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

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

dow's all over the shop, so thank goodness i was flying today, as for sure would have made a total mess otherwise ..... at least i banked a modest ftse profit this morning

I'm staying off the DOW until it breaks short term support, might then have a dabble as you do..

doesn't seem to be a lot of support at the moment!
unfortunately, my charting guru has swapped ships, but i guess somewhere around 16200 is some sort of support insofar as that was the resistance if i remember correctly

I feel your pain, these guru types are not to be trusted!!

I'm no guru but I put it at 16250, so agree with your assessment. Maybe Skinny will have a stab at it also, he's on the money right now I believe.

he's damn good actually, but lost my nerve when dow shot through the stop level

DOW 's tanked huge tonight .

Just back and see I've been filled long @6691.7 - not looking too smart!

.

Today looks like a dull day on the stocks, will be going out me thinks.,.

Yep, might be forced to do some gardening! :o(

Amazing (not really) but I'd like to have one up day as good as these down days are bad!

Just added to my long @6580.5!!