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

Shortie, if you are interested :- Ex-divs to take 11.6 points off FTSE 100 on Nov. 13

Cheers Skinny, I was wondering...

Well thats me short divi payment made and a little extra..

likely to be a shaky day today following a bad night in f/e

.

I like shaky, could well see the FTSE bullish sentiment reverse by close of play. If we close well below 6680.

6643 was last weeks low so first support should be around here.

i'm out for several hours quite soon, but not really in the mood for trying to make a quick turn .... may trim - aka bank profit - on some of dow long position, but nothing dramatic as i think any reversal will be just a bit of needed consolidation and thus short-lived

Taken a Cable long this morning after the figures.

U.K. stocks traded sharply lower on Wednesday after a drop in the country's unemployment rate spurred fears the Bank of England could hike rates sooner than expected. The data came ahead of the November Inflation Report from the central bank, with investors looking for any changes to the economic forecast after a recent string of upbeat data. The FTSE 100 index dropped 0.9% to 6,666.02, on track for the lowest close in three weeks. The benchmark extended losses after the Office for National Statistics said the U.K. joblessness rate fell to 7.6% between July and September, down from 7.7% in August. Analyst estimates were split, as some had expected the jobless level to remain at 7.7% in September, while other predicted a drop to 7.6%. U.K. unemployment has been in the spotlight lately after the BOE in its August Inflation Report laid out its forward-guidance framework and vowed to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5%, at least until the joblessness rate falls to the 7% threshold. At the time, the central bank predicted unemployment would remain above the threshold until 2016, but with recent upbeat data, markets have started to price in a rate hike earlier than that. Some analysts also speculate the central bank will use the November Inflation Report, out at 10:30 a.m. in London, to adjust the forecast.

Out +72

What on a Cable long position?? Did you mean short in post 13436?

Long 1.5928, out 1.60

Well done Seymour, I'm going mad today, read Cable, wrote Cable, but thought FTSE100 for some bizarre reason.

LOL Shortie, easily done!

I've finally found a way of posting my new charts! Very long winded though so won't doing this very often.

A bit of a cockup today - I inadvertently closed an overnight short @6,671 +51 this morning when I went out but have just closed a long for +31.

Now head scratching but want to be short.

Your not alone, I hedged some of my short play at an all time high!! I'll hold the position but right now the unrealised loss eats right into my shorting profits..

Be back to 6680 tomorrow I think to maintain bullish sentiment. I'm going to wait..