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

Do you mean a fraud negative report on $LNKD or a fraud negative report about $LNKD.

Dow Jones and S&P climb to new highs

New York's Dow Jones and S&P 500 share indexes have set new all-time highs.

The rallies mean the stock markets are returning to levels not seen since before the global financial crisis.

The Dow rose 89 points, to close at 14,662, after an earlier intraday high of about 14,684, The previous record high of 14,285 was set in March.

And the broader S&P 500 closed at a record high of 1,570, suggesting investors are regaining confidence in the US economy.

Investors Grow Cautious as Bank of Japan Gets Set to Meet

TOKYO—Can the reality match the hype? Financial markets are already reflecting ideas that the much-anticipated meeting of the Bank of Japan's policy board this week, the first under leadership that has vowed aggressive action to end Japan's economic slump, won't meet expectations.

Japan's Great Monetary Experiment Begins — Here's What You Need To Know

This is it – the moment the Abenomics-watchers have been waiting for.
Wednesday night, the Bank of Japan will conclude its first monetary policy meeting with new BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda at the helm.

So far, Japan's great "Abenomics" experiment – which seeks to employ bold policy tools to overcome more than a decade of deflation – has been mostly talk.

Some charts for brunch.

These are over 6 months old.
DO you have more recent graphs to share?

No, they're not over 6 months old!

The Central Bank of Ireland release that particular data a quarter in arrears, so anything relating to the quarter ending September 2012 wasn't released until January 2013. As it happens, December Q4 data was released in March and the underlying trend didn't change.

If you want an updated chart, you'll need to get your crayons out and colour it in yourself.

LOL! You're lucky you didn't get red ink ahoj!

Yes, he is lucky. I originally typed 'dyor and don't waste my time with stupid comments', but thought better of it.

Think you had a strike through ahoj

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/government-has-nothing-to-fear-over-troika-reports-on-health-spending-1.1347030

Link goes with what Hilarys charts show

Shortie,

I think the banks are in a real Catch 22. If they foreclose, they'll just flood the market with distressed properties, forcing a market collapse (that's if it hasn't collapsed enough already), which will in turn hit their own valuations big time. The article those charts were sourced from effectively suggested that your common-all-garden-paddy might just as well let his mortgage arrears accrue because the banks were in no position to do anything about it.

The reason for posting the charts, however, was not just to highlight Ireland's own mega-woes which show no sign of disappearing any time soon, but they also show that all of Club Med is suffering a rising trend in loan delinquencies.

meanwhile, my shorts (so to speak) are beginning to come good at last

everything red except my two shorts have dragged my day into blue, so no complaints, though the ride has been a bit scary

Similar here, still short FTSE with NG. being the best blue.

you guys seem to have had fun whilst I was away.

I managed to short the ftse all the way down today - but jumped ship too early at 6440.

Have now gone long at 6420 with a tightish SL.

Had a long on GOLD at 1570 - which has been up and down like a yoyo - currently slightly underwater - but have put a stop on it at 1560

Please sign the Petition.................

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/iain-duncan-smith-iain-duncan-smith-to-live-on-53-a-week

Still got my Wall St 14680 short running from yesterday, ker-ching!

Hilary - from the article link posted above “Specifically banks report that a significant number of consumers are prioritising unsecured debt over the repayment of their secured mortgage debt . . . It may also reflect the moral hazard generated by legal uncertainty about the banks’ ability to recover the collateral [following a 2011 High Court case that cast doubt over repossession orders issued after December 1st, 2009].

Sure the EU-IMF Trokia will get The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 legislation removed so they can reposses property. But I don't think this legislation is applicable in Portugal and other same boat med-countries..
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6be53bf0-43a6-11e2-a68c-00144feabdc0.html

