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

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".

CAD Manufacturing Sales m/m -0.3% 0.6% 2.8%

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

USD Core PPI m/m 0.1% 0.1% 0.2%

USD Empire State Manufacturing Index -1.4 3.6 3.1

USD TIC Long-Term Purchases -13.5B 33.8B -13.3B

USD Capacity Utilization Rate 77.8% 78.4% 78.5%

USD Industrial Production m/m -0.5% -0.1% 0.4%

So low rate is justified, money supply will continue.

6,700 today.

J P Morgan 'Whale Trades'. What a fascinating story on TV this evening. Even the 'so called experts' got it so badly wrong, but it seems it's all about your perception of risk. I suppose it all depends on how much you can afford to lose and to whom you are answerable!

My gold doing well so far - wish I had FTSE as well

Harry, I caught some of the programme - quite amazing how the huge numbers were bandied about.

Italian Trade Balance 3.24B 1.72B 1.09B

CAD Foreign Securities Purchases 1.19B 5.36B -6.28B

USD Building Permits 1.02M 0.94M 0.89M

USD Core CPI m/m 0.1% 0.2% 0.1%

USD Unemployment Claims 360K 332K 328K

USD CPI m/m -0.4% -0.3% -0.2%

USD Housing Starts 0.85M 0.98M 1.02M

Philly Fed Manufacturing Index -5.2 2.5 1.3

CSCO on a run :-

Wall Street edges up, led by tech after Cisco's results

NEW YORK | Thu May 16, 2013 12:22pm EDT
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced modestly on Thursday as Cisco led gains in blue chips and technology stocks following strong earnings, offsetting concerns about softer-than-expected data on the manufacturing sector and labor market.

Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) shares surged 12.5 percent to $23.86, lifting the Dow and the Nasdaq after the network equipment maker posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and said current-quarter revenue could increase.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O), up 1.9 percent at $437.19, and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), up 1.6 percent at $21.31, also ranked among the day's big tech gainers, along with International Business Machines (IBM.N), up 1.3 percent at $205.87.

Wall Street started off Thursday's session slightly weaker after data showed the biggest jump in weekly initial jobless claims since November.

Other data showed housing starts slid in April, falling sharply below analysts' expectations, while business activity in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region contracted in May, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

But market participants were more optimistic about the sustainability of the rally that has driven the S&P 500 up more than 16 percent for the year.

"The very latest evidence on a rise in initial claims is unlikely to be seen as a sign of changing seas for the labor market in the long run, and at the end of the day, is a single data point," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI edged up 12.16 points, or 0.08 percent, to 15,287.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX inched up just 0.10 of a point, or 0.01 percent, to 1,658.88. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC rose 9.35 points, or 0.27 percent, to 3,480.96.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) fell 2.2 percent to $78.14 and weighed on the Dow after the world's largest retailer posted a quarterly profit that missed Wall Street's expectations, with sales down 1.4 percent at U.S. stores open at least a year.

Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) gained 5.8 percent to $89.75 after the electric carmaker said it aims to raise $830 million through a stock-and-debt offering that will be used to repay its U.S. Department of Energy loans with interest. The stock has surged more than 50 percent since the company reported earnings last week.

Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKb.N) fell 0.7 percent to $111.98 after Standard & Poor's downgraded the company's counterparty rating to "AA" from "AA+" with a negative outlook, citing the company's reliance on its insurance operations for dividend income.

In other data, the U.S. Consumer Price Index posted the biggest decline since December 2008, indicating inflation pressure remains tame and giving the U.S. Federal Reserve latitude to maintain its current monetary policy.

The end of a 10 day run today.