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

Hils, many thanks for that welcome clarification, whenever I get an email addressing me as "Dear Valued Client" my brain is immediately switched into maximum cynicism mode. :>)

Aaah Balerboy - I'm just catching up briefly: thanks for your lovely image of me! I much prefer it to the one Cynic describes :0)

CNY GDP q/y 7.7% 8.0% 7.9%

CNY Fixed Asset Investment ytd/y 20.9% 21.3% 21.2%

CNY Industrial Production y/y 8.9% 10.1% 9.9%

CNY Retail Sales y/y 12.6% 12.5% 12.3%

JPY Revised Industrial Production m/m 0.6% -0.1% -0.1%


China first-quarter GDP growth slips to 7.7 percent year-on-year

BEIJING | Mon Apr 15, 2013 5:13am BST
(Reuters) - China's economic recovery unexpectedly stumbled in the first three months of 2013 as the annual rate of growth eased back to 7.7 percent from the 7.9 percent pace set in the final quarter of last year, official data showed on Monday.

The growth rate, announced by the National Bureau of Statistics, was weaker than a Reuters poll consensus forecast for an 8.0 percent expansion.

Many investors had anticipated a possible surprise on the upside, with growth faster than the consensus, after a surge in liquidity in the economy during the first quarter and an uptick in export growth.

escape from alacatraz .... daren't say why lest i be accused of trading after the event :-)

EUR Trade Balance 12.0B 9.9B 8.7B

I'm not sure if anyone else is playing - long FTSE @6,308.

i'm playing, but more like short leg than long on!

Not playing FTSE Skinny, I'm shorting GBP/JPY still from last week, have three shorts on Wall St and am shorting EUR/GBP still also..

USD Empire State Manufacturing Index 3.1 7.2 9.2

Speaks @2pm.

USD NAHB Housing Market Index 42 45 44

gold - some very clever chaps will have made an absolute mint by being short, while other of course, will have lost their shirts or even their houses ..... unbelievable!

Just closed +38.

Crude also very much down...

sure glad i'm short both ftse and dow as the rest is bleak indeed .... gold is now down about $120 and crude $3.00 .... amazingly, though ftse and 250 are both well down HG+HC is slightly ahead

Hands up all those who made money today

Been away for the weekend so missed the carnage on Friday and early this morning - so jumped in at the bottom at lunch time (so I thought ) and got badly burned this afternoon. Comes from being greedy. doh

Sitting on my very burned fingers now until they heal

€400m from 10 tonnes of gold is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount they need to raise in total. The troika will be demanding that Cypriots each sell a kidney or two next.

Big depositors in Cypriot banks to lose 8.3 billion euros - document

BERLIN | Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:08pm BST
(Reuters) - Large depositors who kept their money in the two biggest Cypriot banks stand to lose up to 8.3 billion euros (7 billion pounds) through the restructuring of the two institutions, a European Commission document showed.

It is part of an estimated total 10.6 billion contribution from investors for restructuring the Cypriot banking sector, which also includes wiping out shareholders and bondholders in Laiki, or Popular, Bank as well as imposing losses on junior bondholders in the Bank of Cyprus and a deposit-for-equity swap

Greece will return to growth in 2014, says troika

The troika of international creditors to Greece has said the country's economy will start growing again next year and it will be able to contain its debts.

The troika, which includes the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the next slice of financial support would be released soon.

The release of the funds follows a review by the troika.

They said Greek debt was containable.

And, for the record, the one-eyed Scottish monster sold 400 tonnes of the stuff back in 1999. I know that only muppets notify the market of their intentions beforehand but, even so, the measly Cyprus supply should soon get mopped up.