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

Still running my long and just got filled in the auction @6,455 - now closed +13.

Has anyone else using IG noticed that the tear off price tickets keep stop updating?

Sorry Skinny but I use IG but don't tear off any tickets at the moment.
Just using it to cover my watchlist.
TT

Thanks TT.

FX CHAT: FOMC Minutes to Show if Higher Rates Weigh on Outlook

The last set of minutes (for June FOMC meeting) showed the staff brightening its growth outlook as stocks and home prices rose, but also that these positive factors were partially offset by higher interest rates. In the month and a half between the June and July meetings, rates rose further. Karim Basta, chief investment strategist at fixed-income-focused hedge fund III Associates, wants to know to what degree those higher yields will dent the Fed's outlook. As of now, he sees the Fed reducing bond purchases by $10B-20B in September and stopping entirely by mid-2014. He says minutes may also clue to the breakdown of the reduction between Treasurys and MBS if it reveals extra concern about higher mortgage rates hurting housing demand.

The question as to the timing of pulling back on monetary accommodation and the reasoning for starting in September as opposed to later sits as a line item on the Federal Reserve's balance sheet: excess reserves. Excess reserves--deposits banks have lent to the Fed that they cannot or will not lend--is just over $2 trillion. That number is roughly 12% of the gross domestic product of the United States. Some 12% of monetary easing has not and will not at this point flow through to the economy. A continuation of easing will do nothing to add to domestic growth, but the good news is that it really wouldn't hurt either because reining in monetary accommodation should just soak up excess reserves on the Fed's balance sheet. There is no doubt there's psychological fear that tapering will raise interest rates, slow mortgage applications, reduce housing demand and reduce the wealth effect if equity prices fall in response to the Fed's action. But all these effects can be explained away if Chairman Bernanke can communicate his intentions clearly. Those intentions are that while indeed the Fed is pulling back on easing, it is still highly accommodative. The intention is for short-term interest rates to stay low for some time and the yield curve will normalize. In the eyes of the Fed, the program can still hopefully generate modest inflationary expectations to induce both domestic and capex spending. That result will lift domestic growth as loan demand increases, soaking up even more excess reserves and further reducing the Fed's balance sheet. For investors, that makes for a tricky day. I expect while all this is true, it is too much for the market to digest in a release of minutes. The FOMC will wait for final confirmation with next week's second reading of 2Q GDP, and it will be in the September meeting that the Fed will give the forward tapering guidance. To expect the FOMC to lead with its chin in August is just a tad premature. If I am right, the dollar will lose ground, equities and fixed income will rally. But none of that will last. It will be reversed hard after the September meeting during the press conference that follows, where Bernanke will no doubt say something memorable--something along the lines of "read my lips", there will be no more money.

i don't know who wrote that, but given that economies across the world are patently recovering, to call a sharp bear market as seems to be implied, sounds very brave to me

cynic the usual economist blah, at the end of the day perhaps we may look back and realise this was all about traders trying to create volatility to make a quick buck, life goes on if you are a serious investor.

.

Whats wrong with making a quick buck from volatility??

14917 gone long Wall St

Absolutely nothing! :-)

Two charts I quite like
EUR/GBP I think will test lower in the coming weeks, German elections will help fuel volatility.


Wall St has almost left it DMA's behind, a break or retracemant I think has got to now be on the cards.

shortie - what's wrong with making a quick buck out of volativity? Agree with skinny absolutely nothing. Go for it!

CC, Shortie was just asking the same Q. of Halifax.. have a gander back a few posts and all is revealed -):

U.S. stock futures moved higher early Thursday, as upbeat Chinese and euro-zone data soothed some of the sting from minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which indicated the central bank is on track to pare its bond purchases by the end of the year. Investors will get fresh data via weekly jobless claims numbers and leading indicators later in the day. Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) posted a second-quarter loss of $194 million Thursday. More retailers will report, with Dollar Tree Inc. (DG) among those expected ahead of the bell. Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) could be in focus, after the PC maker said it swung to a fiscal third-quarter profit late Wednesday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46 points, or 0.3%, to 14893, while those for the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.5 points, or 0.5%, to 1645. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index added 20.50 points, or 0.7%, to 3083. On the data front, initial weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect claims to bump back up to 330,000 from 320,000 in the prior week. At 9 a.m. Eastern, two reports are expected to show U.S. manufacturing expanded in August and home prices rose in June -- via the Markit 'flash" PMI manufacturing index and the FHFA home price index. The leading economic index is due at 10 a.m., and economists expect indicators will rise 0.5% in July after no gain in June. Finally at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher will speak at the U.S. manufacturing summit. U.S. stocks finished sharply lower Wednesday after the minutes of the July Federal Open Market Committee Meeting confirmed views that the Fed will begin tapering its $85-billion-dollar-a-month bond purchases by the end of the year, even though no time frame was given. The Dow industrials stretched losses to a sixth session Wednesday, finishing below 15,000 for the first time since July 3. It ended at 14897.55, down 105.44 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 index lost 9.55 points, or 0.6%, to 1642.80. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields marked fresh two-year highs on Thursday, moving above 2.9% in Asia trading, and most recently trading at 2.913%, according to FactSet Research. Helping soothe some Fed-related unease, China's manufacturing data saw a surprise rebound in August, according to a preliminary reading of HSBC's Purchasing Managers' index. The PMI rebounded to a four-month high of 50.1, which brings it close to China's official data, which came in at 50.3 in July. In Germany, the yield on the German bund jumped to a 17-month high after data showed business activity in the euro zone expanded at the fastest pace in over two years in August. Separately, Germany's purchasing managers index rose to a 7-month high in August, data from Markit showed. Europe stocks rallied on the data, and Asia stocks also came off lows, but emerging markets were again under pressure with Philippine stocks plunging after severe floods and a public holiday kept the index closed. The Indian rupee fell to a fresh record low against the dollar, which was largely holding steady against major rivals. In commodity markets, gold prices slipped and oil prices were higher.

Watt St closed 14934 +17 pts

10min Wall St, 14972 is the first test, maybe not today though.

There are many undervalued stocks in the US which have to rise soon, like AMD, Cisco, etc,
I think we are very close or at the start of a bull run till Christmas.

I'm not sure the market would agree with you Ahoj on Cisco... Think I'll add this to my short watchlist looking at the below..