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

Finally a sensible read...

http://www.moneynews.com/MKTNewsIntl/Stock-market-recession-alert/2014/02/10/id/551985/?promo_code=166D4-1&utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral

Not sure about that Shortie. Looks to be a bit of American hype trying to sell a number of dubious products, imo. Might be some truth in the market correction bit, but we are all expecting that sometime soon, particularly when QE finishes and interest rates go up.

Just waiting for the catalyst to start the sell off.

Whats the damage on the FTSE tonight Skinny?

15 points - I did buy SBRY (12.30p), but not sure if its worth it this week.

Have a look at the bullish engulfing on SDY.

15 pts, oh dear, I might as well start eating ghost chili's now.... I was rather hoping for a quiet week. Too late to hedge now, well done on the Sainsbury play, I completely missed it

Support and resistance added to your SDY chart, its not a break out and appears range bound, lets see if it breaks out before Friday.

6877.3 just dropped a Phat short on the FTSE, I'm now rather overexposed...

Phat
----------------
Origin

1970s (originally used to describe a woman, in the sense 'sexy, attractive'): of uncertain origin.
-----------
So is that a sexy short shortie ?

You twisting my tongue Jimmy! lol..

FTSE / DOW

Airbus helps European markets soar

skinny - do hope you didn't BUY (go long) SBRY

Yes - they are ex-dividend today (12.30p) against the -15 points for being short FTSE.

.

good grief! .... didn't realise there was such a large divi but that explains the clunk

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Sterling fell sharply to a one-month low against the dollar on Wednesday, while gilt futures soared after the Bank of England inflation report doused expectations of near term monetary tightening. Sterling fell to a one-month low of $1.6759 GBP=D4 after the report was released from around $1.6820 beforehand. The euro rose to a session high of 81.84 pence EURGBP=D4 from around 81.59 beforehand. The drop in the currency reflected repricing of rate hike expectations, traders said. Sterling overnight rates dipped across the 2014/2015 strip GBPOIS=ICAP as investors pushed back rate hike bets. Before the inflation report was released, investors were pricing in a chance of a rate hike in nine months which was now pushed back to 10 months, the SONIA curve showed. British June gilt futures FLGcv1 extended gains after the release of the BoE's report, and were last up 75 ticks on the day at 111.10. German Bund futures also rose to day's high of 145.79, up 48 ticks on day. Euro zone bond yields fell.

BERLIN, May 14 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is getting ready to take a decision on fresh policy action next month, ECB Executive Board member Yves Mersch said on Wednesday, hinting at some degree of consensus on some measures. ECB President Mario Draghi said last week the Governing Council was "comfortable with acting next time" - its June 5 policy meeting - but wanted to see updated economic projections from the bank's staff first. Speaking at a panel discussion at a conference, Mersch said Draghi's comments could be interpreted as what his predecessor Jean-Claude Trichet would have expressed by using the term "strong vigilance". "What exactly will happen is a decision that will be taken at the next council (meeting). There are several possibilities," Mersch said, adding that some were easier to implement than others and that there was perhaps already theoretical unanimity on various tools. "We are working intensively to expand our independent instruments within our mandate and to make our action as effective as possible". "We never precommit unconditionally," he added.