15 Min Wall St

Worse-than-expected U.S. services-sector data and jobs figures dragged European stocks lower on Wednesday, with caution also displayed ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting. The Stoxx Europe 600 index shaved off 0.9% to close at 294.80, partly erasing a 1.3% jump from Tuesday. Last week, the index closed out March with a 10th consecutive monthly gain, boosted by aggressive easing measures from central banks and hopes of a pick up in the global economic recovery. But with the euro zone showing no signs of growth, there may not be scope for much further upside, according to Guy Foster, head of portfolio strategy at Brewin Dolphin. "We are neutral on euro-zone equities. Valuations look reasonable and things like the interest environment is slowly improving. Nevertheless, there is not much excitement regarding the top line," he said. "We're looking for any signs of stabilization or improvement in the economic numbers. There has been a fairly steady flow of disappointing numbers and it's not immediately apparent what will buck that trend," he added. U.S. data The broader stock markets were sent lower in afternoon action, after the Institute for Supply Management said its U.S. services index fell to 54.4% in March from a 12-month high of 56% in February. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the index to dip to 55.8%. Additionally, Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) said U.S. private-sector employment expanded by 158,000 jobs in March, well below expectations of a 215,000 gain. Markets look to ADP's report on private-sector payrolls to provide some guidance on the closely watched U.S. jobs report on Friday. U.S. stocks were lower. "I wouldn't worry too much about the ADP report. The revisions were pretty positive and the 200,000 added-jobs runrate remains intact. For the time being we are pretty comfortable with the U.S. employment numbers," Foster said. "I think the headline unemployment rate will demand a bit of attention on Friday," he added. "If the number of discouraged workers change, it could mean unemployment would come down quite fast. It would change the perspective for the Fed and could create headwinds for the equity market." Investors also awaited policy decisions from both the European Central Bank and Bank of England due on Thursday. Both banks are widely expected to keep rates on hold, although recent weak data raised expectations the ECB could act to boost the economy. "We expect the [ECB] governing council to discuss rate cuts, as the recession has deepened across the euro area. We estimate the likelihood of a rate cut is 25%," analysts at Danske Bank wrote in a note. "The main reason for the ECB to hold rates unchanged is that it continues to expect the economy to improve in the medium term. In addition, the monetary transmission mechanism remains broken so that the real economy would not benefit fully from a rate cut," they added. Cyprus got a slice of the limelight, as lawmakers and the International Monetary Fund finalized an agreement that will see the IMF contribute one billion euros ($1.28 billion) to the country's bailout in addition to EUR9 billion from euro-zone institutions. Movers Among notable movers, shares of Delhaize Group posted some of the biggest losses in the index, down 4.9%, after HSBC cut the supermarket operator to underweight from neutral. Telecom firms were also in the downgrading spotlight, with Telecom Italia SpA off 5.4% after UBS cut the firm to sell from buy, while France Télécom lost 4.4% after the bank slashed the rating to sell from neutral. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 index lost 1.1% to 6,420.28. Shares of Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) dropped 3.1%, after rising to its highest level in more than five years on Tuesday on reports Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and AT&T Inc. (T) were putting together a takeover bid. Verizon said late Tuesday it has no plans to merge with or make an offer for the U.K. telecom firm, although stating it remains interested in buying Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. Mining firms also dropped in the U.K., after UBS downgraded the materials sector to neutral from overweight. Shares of heavyweights BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) both dropped 2%. Metals prices were also lower across the board. Germany's DAX 30 index closed 0.9% lower at 7,874.75, while France's CAC 40 index lost 1.3% to 3,754.96. Shares of AXA SA dropped 1.9% in Paris as HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) said it agreed to sell its Singapore insurance business to the French insurer. HSBC fell 1.4%. Outside the major indexes, shares of SBM Offshore NV fell 2.8%, after the oil-services firm said it may have violated anticorruption laws and could face penalties and criminal prosecution.

Shortie,

During the entire fourth quarter of 2012 only 38 houses were repossessed by court order in Ireland. At that rate, it would take more than 620 years to get through the backlog of nearly 95,000 mortgage accounts that are at least 90 days behind on payments. It's little wonder that Irish families are prioritising unsecured loans loans costing most to service ahead of their mortgages.

If the troika stops lending and the Irish banks don't/won't/can't repossess, then I'd say there's a train wreck ahead. Similarly, if the banks do start to repossess and are forced into crystallising the inevitable losses onto their balance sheets, then there's also a train wreck ahead. As I said earlier, the banks are in a Catch 22.

"Greece has a role model and the role model is Ireland," Jean-Claude Trichet, former chief of the European Central Bank, famously said back in March 2010

FTSE 4 HR, note the MACD cross, I think we'll see the 6372 support line tested tomorrow.