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

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 !!!!

DJ just bounced off today's low

Ftse playing strange games - although Dow dropping, Ftse has been hanging back - and even rising as dow drops. How very strange

I'm out

I was, was taken out, went back in and just about covered my losses Do think it's going to end up below 5700 but had enough excitment for one day
PS I'm only learning so well & truly OMP

Sorry OMO told you too much excitment

that's a washing powder isn't it?

pt - did you buy the dow on the bounce?

I'm afraid not

PTH Correct it was but also, only my opinion just remembered should be OIMO. First time shorting Ftse with real money nearly the last!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ftse is just going completely loopy at the moment - so glad I closed my positions earlier.