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

Positive news from the US today: JP Morgan have increased their offer for Bear Stearns to $10, and US existing home sales in February were up 2.9% which is more than was expected.

All good news for the Dow, and the FTSE has also broken above 5600. Having only recently started trading the indeces, I've taken out mini contracts on both.

rf ---- I wouldn't be surprised to see the $ rebound from here in the near term especially against the Yen and Euro, and to a lesser degree against the . Not that I know much about currencies, just my view that's all.
2517

if Dow can hold above 12500 (currently 12575) at the close, then the next test is around 12800

Evening Richard

hi peter .... "my man" in bahrain tells me your weather is distinctly wamer than ours!

unfortunately got back this morning, back in the cold :( Was a nice 28-30 degrees in Dubai with low humidity most of the time.

Just been looking at the DOW, interested to note that the chart lines I drew seven weeks ago are still holding true. Need a better chart package thought than the one I'm using.

my lines have res at 12860 and support at 12400 or thereabouts, they need some refining though.

Cant see any rally having serious legs, i also believe my portfolio should be weighted towards the short side, but somehow cant bring myself to do it...

There might be some blue tomorrow but like BigTed says : for how long...everybody is so negative now including myself !

rf: there should be a good opportunity to make money on the FTSE today at least - be happy!

Ooohhh !, I can feel those positive vibes this morning.....luuuvvvveeelly blue !, but for how long ?

certainly BARC proved very profitable for me ..... thank you warren, though i am sure he will not be reading this .... have taken my profit

FTSE taking a dive, probably because of news just out from the US:

"A widely-watched index of U.S. home prices fell 11.4 percent in January, its steepest drop since data for the indicator was first collected in 1987." - Not very encouraging!

while Dow is def jittery, it has really not fallen far and FTSE remains quite stable .... have closed all index positions with an overall small profit and shall now watch ......

would like to see FTSE stay above 5640 or 5595 at worst, and Dow to recover above 12500/12525

i am very pleassed to see that my fear that FTSE in particular would suffer badly on the back of the XTA/Vale talks collapsing have so far proved unfounded.

i wonder if Dow will remain similarly solid, with that holding above 12400 or better still, 12450

and here is a little article to cheer us all - I don't think

Wall Streets ship of fools
Financial stocks took a beating Thursday after the latest round of downgrades and estimate cuts. Analyst Meredith Whitney at Oppenheimer said she expects Citi (C), Merrill Lynch (MER) and UBS (UBS) to post aggregate first-quarter losses of $30 billion next month. As many expected the fourth quarter to be the kitchen sink for the industry, she writes, we believe first quarter results, to be reported in two weeks time, will be a rude awakening.

But the rude awakening has already arrived for some observers. At Portfolio.com, Megan Barnett calls Wall Street research worthless, noting an overlooked disclosure line in a recent Whitney report: We have very little earnings visibility and very little confidence in our estimates. Meanwhile, Michael Lewis suggests Wall Street analysts arent the only ones lacking an understanding of the securities business. There is, of course, a reason that the market doesnt understand Wall Street firms, he writes at Bloomberg. The people who run Wall Street firms, and who convey news of their inner workings to the outside world, dont understand them either. Comforting.

DOW currently perched on support at 12350 (from my chart), will short if it falls through, although a tad wary we might see another bounce aka earlier!

Anyone else short on the Ftse ?

No, but keep an eye on Wall St, if there's a bounce from here the FTSE may well follow.

Thats the problem with these indices - you daren't even go and get a cup of tea !!!!