Moodys downgrade on Italy yesterday turned out to be just rumours. I'm thinking the Euro should recover a little with the DAX being rallied as a result.

GBP CBI Realized Sales 0 consensus 12 previous 8

OK Shortie - hope it goes your way :)

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Cypriot depositors with less than €100,000 in their bank accounts will not take a hit from the terms of the recent bailout, but those over that amount could see around 40% of their deposits converted into bank shares, the finance minister said in a BBC interview on Tuesday. "The exact percentage is not...yet decided but it is going to be significant," said Michalis Sarris.

I wouldn't be too happy about that, would you?!

USD Core Durable Goods Orders m/m -0.5% consensus 0.7% previous 2.3%

USD Durable Goods Orders m/m 5.7% consensus 3.9% previous -4.9%

USD S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI y/y 8.1% consensus 7.9% previous 6.8%

USD CB Consumer Confidence 59.7 consensus 67.9 previous 69.6

USD New Home Sales 411K consensus 426K previous 437K

USD Richmond Manufacturing Index 3 consensus 8 previous 6

we have taken a few chips off the table in anticipation of a pullback, Cyprus effect not over yet.

trouble with you hali, is that you're just a cereal de-ramper (lol!)

cynic, not so looking to capitalise on the uncertainty created when(and if) the cypriot banks re-open before/after Easter.

it's certainly almost inconceivable that they will re-open before easter, except maybe for 1/2 day on Thursday

Short @6,412.1

GBP Current Account -14.0B consensus -12.8B previous -12.8B

GBP Final GDP q/q -0.3% consensus -0.3% previous -0.3%

GBP Revised Business Investment q/q -0.8% consensus -1.2% previous -1.2%

Italian Retail Sales m/m -0.5% 0.4% -0.1%

UK Banks Need £25 Billion Fresh Capital By Year-End

LONDON--U.K. banks must come up with 25 billion pounds ($37.92 billion) in fresh capital by the end of the year to start plugging an estimated GBP50 billion capital shortfall across the sector, the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee said Wednesday. The committee, which monitors the financial system and the broader economy, said the immediate objective for banks should be to hold at least 7% in common equity against their risk-weighted assets by the end of the year, after making three key adjustments for potential loan losses, higher risk weights and the costs of past misconduct. It said some banks already exceed that target, but that there was an aggregate GBP25 billion gap across the country's major banks and building societies at the end of 2012. The FPC, a new body that was set up last year as part of a shake-up of U.K. banking regulation, isn't allowed to name individual banks in its assessments of the sector. Its Wednesday statement is being closely watched by banks and their investors, since some banks could now be forced to issue new shares or step up planned asset sales. The FPC said the Financial Services Authority, the current banking regulator, has identified a potential GBP50 billion capital hole at the U.K.'s major lenders. It said this is made up of a potential GBP30 billion in potential loan losses from U.K. commercial real estate and assets in weakened euro-zone countries; around GBP10 billion in additional charges for past misconduct such as the cost of reimbursing customers for faulty payment protection insurance; and around GBP12 billion to cover higher capital charges for raising risk weights applied to banks' assets. "Taken together, the effect of these three adjustments would be equivalent to around a GBP50 billion reduction in the regulatory capital of the major U.K. banks and building societies," the FPC said in a statement. Analysts before the announcement said 81% state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) may have the biggest capital shortfall. The bank has been selling assets and cutting business lines as part of a broad restructuring, and plans to float 25% of its U.S. business, RBS Citizens Financial Group Inc. in 2015. U.K. banks haven't wanted to issue shares while their stock is at depressed prices, so they are stepping up the pace of planned restructurings and finding other ways to improve the capital ratios that serve as the primary measure of their financial health. The FPC said the Prudential Regulation Authority, which takes over from the FSA on April 1, should consider requiring higher capital ratio requirements for any major lender with "concentrated exposures to vulnerable assets, where there are uncertainties about assets not covered in the FSA's assessment of future expected losses or risk weights analysis, or where banks are highly leveraged relating to trading activities." It said banks could also be subject to regular stress tests in the future.

Italian 10-y Bond Auction 4.66|1.3 previous 4.83|1.7

Closed +50.

cluck, cluck, cluck :-)
good these index short positions aren't they :-)

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if i'd been very brave, i'ld have shorted ftse 250, but it's a bit too scary for me