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

US figures clearly not nearly as bad as feared as FTSE and Dow indications have rocketed ...... CNN does not have the news yet



but IG does!!

U.S. stock index futures turned higher on Friday after a government report showed consumer prices were unchanged in February, boosting chances for a big interest rate cut next week.
S&P 500 futures jumped 10.70 points, above fair value, a pricing evaluation that accounts for interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.
Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 67 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 18.00 points.

Should prolong weakness in the dollar, plenty of time yet before shorting gbpusd... as our own next rate cut could be a few months away...

Falling through the floor!

And back up again! More volatile than a tasmanian devil with a hangover

Stocks turn sharply lower
Markets tumble after initial gains as investors fret about Bear Stearns funding.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks turned sharply lower after Friday's open as investors worried about Bear Stearns' need for funding help from JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 2.3%. The Nasdaq composite index gained 2.4%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down more than 2%. Bear Stearns stocks lost more than 40%.

Funny, something screams at me to short the Dow on every sharp rise, as the bad news just doesn't stop coming... wish i had the courage of my convictions...

I think that we will all be paying : in small bottles of crude oil or miniature gold coins at the supermarkets soon !

The fact that Carysle group in Guernsey was wound up indicates to me that it will be followed by more that get their funding pulled from under them, and so spreads the contagion!

Bear Sterns bailed out... Exactly what I'm doing 11844 short positions on Wall St closed....

well done .... just about picked the very bottom (yet again) ..... excellent touch you have at the moment, which i confess i have lost

Glad to see the bounce, placed a sale at 11913 when it went back up then did another at 12001 praying for a fall, glad to say the two when closed cancelled each other out with a small loss.... Honestly I have to say this is pot luck Cynic rather than any charting or skill, you just don't know if it'll keep falling or rally. Usually I allow bets to roll into the next day but at the moment have been closing. Next week will most likely see you correct with your bets, judging from the boards it seams to be swinging 1 week on 1 week off, all we can do is ensure we win a little more than we lose.

It has been very crazy today and workes well with shorting from 12000 though not sure whether it is a good idea to do it in the last hour as that's when things usually go completely nuts!

markets are worse than the worst fairground ride at the moment

I notice that IG have opened their dow spread to 6 points so been trading on gft instead

I suppose that their is so much indecision and in my more paranoid moments am thinking that the big US players have formed a cartelle to trade in parallel to drive the market up and down for huge profits to make up for all they have lost through sub prime. I am very concerned about all the private equity deals and leveraged positions that look like they could get called in! I suppose there could easily be the huge rally before the fed's next cut.

i would doubt that Fed will allow BSC to collapse, and i hope that is not just wishful thinking ..... to allow a company with as high a profile as BSC to collapse would be potentially catastrophic ..... i suspect that a buyout of some description will be hatched with possibly/probably JPM and Fed lending a discreet helping hand in some way.

i guess another swingeing rate cut on Tuesday is a racing certainty, and one can only hope that the results of all this cheap money will filter through into the US economy within the next 4/6 months .... more important is a rebuilding of consumer confidence, and that is much more difficult

Anyone got any ideas for other plays? GBP/JPY looking a risky short on futures expecting this to climb in the weeks ahead. 210 being my shorting target. CNE looking high on speculation at just under 3000 the same as when FTSE 100 was at 6200 so expecting a fall here, high due to takeover rumours but if no news will become a risky equity to hold at current levels. SWISS all over the place, taken a loss on this and re-evaluating... Also does anyone here play dividends, in on ex-div date hold for record and then sell trying to either take a small equity profit or breakeven?

Also I have found that I can't chart the last couple of weeks, no trend or history like we've seen, unchartered water I think however the more experienced will disagree. News has also been very unpredictable, I figure the DOW will rise as the FTSE did following the BoE intervention in Northern Rock, very similar to the US's BearStearns and the FEDs + JP Morgans response. How high, maybe again the FTSE and our history has the answer in percentages, one for the weekend I think if I can get out of decorating...

Not very savvy re. currencies explosive but saw this today http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/03/14/cndollar114.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

exp* ..... think you are very brave indeed to short JPY vs ..... BoE will undoubtedly cut rates, and certainly one knowledgeable broker reckons 190 is the floor within the next 6/8/10 months.

overall, markets will be very volatile indeed for at least the next week or two, depending on how the mood of the moment (literally!) takes investors

Would magine USD to strengthen soon, almost oversold (although not without good reason), however research suggests it wont even take good news, just a stop to all the bad news for a rebound, for that reason im looking to short gbpusd verysoon...