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

GBP/JPY gone short 170.68

spiteful little day today .... glad i've got a dow short running; banked one (hit limit) of those positions last night

Wal-Mart profit falls 5 percent as severe winter deters shoppers

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a 5 percent fall in quarterly profit as severe winter weather hurt comparable sales in the United States.

Wal-Mart said comparable sales at its U.S. stores, its biggest unit, were relatively flat. Weather adversely impacted same-store sales by about 20 basis points, the company said.

Overall revenue rose marginally to $114.96 billion.

Net income attributable to Wal-Mart fell to $3.59 billion, or $1.11 per share, in the first quarter ended April 30, from $3.78 billion, or $1.14 per share, a year earlier.

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday, pressured by weaker-than-expected earnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT.N , the biggest U.S. retailer. Shares of Wal-Mart, a Dow component, fell 2.7 percent to $76.73. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 36.09 points, or 0.22 percent, at 16,577.88. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 3.35 points, or 0.18 percent, at 1,885.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was down 2.89 points, or 0.07 percent, at 4,097.74.

Is the FTSE on the turn? Or just a dip before another push higher?... Mmmm, maybe a good time to take some money off the table, then kick myself that I didn't leave profits to run... The dilema.

I'm thinking exactly the same ,except one difference is i have hardly got any profits to come :))

Were doomed doomed I tell you Jimmy.

Luckily enough I took 90% of my folio off two weeks ago, and thank god I did or Id be buckets down.

Looks rather serious this time.

Europe growth stalling.

Cant help the World Recovery.

Italy missed going into recession by a smidgen, that really is bad news.

I've just closed today's short @6,826.0 +60, but have a couple more running.

6844 closed at 6830 for +14, have taken profits, not convinced we won't see a rally later on.

I've also got other unrealised losses running on the FTSE.

Doomed GF :)) ... I'm not holding a lot but a couple of trades i'd like to have been out of , i like to have funds ready when we have these wobbles .....

my only good news is my dow short
ezj and several others have taken a real bashing

Hanging man (if you squint) yesterday.

i've just banked my decent dow short profit (+150ish) and opened a small but probably foolish long (16430) as the fall looks overdone at least for now

Well Cynic and Skinny, good profits there.

but a total trashing elsewhere

LOL, can't win them all...

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - Nickel prices recouped some losses on Thursday, paring an earlier 10 percent fall as investors seized the opportunity to jump back into a market, where there are expectations of future gains as supply shortages become more severe. Nickel prices reached their highest in more than two years on Tuesday with gains of more than 50 percent this year in response to an export ban by top ore supplier Indonesia in January. But investors became wary that prices had raced ahead of the underlying fundamentals, and selling snowballed as a wave of option holders also liquidated hedge positions. Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell as low as $18,090 a tonne at one point, a 9.8 percent fall from Wednesday's prices and its lowest level in two weeks. After a partial recovery, prices closed down 6.5 percent at $18,750 a tonne, trimming the year's gains to 35 percent. Nickel is expected to bounce back as long as Indonesia keeps squeezing supply and stainless steel producers can absorb higher prices. ID:nL6N0NZ54X "Talking to lots of investors and speculators, if they haven't already bought into the nickel story, any correction was their opportunity to do so. There won't be any dearth of buyers," analyst Robin Bhar at Societe Generale said. "There is a core bullish argument because of Indonesia, but there's also lots of froth. You have to look at how much of the recent price rise has been genuinely based on the fundamentals and how much is pure speculative activity." Stop-loss sales were triggered around $19,000 and around$18,500-19,000, traders said. Nickel prices have lost around 9 percent of their value in the last two trading days. "This...illustrates the extent to which speculation was apparently responsible for driving up the nickel price of late," Commerzbank analysts said in a note. "The price slump is doubtless attributable to precisely such investors choosing to take profits, and the correction process could well continue for the time being." WEAK EURO WEIGHS Other metals eased, partly due to pressure from a weaker euro, which makes commodities priced in dollars more expensive for buyers in Europe. The euro fell to a six-week low against the dollar on expectations the European Central Bank is poised to ease policy at next month's meeting. FRX/ Copper fell after news that the impact of a smelter explosion in Korea would not be as severe as feared. LS-Nikko Copper's smelter will delay maintenance on its No. 1 unit in order to maintain output after another unit was shut down by a steam explosion earlier this week, a Japanese shareholder of the South Korean company told Reuters. ID:nT9N0N103B LME benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 closed 0.6 percent lower at $6,880 a tonne after a 1.1 percent rise in the previous session to the highest level in more than two months. Losses were moderated in some metals after China said it was increasing support for the wobbly trade sector with new measures that include giving more tax breaks, credit insurance and currency hedging options to exporters. ID:nL3N0O113C In other metals, zinc CMZN3 ended 2.1 percent lower at $2,059, lead CMPB3 closed down 1.2 percent at $2,132, tin CMPB3 closed 0.2 percent lower at $23,350 and aluminium CMAL3 ended 1.8 percent lower at $1,776. PRICES Three month LME copper CMCU3 Most active ShFE copper SCFcv1 Three month LME aluminium CMAL3 Most active ShFE aluminium SAFcv1 Three month LME zinc CMZN3 Most active ShFE zinc SZNcv1 Three month LME lead CMPB3 Most active ShFE lead SPBcv1 Three month LME nickel CMNI3 Three month LME tin CMSN3

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the markets have clearly not yet regained their poise after the hammering in usa over the last couple of days, and of course it's friday too

nevertheless, it's hard to believe that there aren't some real bargains to be had amidst the carnage, but which?

TCG looks good to me , but i wonder if the markets are going to get trounced again this afternoon...