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

Short @6,424 - just a breather?

Back to plan A :-)

House Republicans to Unveil 6-Week Borrowing-Limit Increase -- Sources

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, has outlined a plan to fellow conservative Republicans to raise the debt limit for four to six weeks, as part of broader deficit-reduction talks, The Wall Street Journal reported. President Barack Obama will meet House Republicans later Thursday, after meeting with House Democrats on Wednesday, in an attempt to break an impasse over government funding and raising the nation's borrowing limit. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.707% from 2.652% late Wednesday. Yields move inversely to bond prices. Front-month October gold futures fell 0.6% to $1298.70 an ounce. Chris Bertelsen, chief investment officer at Global Financial Private Capital, which manages $2.3 billion, said he tends to be skeptical until he sees an actual agreement, but he is happy to see signs of a thaw in Washington as an agreement will allow the market to get back to business as usual. "We're getting signs of a thaw. It does make us feel better," Mr. Bertelsen said. "Now we can look to see how earnings behave." Initial claims for jobless benefits in the latest week shot up by 66,000 to 374,000, the most seen since March and sell above expectations of 312,000. Most of the rise reflected continued reporting problems in California. Jobless claims can be reported during the partial government shutdown, which has entered its 10th session, as the data is mostly compiled by the states. Earlier, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew reiterated in his testimony to the Senate Finance Committee that the deadline to raise the debt ceiling was Oct. 17, and warned of dire consequences if the nation's borrowing limit wasn't raised in time.

I'm Staying short...

6435.5 added to short position

That's funny - I've just closed my latest long @6,437!

6435.5 closed at 6427

Well done Shortie - I'm out atm.

no sign of the fat lady yet!!

Just in from twitter......

zerohedge‏@zerohedge15m
OBAMA, SENATE REPUBLICANS TO MEET ON FRIDAY AT 11:15 A.M. ET; MCCONNELL SAYS "GOOD START" BUT ONLY IF OBAMA NEGOTIATES

Here's a link - Republicans, Obama to meet on fiscal issues Friday

reuters - U.S. Politics Live

Be glad when they have settled it and I can start buying stocks again but some on Yank sites say it may be just put back 4 weeks.

Very boring being out of market and fratching on talk to yourself thread.

BUT it saved me loads of money in 1992 1997 2000 and 2008 when we had similar attacks on our capital.

Cheers for the link skinny, cant help think though that theirs always at least one sucker rally before the main event.

Hope Im wrong.

Latest..........from twitter.....

Mike van Dulken‏@Accendo_Mike8m

So debt ceiling extension proposal would be to 22 Nov. Can we assume sorted before Thanksgiving (28 Nov)? Or will Thanksgiving be cancelled?

US Republicans in debt-ceiling offer

US Republicans have offered President Barack Obama a short-term debt limit increase to stave off default.

House Speaker John Boehner said they would do so in exchange for wider negotiations with the White House to end a government shutdown.

Can being kicked further down the road. last thing markets want.

The markets don't seem to be such a big deal of this as you are gf.