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

confess i've made a complete cock-up of this month, starting when i lost my nerve on the short positions i had very early on

I don't think you are alone cynic!

Small DOW @15,622!

I started the Year shorting Next.... Couldn't have made a worse call there..

On the bright side though we do have 11 more months this year to thunder..

There's also a rumour that it might stop raining sometime this year!

That'l never happen.

6431 closed... An to think I was going to give up this game to sell wellies..

You too! :-)

Closed DOW +30.

Nice, well done Skinny

Thanks Shortie - roll on 2:45!

Whats happening at 2:45?

Chicago PMI 59.6 59.8 59.1

US Chicago Purch Mgmt Adj Jan Index 59.6 Vs Dec 59.1

USD Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment 81.2 81.1 80.4

USD Revised UoM Inflation Expectations 3.1% 3.0%

Closaed FTSE @6,505.8 +69

Long @6,496.9

Closed flat - that's me done.

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