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

Gold and oil also flying re inflation data,

Good call Cynic...!!

Stops have killed me in the last two weeks, its a masterpiece knowing when/where to place them, got stopped out of gold today at a loss, when would now be in a four digit gain... *wipes away tear*

so was AL. (preen preen!)

Yeh, all 8000 of the blighters...)

Credit where due Cynic, well done on AL. too..

Cynic, when the DOW jumped so did GBP/JPY, have a look at the charts.... Coincidence??

Already noticed, although didn't consider them linked...

http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=qkquote&btn=s_ok&symbol=FX%3AgbpJPY

any move of GBP/JPY must surely be toytally coincidental .... must remember to look more closely at shorting this tomorrow,

o'night, F/E must assuredly be (very) strong ... therefore expect FTSE to open strongr than 5935 (where it is now) and Dow indicator stronger than 12420 (where it is now) ... have backed both with cash! ... actually was long Dow since earlier this afternoon and have left open ... just bought FTSE

should be a very nice day tomorrow .all round it been a long day so bid you all ...and hope tomorrow will be better then yestarday but not as good as the day after.........;-)).

US oil inventory today according to Bloomberg though not sure when. Obviously quite a bit of comment on 100+ oil. Now gone up 15 dollars in 2 weeks and just over key resistance levels. They seemed to think that the OPEC will open the floodgates at these prices if of course they have as much oil as they say they have!

I have GBP/JPY at top of consolidating triangle at 21220ish, pound has gained some strength today, also looking at same against dollar, approaching top of triangle at 19600ish, cant imagine it breaking out upwards, so will watch to see if my prediction of a reversal latertoday comes true... may even back with cash...

Very tempting to short oil, not saying i will, but the Americans must be desperate to relieve some inflationary pressure, not sure what the latest is with the Exxon saga, but if that reaches a conclusion and with the economy slowing i think $85/90 a barrel is possible in short/med term...

Ted ... you are nuts!

This, i already know... see, we shall...

Big Ted, if you are right (heavens forbid), there will be another sell off, (I hope not as I always miss it).

It was much easier to short oil last time at $100 as it was bid up on speculation without fundamentals. Not sure that is the case now and more likely to head toward 110 before it heads south on an 8 lane motorway. Shorted Rio at 5300 and have been covering long ever since. While the commodity markets are all over the place Commodity prices will keep rising as a hedge

If it is a steady small climb up just above $105, it might stay there and stabilize...the jumps up to $110 and more could trigger massive shorting...!

I should stress, oil is only ever going upwards long term, just feel that with the US economy slowing it is possible demand will reduce slightly, current rise is partly down to supply scare caused by tensions between Exxon and Venezuela...

I've been looking at ways of learning about spreadbetting--the costs vary widely. CMC offer a free dvd and free day worth 200 to learn while Robbie Burns The Naked Trader is offering a day in April for around 500. Have any of you done these day courses or did you just take the plunge and learn by your mistakes??