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

What does history shows about China meeting or failing to meet its targets?
Any statistics?

they just let a few million starve and send 10,000 to the farm collectives in outer mongolia - pour encourager les autres

FTSE testing the 50 day again.... Will sentiment now change?

6666.8 gone long

I've been long for what seems like hours but its been a slow hour!

Position closed +5.. Yeah I though the bounce would have been quicker.

Shortie - have a look at DLG, its ex tomorrow with 12.4p of dividend.

Direct Line @ 266 a share its a 4.6% yield covered 1.5 times and ISA allowed... Looks nice, whats the catch?

There's a special dividend of 4.0p and the final dividend of 8.4p.

From the results


"5.0% increase in final dividend per share to 8.4 pence per share and second special interim dividend of 4.0 pence per share taking total dividends for 2013 to 20.6 pence per share"

I only noticed it as a hedge if I were to be short the FTSE tonight.

Mmm, I wouldn't want to hold the FTSE short tonight at these levels as the 50DMA has provided support for the bulls several times now..

I'm still long atm - nothing much economics wise out of the US today though - Job opening figures apart.

I'm waiting for all the 6's again...!!

Its a bit like this atm :-

EUR/GBP I'm also short, more exciting than the FTSE

BoE's Carney says UK economy's spare capacity may be more than 1.5 percent

The more I hear Carney speak the more I think he's a raging idiot..

Skinny, have a look at RM plc for me and give your views, div tomorrow 2.46p plus I think 13.54 on the 20th making 16p total 11% yield. have i got that right i don't think it's 2.46 + 16p cheers bb.

Balerboy, I think Harry is interested in RM.

The dividend is 2.46p tomorrow and 16.00p from here - results

"The Board is recommending a final dividend of 2.46 pence per share which would, in total, constitute an increase of 10% over the prior year. In addition, recognising that the Group's cash resources are greater than those required to meet the prudent requirements of the business, the Board is proposing to pay a special dividend of 16.00 pence per share (£15 million) at the same time as the final dividend."