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

China bird flu threatens KFC parent's winning streak

(Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc, the biggest foreign fast-food chain operator in China, is in danger of breaking its 11-year streak of double-digit profit growth as it scrambles to deal with food scares and bird flu in its most lucrative market.

The U.S.-listed firm, the world's largest restaurant company by number of outlets, said in a filing Wednesday that the latest deadly avian flu outbreak would have a "significant, negative impact" on sales at KFC stores in China in April.

By Eleanor Warnock TOKYO--The Bank of Japan's super-charged easing measures are not pushing local investors into foreign markets yet, data from the Ministry of Finance showed Thursday, helping to give the yen a little support. The dollar remained pinned below the psychological high water mark of Y100 against the yen after the weekly data indicated that the widely-anticipated rush out of local markets was not yet clear to see. Japanese investors sold a net 1.14 trillion yen ($11.4 billion) in foreign bonds and notes during the first week of the fiscal year from March 31 to April 6, the fourth straight week of selling. Expectations of outflows from Japan have boosted other markets since the BOJ last week announced it would seek to double its domestic sovereign debt holdings to Y190 trillion in two years in an effort to stimulate the economy and defeat deflation. In Europe, yields on 10-year bonds issued by France, Belgium and others reached record lows in response to the BOJ's action. Yields on bonds of some of the most fiscally-stressed euro members such as Spain and Italy have also cranked lower, helping to support the euro. However, those shifts in European yields appear to be driven more in expectation of future flows out of Japan, rather than by real flows. The sell-off was also the biggest since almost exactly the same week a year earlier. "It's beginning of fiscal year profit-taking, and with a figure like that, most likely by banks," said Satoshi Igarashi, senior portfolio strategist at BNP Paribas Securities in Tokyo. "It's an operation that happens often at this time of year." The data do not show a breakdown of which sectors exactly are selling or buying, but strategists including Mr. Igarashi say that if life insurers or pensions are pushed to become bigger buyers of foreign bonds amid rock-bottom local yields, the effect will likely not become clear in the numbers until after April. Riccardo Barbieri, chief European economist at Mizuho International PLC, said his firm has not detected any unusually large inflows of Japanese money into Europe. Japanese outflows might turn out to be positive for euro-zone bond purchasing, Mr. Barbieri said, but for now, the data "fly in the face on the thesis that global bonds are being boosted by Japanese portfolio investments."

banked a decent profit from HG+HC long which at least ameliorates the nasty bruising incurred with my dow/ftse shorts ...... am now short dow again and keeping my fingers x-ed

So you went short, got burnt, took the loss and have decided to go short again.. Why crystalise a loss if you intended going short again in the same market?

Merkel: Need Common Understanding on Where Growth Comes From

because my brain's soggy!

Shortie,

I personally feel this photo of Angie Baby does her more justice...

Hilary lol... that picture is rather scary though..

Yuk!

CAD NHPI m/m 0.2% 0.1% 0.1%

USD Unemployment Claims 346K 362K 385K

USD Import Prices m/m -0.5% -0.4% 1.1%

exited HG+HC early .... should have just left it with stop in place, but hey ho

FTSE keeps rising shorts must be well and truly dirty by now!

At this rate the DOW will hit 15000 next week..

I used to be undecided, but now I'm not so sure :-

G8 ministers fail to agree on Syria; no plan on North Korea

(Reuters) - Foreign ministers from the G8 group of rich countries failed to patch up deep divisions over Syria or come up with a concrete plan on North Korea during a meeting in London on Thursday.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking after talks with his counterparts, admitted the world had done too little to try to resolve Syria's two-year-old conflict, in which an estimated 70,000 people have been killed.

Dow closes at all time high, money flooding in from Europeans scared by what happened in Cyprus, lets be honest does the market care if Syrians are killing each other, even the Chinese call Kim blah blah...sai fei fei (little fatty)!

Is this the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" moment?

Pentagon report says North Korea likely has nuclear tipped missiles

SEOUL/WASHINGTON | Fri Apr 12, 2013 5:15am BST

(Reuters) - A Pentagon spy agency has concluded with "moderate confidence" that North Korea has developed a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, an assessment swiftly dismissed by several U.S. officials and South Korea.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said such a weapon would probably be unreliable. Its assessment, made public by a U.S. lawmaker in Washington, comes amid threats of war by North Korea and just hours before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Seoul on a visit to the region that will include stops in China and Japan.

German WPI m/m -0.2% 0.3% 0.1%

having rather "lost the rhythm" this week, i am more than a little chary of sticking my neck out but shall merely venture the old adage of nothing goes up (or down) in a straight line

15min GBP/JPY :-)

EUR Industrial Production m/m 0.4% 0.3% -0.4%

GBP CB Leading Index m/m 0.4% 0.4%