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

5686 position closed

Spike to 6,777 on the FTSE.

margin call for cynic ? dead silence..consider a bit of collection from all here to support poor old man

Well I'm certainly prepared to step up to the plate... Is 5p any help -):

this is so great from you Stan, surely even well above anticipated..:))

your offer is most generous stan, but fortunately not remotely required

fwiw, i shall be looking to bank some further profits from asst'd long positions over the next couple of weeks, but with a view to re-buying following weakness, perhaps as soon as the second half of january

good spirit and propaganda should remain as top play

i expect the markets to remain difficult to read for 2014, with a fair amount of volatility
i'ld guess that QE will gather pace with the inherent threat of rising interest rates in its wake ......
both of these will make the markets jittery, though for no really good reason, not least because they will be indicators of strengthening world economies
that said, some of the eurozone countries will remain (very) weak with france proving its foolish election of a left-wing president with his lunatic high taxation regime to be a total disaster
germany may continue to get away with its smoke and mirrors

Volatility ,,now that's a word i like to hear ..

End of February or early March the US is expected to hit the debt ceiling again. The below are worth a read when you have a few minutes spare.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/budget/treasury-secretary-jack-lew-to-congress-we-ll-hit-the-debt-ceiling-by-early-march-20131219

http://www.marketminder.com/a/fisher-investments-13-risks-that-werent-in-2013/dfaae341-d652-4103-af6f-ef504ba01e98.aspx

.

got to say ftse santa's rally has been magnificient, couldn't ask for better year ending:).all good for all

No where near as good as the DOW's though!

I think asos £1 to £61 has got to be good, now wheres that hob nail boot for kicking arse's gone I need to remind myself not to sell tooooooo early. happy new year.,.

Charles Stanley traders Bulletin back after xmas break............

features on header of Chart Attack Thread.

http://www.charles-stanley.co.uk/traders-bulletin

Interesting chart in that link...

Balerboy agree, more like looking for gun..:) as far I remember you got out at some 400....see what your 6000 shares would be now...and next year..and next..:)

I think a lot did it ,i'm even worse ,was in asos early under a pound and out with what was a nice profit then . ;( ..

Skinny - this time it's different.

:-)

Certainly seems to be for the S&P!