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

November Traders' online magazine here.

Yes but Cynic have you forgotten you said at end of last week you had taken money off the table.

Heres how I see it.........



and

when i wrote that, whenever it was, it was most certainly true (i've looked back to 11/10 and see nothing) ..... anyway, too long ago now :-) but i'm pretty sure i was relatively heavily exposed on both ftse and dow and also, at that time, on NMX 3720 all of which i cut back - and perhaps some other bits too

since then, i have certainly bought into a few stocks like PAG, VOD (not very bright), FOXT and SGP (of course)

have checked my account and see i sold quite a lot of stuff on 3rd and 7th, but very little after that

I've no exposure to Wall St. On the FTSE however I still believe the market has become overpriced, saying that the market remains bullish. For how long is another question, funding for the US government would only extend to mid-January and the debt ceiling increase until mid-February there is a risk the same drama will be playing out once again a few months from now. How long will the BoE hold interest rates is another question, I doubt they'll go any lower so up is the only way. When the interest rate increases then I believe there will be a shift of money exiting equities and going back into debt.

Short well said the only problem is timing we are coming up to year end when the books need to be massaged, unlikely interest rates would rise until spring so what do we do in the meantime.... go with the flow.

Eyes down @6 tonight!

TD's Richard Gilhooly points out that one leg of the Treasurys market is doing more than pricing in delayed QE tapering -- it's hinting that perhaps more stimulus is coming. Yield gap between 10- and 30-year Treasurys has topped its 200-day moving average for the first time since May 22, he says, coincidentally the day a set of FOMC minutes sparked all the taper talk. And with the gap even wider today at 113 bps, it has more than reversed this summer's tapering expectations. "The curve move in recent days is now signalling something different," he says. It "resembles more a ramping up of expectations more akin to the August-November 2010 phase ahead of QE2."

if expectations are being or have been ramped, then a tumble on the news is even more likely .... perhaps buy on the news for a change; i'll try to watch but i'll be in a car en route for london at the critical time (dow currently down 32)

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I felt a bump in the Force. :)

Nearlly all sectors on FTSE down but MINING on verge of a breakout??????????????

Gone long with a very tight stop.

miners have been in the doldrums for far too long, but with world economies improving nicely, the demand for commodities will inevitably rise

that why i bought into RIO about 10 days ago

I'm still unconvinced that world economies are improving. World governments might be massaging the figures with austerity, super low interest rates and increased money supply but this doesn't constitute an improving economy.

be as unconvinced as you like, but here at the sharp end (moving chemicals and gases) the signs are loud and clear

Dont forget shortie the market factors in 6 to 9 months down the road.

from our perspective, i just look at the volume of biz we are doing ...... if companies are shipping chemicals, then the clear implication is that stocks are now depleted

Sounds like a snippet from the Syria thread!

The problem when considering growth is that you also need to take into consideration debt. Both public and private debt levels remain unsustainable so where does that leave growth. I'd agree that commodities should improve as they are unimpaired as Jim Rogers has preached for the last decade. This commodities rally though doesn't necessarily mean that world economies will also improve, it does however mean that inflation will outpace growth as something we're already seeing.