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

USD NFIB Small Business Index 92.1 89.9 89.5

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

Applies to all isa's with a bonus at the end harry, they should write and tell you when the year ends. Halifax did with mine and no probs changing to the new 1.95% one.,.

.

HG+HC INDEX
this has been a consistent winner for me, though it can very scary .....
it's currently contemplating breaking upwards once more, and if it does so, it will be in to new all-time territory

Have decided that FTSE is going to rise over the long term and that Gold will continue to fall - so have placed a small sell on Gold for now and will monitor. Nothing on the FTSE yet - cos I got no money left !!

has it been that bad bhunt, hope not.,.

I got filled on FTSE short @6,684 earlier - currently -22!

Well, like most people I'm sure, my SIPP & ISA continue to reach new highs. That statement will now kill the market!

French Prelim GDP q/q -0.2% -0.1% -0.2%

German Prelim GDP q/q 0.1% 0.3% -0.7%

French CPI m/m -0.1% 0.1% 0.8%

Skinny, both CGL & AML have pinged up on my research as high yielders and steady growth. Both are in a pretty dull sector of Insurance underwriting & reinsurance, but maybe one for your ISA or SIPP.

Thanks Harry - they both have anything but dull charts.

Italian Prelim GDP q/q -0.5% -0.4% -0.9%

GBP Claimant Count Change -7.3K -3.1K -7.0K

GBP Average Earnings Index 3m/y 0.4% 0.7% 0.8%

GBP Unemployment Rate 7.8% 7.9% 7.9%

Hi Bealerboy - no just that I have topped up on Amer so only had limited funds available to invest in either gold or FTSE - so I chose to short Gold - a good decision so far. Plan is to leave it there for longer term

CHF ZEW Economic Expectations 2.2 20.0

EUR Flash GDP q/q -0.2% -0.1% -0.6%

Merve the swerve on shortly.

Bank of England sees brighter growth outlook, lower inflation

LONDON | Wed May 15, 2013 10:43am BST
(Reuters) - The Bank of England bucked the trend of its recent forecasts on Wednesday by modestly upgrading its growth outlook and pencilling in a faster fall in inflation.

In its quarterly economic update, the central bank gave no sign that it was on the verge doing more stimulus, describing policy as "highly stimulatory", but noted that risks to recovery remained to the downside.

"The economy is likely to see a modest and sustained recovery over the next three years," the central bank said, though it added that the recovery would "remain weak by historical standards".