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

John,

With chunnel recently hitting 8 month lows, it's my opinion that cable has got to be the way to go for dollar shorts and fiber the preferred vehicle of dollar longs.

UK Budget Deficit Narrows Slightly

By Ainsley Thomson and Nicholas Winnning LONDON--The U.K. borrowed slightly less than expected in August as government departments reined in spending, but the official data showed little evidence of the country's recent pick-up in economic activity is translating into a rise in tax revenues. The Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing, the government's preferred measure of the budget deficit, was 13.2 billion pounds ($21.19 billion) in August, compared with GBP14.4 billion borrowed in the same month last year. Economists had forecast borrowing of GBP13.5 billion. In recent months, economic data has indicated a recovery is beginning to take hold in the U.K. As the economy strengthens it should lead to an improvement in the public finances as tax revenues from companies, sales and employment boost government coffers, while the amount the government has to pay in welfare payments, such as unemployment benefits, declines. An ONS statistician Friday said there is little evidence to-date of a rise in taxes from increased activity. However, he said stamp duty receipts--a levy on purchases of residential property--have strengthened between April and August, reflecting an increase in house sales. The detail of Friday's data show government tax receipts increased 1.4% to GBP41.2 billion in August, while government spending fell 2.2% to GBP51.3 billion.

Bit of a non event - spiked to @6,636.8

Yep agree with that Hil especially as the next euro crisis may be imminent, although the majority of my current trades are long AUD and short CAD.

Thanks for your post 13003 Hilary. I think I understood most of it! Much to learn!

Speaks @12:30.

6604 ftse short closed

arguably a brave call, but going long dow (currently down 140) shortly before the close looks tempting

Fiscal Cliff, emergency money runs out end of Oct begining of Nov cafeful on the DOW.

No doubt the can will be kicked further up the road as congress are unable to make a decision. Either way once news gets going we'll no doubt see a pull back on the DOW once again.

http://theinformact.org/ worth a skim over if you get time.

Apple really are suffering a PR disaster of late.

Apple Touch ID fingerprint tech 'broken', hackers say

Hackers claim to have broken Apple's iPhone 5S Touch ID fingerprint recognition system just a day after the phone was launched.

Germany's Chaos Computer Club claims it "successfully bypassed the biometric security of Apple's Touch ID using easy everyday means".

By photographing a fingerprint left on a glass surface and creating a fake finger they were able to unlock the phone, the hackers claim.

Even worse than this Skinny is the ios7 update. I don't know 1 person thats happy with it and most of my friends have put off the update all together. Worth keeping an eye on Apple as it looks set to test support.

That looks like it has sub 44000 written all over it.

Nice bearish engulfing candle to boot!

Now have a look at the hourly

I've also posted this elsewhere.

By Nathalie Tadena Apple Inc. (AAPL) sold a record nine million of its latest iPhones in their first three days in stores, selling out of the initial supplies of the more expensive model. The company also said more than 200 million iOS devices are now running on its new iOS7 system, the fastest software upgrade in history. iOS7 is the first major design overhaul of the mobile operating system Apple first introduced in 2007 that gave rise to the booming apps economy. Apple shares jumped 3.6% to $484.20 in premarket trading. Through Friday's close, the stock is up 13% over the past three months. "The demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and while we've sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5s, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly," said Chief Executive Tim Cook. The company didn't break out the sales by model. Apple two weeks ago unveiled two new iPhone models but didn't stray far from its traditional form factors and pricing. The new flagship iPhone 5S includes a faster processor, a better camera and a new fingerprint scanner. A second, less expensive model called the iPhone 5C repackages much of the technology from last year's device in a new colorful plastic case. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that demand for the gold 5S was so strong in China and Hong Kong that Apple already has asked its suppliers to increase production of that model, citing people familiar with the matter. As the world-wide market for smartphones has increased, Apple has lost market share, particularly outside the U.S. and among first-time smartphone buyers. On the low end, competitors have been able to come in far below Apple's prices. On the high end, rival Samsung Electronics Co. has attracted customers with varied screen sizes and increasingly more impressive features, such as a pen to draw notes, and more advanced camera systems.

except AAPL is +$22.00 today
meanwhile in uk, everything looking very soggy ..... even ASC has dumped nearly £3.00, though XEL has pretences of moving ahead (+4 today)

Looking 'gappy'.