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

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%

Construction output falls annual 7 percent in February

LONDON | Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:34am BST

(Reuters) - Construction output was 7.0 percent lower in February than a year ago but 5.5 percent higher than in January, according to non-seasonally adjusted data that provides a glimmer of hope that activity in the sector may be recovering.

The Office for National Statistics said nearly all sectors recorded increases during the month with the exception of 'private commercial other new work' which showed a fall of 0.5 percent.

Despite making up less than 7 percent of Britain's economy, weak construction output was the main drag on growth during the first half of last year, helping push the country into recession.

4Hr FTSE for the shorters

JP Morgan's 1st-Quarter Net Jumps 33% on Strong Investment Banking, Improved Credit

By Saabira Chaudhuri J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) first-quarter net income jumped 33% as the bank logged strong results from its investment banking arm, while expenses fell and credit strengthened. Earnings beat Street estimates. The results from J.P. Morgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, effectively kicks off the first-quarter earnings season for the nation's big banks, and the results will likely set the tone for J.P. Morgan's rivals. Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) also reports Friday morning. J.P. Morgan reported a profit of $6.53 billion, or $1.59 a share, versus $4.92 billion, or $1.19 a share, a year earlier. The latest period included a net 18 cent per-share gain tied to reduced credit card loan loss reserves and reduced mortgage loan loss reserves. The year-earlier period included a net per-share loss of eight cents tied to litigation expenses and changes in the value of the bank's debt. Revenue on a managed basis, which excludes the impact of credit-card securitizations and is on a tax-equivalent basis, was down 3.4% to $25.85 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit of $1.39 on revenue of $25.86 billion. Large banks this quarter are likely to benefit from an increase in mergers and acquisitions activity, Chris Kotowski, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., said before the results. That may help soften some headwinds in other areas, such as mortgage banking, he said. J.P. Morgan's investment banking arm turned a profit of $2.61 billion, up 28% from a year earlier and 30% from the fourth quarter. J.P. Morgan is considered among the healthiest of the big U.S. banks, but like its peers has faced pressure to cut expenses as low interest rates, the slow economic recovery and increased regulatory scrutiny have crimped revenue. In February, J.P. Morgan outlined plans to eliminate 17,000 jobs by the end of next year and reduce expenses by at least $1 billion annually. The cuts, amounting to 6.5% of the bank's work force, will make J.P. Morgan by staffing the smallest among its peers. On Friday, the bank reported headcount had dropped from the previous quarter to 255,898. J.P. Morgan is still working to regain investor confidence after incurring $6.2 billion in losses last year from ill-placed, complex trades on credit default swaps tied to corporate bonds. The position became so large the main trader was dubbed the "London Whale." The mishap also tainted the reputation of Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, long considered one of the industry's best risk managers. Mr. Dimon now faces a spring shareholder vote that would remove him as chairman. Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@dowjones.com Order free Annual Report for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Dow (cash) shrugs its shoulders, but then the market has already and unexpectedly powered ahead over the last week or so

I'm staying out for now, having made silly decisions over the past few days. I reckon Shortie could well be right: the DOW looks determined to head to 15000 whatever the world tries to throw at it!

I read one estimate that 'the current Bull Run will reach 18000'! Can't find the link now, but am pretty sure I read it on MarketWatch.com a couple of days ago

Toya - its here.

once everyone starts shouting BUY!!! (or SELL!!!), then start looking to jump the other way :-)


skinny - do you know how to post personal pix here? ..... Mistress did it once for me on one our trips, but she's now very very old and has forgotten how!

FTSE 5 minute since 10.

cynic its very straight forward - are they on your pc?

USD Core Retail Sales m/m -0.4% -0.1% 1.0%

USD PPI m/m -0.6% -0.2% 0.7%

USD Retail Sales m/m -0.4% 0.0% 1.1%

USD Core PPI m/m 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%

Thanks for the link, Skinny!

Just reading on MarketWatch how 'Europe stocks extend slide after US retail sales'

Quelle surprise! Cyprus mulls early EU structural funds - officials

DUBLIN | Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:00pm BST

(Reuters) - Cyprus is considering putting EU structural funds to earlier use to help its stricken economy but is not asking for a bigger bailout from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund than the agreed 10 billion euros, EU officials said on Friday.