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

i'll have a look to see what i have in the fridge, but i confess to being spoiled in that quarter, as i've bought wines for a great many years ..... quite possibly something from northern rhone (condrieu), which is very different from the usual run of the mill

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meanwhile, a long dow is getting ever more tempting with it now down to 15780 (-145 on the day)

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done at 15781, so now have to work out whether or not to set a limit as i can't monitor continuously

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have set limit at 15825 but that might be a bit conservative - i hope!

cynic had a couple of dover soles yesterday for lunch "washed down" with a bottle of St Aubin Premier Cru, very nice village almost as good as Puligny.

pushing that a bit, but yes, st aubin can be very nice

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lucky bunny here ..... limit up and price was struck higher still, so +53 :-)

market not very happy thereafter as far as i can see, or at least not for now

Fed's stimulus cut hits global stocks; gold, bonds rise

NEW YORK Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:19pm GMT

(Reuters) - Global equity markets fell on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve further trimmed its stimulus while emerging market currencies slumped after aggressive interest rates hikes by Turkey and South Africa failed to bolster their markets.

Gold and U.S. Treasuries prices rose as investors sought safety while stocks fell on renewed selling that began last week as investors came to grips with a revamped investment landscape sparked by the scaling back of the Fed's quantitative easing.

The Fed announced a further $10 billion (6 billion pounds) reduction in its monthly bond buying as it stuck to plans to wind down its extraordinary stimulus despite the recent turmoil across many emerging markets.

The Fed has pumped more than $3 trillion into the U.S. economy since the financial crisis rocked global markets in 2008, and some of that money went into higher-yielding emerging market assets, a reason for the recent turmoil.

Cautionary note from DP of IC:
"The Federal Reserve’s tapering of Quantitative Easing is ultimately bad news for stocks. The bull market since March 2009 has been built on cheap money and would not have lasted nearly as long nor travelled so far but for this artificial stimulus. We are therefore at a risky time, with stocks still flying high and richly valued, but with the rocket-fuel being gradually siphoned out of the tank.

That said, the selling in recent days is most likely just a correction within a bull market, rather than the start of something more sinister. If and when it deteriorates further, I would have to change my mind. In the meantime, I am happy to seek small short positions on an intraday view. The bull market in equities is probably not over, although we are plainly in its later stages."

just to support what i have been saying for quite some time about world economies picking up .......

Stolt Nielsen notes a gradual recovery in the chemical tanker business, with Stolt Tankers posting an operating profit of $15.8m in the fourth quarter as against $9.0m in the previous period, as market conditions firmed for the third consecutive quarter

is there anything obvious that has spooked the markets this morning - even dow futures?
perhaps it's just "end of month" syndrome

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if without cause, am quite tempted to have a small dow long dabble

long @ 6,452 - based on madness!

Looks more long than short at the moment Skinny...Best of luck with that play.

skinny is long,,,,.. those inoculations are affecting your eye sight.,.

Cheers BB, I read again and yes he's long... 6490 first upside target I make it

LOL - and he was out some time ago @6,469.

Could 3D printing provide new solutions for disabled people?

Long again @6,439.8!

confess i can see no sensible reason for this severe tumble on both sides of the atlatic, other than it's what the markets seem to want to do - and a lot of forced selling too i'ld wager

When you went long skinny I went short on UKX and was worried, out at 6436.3 + 14.2 scalping is a lot easier than trying to call top or bottom and exhausting. Back at 2.30.

6431 long

Dollar Index on a mission today.

what a vile day!
whatever the pre-opening asst'd numbers were in usa, they don't seem to have inspired much, to say the least

USD/JPY short looks feasible right now to move back below 100

I think the Euro CPI figures started the rot this morning - other issues apart!