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

question was effectively why the plunge in the constituent stocks!?
anyway, i think the argument remains the same

I think builders are generally out of favour atm due to worries about the proposed mortgage criteria and coinciding with a disparate grouping of shares all falling by more than the market?

RB., AGA, IGR, GWIN.

One for you Cynic
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/387d448c-c191-11e3-b95f-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz30CCzpKu6

personally, and as i have written before, i think this mortgage thing is a bit overblown
the additional precautions are actually little more than should be taken by any prudent lender ..... unquestionably HUGE numbers of new homes are still required

RB is by far the largest constituent of the index with a market cap or £35,713 million - second is PSN @£4.016 million.

Whats a prudent lender? One thats underwritten his loan book tightly??

Small Data: Check for fifties under the mattress

Also if you increase the supply of homes on the market then effectively as you've increased the potential for borrowing lending rates fall..... Agree there will always be demand for housing but supply also needs to be tightly managed.

certainly no lender likes "jingle mail" for very obvious reasons

currently, i assuredly see no signs of surplus stock, and as the economy continues to improve, so too will demand, whether for home-owner or buy-to-let

16435 closed @ 16423 +12

thanks for the above distraction :-)
i had a small dow short earlier which i banked for +32, and am now running at +35 on a subsequent :-)
only twiddly positions, but better than a kick in the bollocks, of which i have had too many of late

===========

closed at +26

I've just been covering Cable unrealised losses today with my plays, happy to take a few profits quickly. Mind you Wall St and the Yen have both been very kind.

LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - Sterling ended just a touch higher after hitting a 4-1/2 year high against the dollar on Monday, the prospect of another big buyout of a British firm not enough to drive it on towards stronger resistance around $1.70. Driven by an improving economy that has outpaced its peers in Europe, the pound GBP=D4 has gained more than 10 percent against a basket of currencies since March last year. That move has broadly stalled since mid-February, but a steady flow of solid economic data and signs of more merger activity which may require big companies to buy the currency have helped prod it higher this month. U.S. drugmaker Pfizer PFE.N confirmed on Monday it wanted to buy AstraZeneca AZN.L in a deal that could value its smaller British rival at more than $100 billion. ID:nL6N0NK194 The pound gained as much as 0.4 percent against the dollar before retreating to $1.6813, up 0.1 percent on the day but almost half a cent below the 4-1/2 year high of $1.6858 hit in early trade. It was broadly unchanged against the euro EURGBP= at 82.37 pence and opinion in the market was divided on direction for the rest of a week of important news releases in the United States. "The merger news this morning clearly helped but it played into the broad story of sterling strength," said Neil Mellor, strategist with Bank of New York Mellon in London. "With the lack of choice on strong currency stories out there, there will be a challenge sooner rather than later to $1.70." A number of strategists have turned more bearish on the pound's prospects in the past month though, especially against the dollar, which many banks and investment houses still expect to strengthen this year despite a weaker-than-expected first quarter for the U.S. economy. Tuesday's first estimate of gross domestic product in the opening quarter of 2014 will provide more evidence for the debate over whether Britain's upturn is really strong enough to justify a rise in interest rates early next year. ECONGB While headline economic numbers have been consistently strong this year, doubters point to the economy's reliance on the property market in London and consumer borrowing rather than growth in investment, wages and underlying demand. "There were parts of last week's BoE minutes where the MPC tried to pour a bit of cold water on the market's more upbeat assessment of inflation and the labour market," said Paul Robson, a strategist with RBS in London. "While official data have remained very robust, we see downside risks to the market and BoE expectations for the first estimate of first quarter GDP." A Reuters poll forecast the economy to have grown 0.9 percent in the January-March quarter, up from 0.7 percent in the final three months of last year. That would be more than 3 percent in annual terms.

dow showing a little pattern of lower highs and lower lows on this evening's trading

wow!
dow gone bonkers .... stupidly went long at 16385 and nearly got burnt when it dumped to about 16300 but eventually got out at just above b/e ..... in the last 20 minutes, dow has rocketed a further 65 points to 16465

Are the UK economic growth figures reliable?

Long USD/JPY again, rather hoping for a break of 102.70 which may take us all the way to 104. Which would be nice.

6731.5 gone short

LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Sterling fell against the dollar and the euro on Tuesday as investors trimmed bullish bets on the currency after Britain's first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth data fell short of expectations. GDP rose 0.8 percent in the first quarter, the Office for National Statistics said, picking up from 0.7 percent in the last three months of 2013. The year-on-year growth figure rose to 3.1 percent. A Reuters poll had forecast quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.9 percent and 3.2 percent in yearly terms. ECONGB Sterling fell to a day's low of $1.6792 GBP=D4 after the data from about $1.6839. The currency had hit a 4-1/2-year high of $1.6858 on Monday and was last trading flat at $1.6805. The euro rose 0.15 percent to trade at 82.54 pence EURGBP=D4 after the data, from 82.335 beforehand. "There were some expectations in the run up to the release that the number would be a good one, especially following the run of other positive UK economic data recently," UKForex corporate desk head Alex Edwards said. "Sterling/dollar at $1.68 has been providing solid support in the last week or so but this level has now been broken. It's unlikely that it will fall much below here in our view as the data only just missed expectations." Expectations that the Bank of England (BoE) may have to raise rates early next year were intact as reflected in sterling overnight interbank average rates. GBPOIS=ICAP Indeed, the view that the BoE will be the first major central bank to tighten monetary policy has seen the pound =GBP gain more than 10 percent against a basket of currencies since March last year. BoE Governor Mark Carney said in an interview published on Tuesday that the economic recovery was starting to broaden and there were early signs it would be sustainable. ID:nL9N0G601B The pound has also been buoyed by signs of merger activity that may require big companies to buy the currency. U.S. drugmaker Pfizer PFE.N confirmed on Monday it wanted to buy AstraZeneca AZN.L in a deal that could value its smaller British rival at more than $100 billion. ID:nL6N0NK194 Traders said the focus will now shift to euro zone inflation data and U.S GDP figures on Thursday and U.S. jobs data on Friday. The Federal Reserve policy setting committee starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday and is widely expected to trim its asset purchase programme. "Markets will want to also examine euro zone inflation data over the coming days as well as tomorrow's U.S. GDP and Fed updates before making big bets on currencies," said Nawaz Ali, market analyst Western Union.

I'm averaging 6736 on the FTSE accross 3 bets and Cable 1.67772 accross two bets.