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

Wall St, from 15th Nov the old bullish range broke, tested higher and then dropped back into the old range before 18th December when it goes again and really breaks out a high of something like 16599. If the new trend holds and I have my doubts as the gradient looks too steep for a start we'll see this high broken. However the top of the old existing trend currently around 16000 is where support lies (I don't think 16400 has been fully tested) and thats a massive potential shift south in the ever expanding support resistance lines.

When you consider that Wall St opened 2013 trading at around 13500 and ended 3000 pts higher at 16500 thats a rise of some 22%, no wonder some believe the market is clearly in a bubble.

Don't forget to watch out for the IMF at 2:30pm, guys.

why does the IMF have any credibility left?

Don't know. Don't care. But it's an event risk which is likely to dominate today's US session and it's been omitted from the £am calendar.

Even auntie has it :- IMF expected to raise UK growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to raise its growth forecast for the UK economy later on Tuesday.

Reports suggest it now expects the economy to grow 2.4% this year - faster than any other major European economy - against its previous forecast of 1.9%.

This would bring its forecast in line with that of the UK's Office for Budget Responsibility.

The IMF is also expected to raise its global growth outlook slightly to 3.7%.

The group's managing director, Christine Lagarde, said earlier this month that the IMF would be upgrading its growth forecasts.

You placed another short on the FTSE yet Skinny? I seam to remember you were holding out for the 6860's...

Not yet - target slightly higher now.

Last year's intraday high @6875.62

IMF Hikes UK 2014 Growth Outlook to 2.4% from Previous 1.8% Forecast
IMF: As US Fed Exits Easy Money Policies, Expect 'Complex' Global Capital Flows
IMF Hikes US 2014 Growth Forecast to 2.8% From Previous 2.6% Outlook
IMF Ups 2014 Japan Growth Outlook to 1.7% from Previous 1.3% Forecast
IMF: Euro Zone Easy Money Policy Vital to Avoid Deflation Risk in Weaker Economies
IMF: China Must Contain Building Financial Risks Without Excessively Slowing Growth

IMF Raises 2014 Global Growth Forecast to 3.7% From Previous 3.6% Outlook

IMF raises UK economic growth forecast

IMF as forecast, no surprises

Missed the DOW..!!

Small long DOW @16,413.9!!

Brave call, best of luck with that one..

Yes - not looking too clever!

Got my fingers crossed for you. I've been struggeling to find support numbers to go long off at these hights. Carrying a few FTSE shorts also, so not that comfortable adding to indicies risk at the moment. This year the market just seams to want to go higher.

Looks like the DOW might be about to test that range I was talking about earlier. Its outside the current lower trendline.. (see last charts I posted today)

16343 now I'm debating a long (looking at 15min charts)...

Looks a bit like the 5 minute when I went long :-)