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

NEW YORK--Stocks rallied as Senate leaders announced a long-awaited deal that avoids a potential U.S. debt default. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 195 points, or 1.3%, to 15363 in afternoon trading. The S&P 500 index gained 22 points, or 1.3%, to 1720. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 43 points, or 1.1%, to 3837. Stocks held gains after Senate leaders announced the deal, which would temporarily raise the nation's debt ceiling and fully reopen the government ahead of a key debt-limit deadline. The stock market has seen big swings in recent days as lawmakers wrangled over an agreement to assure the U.S. can meet its debt obligations and reopen the government. Wednesday's stock gains more than erased the Dow's 133-point decline on Tuesday, which came on reports that negotiations between congressional leaders had stalled. All 10 of the S&P 500's sectors pushed higher, driven by financial stocks. Bank of America gained 2.5% after reporting third-quarter earnings that rose above expectations, as net-interest income and investments improved and credit charge-offs eased. "It's a relief rally," said Ron Florance, deputy chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank, which oversees $170 billion. Mr. Florance said he expects stocks to continue to rise this week on the back of the deal. Longer term, though, he said that any compromise would be a short-term fix, and the likelihood for similar fiscal battles in the future means his firm will be "looking at higher growth rates outside of the U.S." to drive stock investments. Mr. Florance said he still expects U.S. stocks to march higher into next year, but will be looking for chances to sell U.S. stocks and buy foreign ones, particularly in Europe, he said. Brinkmanship in Washington prompted Fitch Ratings late Tuesday to put the U.S. sovereign credit rating under review for a downgrade, pointing to prolonged negotiations over the debt ceiling. Intel rose 1.1% after the semiconductor maker provided a downbeat sales outlook for the current quarter. Intel also said it was a quarter behind in its plan to start volume production of the latest technology chips, offsetting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, revenue and gross margin. Yahoo fell 1.3% after the Internet company reported third-quarter earnings that topped estimates, offsetting a current-quarter revenue outlook that was just shy of forecasts. A round of economic data showed U.S. home builders are feeling less confident about the sector's rebound amid the impasse in Washington. The October reading of the National Association of Home Builders's housing-market index came in at 55, two points lower than a downwardly revised 57 in September.

Surprise surprise eh -):

following the end of the folly, one might have expected the dow to jump then fall back, but the latter hasn't happened and dow is now very steady at about 15160 (+190)

with this steadiness in mind, i think it would be a brave call to short as assuredly the Asian markets will whizz, probably taking ftse with it on the morrow

Spot on Cyners.

Cynic has been calling this exactly right for some time now, in contrast to goldfinger who would have had everyone pressing the sell/panic button weeks ago.

Cynic, did you really think for one minute that you would get an honest answer to your 13280 post? :-)

Should be a good day tomorrow :-))

i was merely curious .... in fact, dow and thus stocks by definition, have scarcely moved since late this afternoon ..... and yes, i think tomorrow should at least start strongly

don't forget we have more of this same nonsense to go through in a few months time

Shortie - further to our exchange about out of hours spreads, the FTSE is currently being quoted by 2 sites @ 6,554.1 - 6,560.1 and 6,548.8- 6,553.8.

Guess which one I'm short overnight with?

having banked profits in 2 of my long dow positions yesterday at considerably higher than now, i may be tempted to buy them back

=============

bought back one at 15281, so we'll see what happens

Skinners,

Sorry, but when you trade overnight on the FTSE and use a broker who isn't a broker in the true sense of the word, but who is actually acting as a market maker and taking the other side of your trade, then you're effectively turning a three-player zero-sum game where one player always wins into a two-player zero-sum game where one player always wins. And guess which player the retail punter is.

If you want to trade overnight, why don't you trade the Yen crosses instead? At least there's some reasonable liquidity once the Far East opens and you can get in and out relatively easily with good spreads on good size. Especially if you go raw spread ECN instead of MM.

Hils - I was sorta being facetious :-)

Lately, I've been short the FTSE overnight most days to one extent or another.

I keep meaning to take the time to explore currencies etc - hmmm!

You know me, Skinners. I like to say things as I see them, and I've never understood why punters use spreadbet companies. :o)

But, in the absence of anything else of any substance to track, you'll probably find that most spreadbet companies make their overnight index markets by tracking the relevant Yen cross.

I will look into it - it's not like I have anything better to do with my time! :-)

Daily FTSE - Still shows scope to push up a little further, 3 short contracts held, will add a forth at above 6600.

30min FTSE

ye of nimble fingers could have done very well indeed trading dow today ..... i was not inclined to be glued, so missed out on the excitement, though whether or not i would have bought another long at about 15240 is a great unknown

Flashing Red! Europe bullishness triggers 'sell' signal
Published: Thursday, 17 Oct 2013 | 8:48 AM

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101120789

GF - typical!


Shortie - it looks like you may get your 6,600.

The 'FTSE100 tipped to open comfortably higher today' feeling didn't last long this morning! Not sure 'comfortably higher' was very accurate either!