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

mwaw mwaw.

FTSE / DOW

following that thumping rise in NY (hallelujah!) I would have thought it a good bet to racing certainty that ftse will open or quickly rise to more than the current cash price of 6660 (+32)

Not too soon I hope as I appear to be short @6663!

I closed my short pre-market @6654 as I was having PC problems.

Now watching.

6670 gone short

I've two FTSE short DFT positions 6585 and 6670 currently in play.

6638.3 closed my 6670 short +31.7

Nice one Shortie.

Oppps closed too soon... bah..

Annoyed, could have been in profit over both bets if I'f let it run for another 5 mins

31 points is nice shortie could have not closed and started going the other way
,i'm taking some small profits out of shares in this dodgy market and happy to do so .

Lets see if this new trend forms and is the one to retest the 6540's..

Thanks guys, not really traded much in the last couple of weeks so want to make some money today..

APF @midday.

US Unemployment claims @1:30.

In case you didn't know!

APF forecasted the same, US Unemployment forecasted slightly lower.. UK doing well off the back of bullish growth figures, they don't change the deficit though or the debt numbers...

April 10 (Reuters) - Gold rose nearly one percent on Thursday, reaching a 2-1/2 week high as the dollar dropped after minutes from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting suggested officials will be cautious on increasing interest rates soon. Minutes from the Fed's March 18-19 meeting released on Wednesday showed policymakers were unanimous in wanting to ditch the thresholds they had used to telegraph a policy tightening and did not reveal any discussion of keeping rates near zero for a considerable time. ID:nL2N0N11OL "Obviously the big driver has been the Fed minutes that was a lot more dovish than the actual statement or Q&A that Yellen had given," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said, referring to Fed chair Janet Yellen. "That weakened the dollar and gold has taken advantage but unless there fresh buying coming through it is difficult to see where further upside could come from." "Technically, a test of the upper level around the $1,325 is likely but... it is difficult to see sufficient appetite to take gold back to the $1,400," he added. Spot gold XAU= rose to its highest since March 24 at $1,323.50 an ounce. It was seen up 0.9 percent at $1,323.31 by 0954 GMT. Gold futures GCcv1 for June delivery gained 1.4 percent to a near-three week high of $1,324.10 an ounce. Gold prices had come under pressure, falling to a seven-week low of $1,277.90 on April 1, on signs that strong economic data in the United States could prompt further dollar strengthening and after comments from Yellen on March 19 that interest rates could rise in the first half of 2015. Low interest rates, which cut the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion above other assets, had been an important factor driving gold higher in recent years. The dollar hit three-week lows against a basket of currencies .DXY , dented by weaker U.S. 10-year Treasury yields. Returns from U.S. bonds are closely watched by the gold market, given that the metal pays no interest. Gold extended gains after European equities turned negative in response to disappointing industrial output figures from Italy and France. .EU The two assets usually keep an inverse relation as gold is seen as an alternative to risk. As a gauge of investor sentiment, SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, attracted fresh money earlier this year but has not seen any inflow since March 24. Prices in top buyer China slipped back to a discount of about $2 an ounce on London prices on Thursday from a premium in the previous session. Reflecting weak physical demand, gold stocks sitting in U.S. exchange warehouses are at a 10-month high. ID:nL2N0N1299 Among other precious metals, silver XAG= rose 2 percent to $20.22 an ounce, while platinum XPT= was up 0.8 percent at $1,44.75 an ounce and palladium XPD= gained 0.5 percent to $782.50 an ounce.

6654.3 gone short

6654.3 closed @ 6644 +10.3