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

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...

Any big guns that have dropped below the 200ma maybe.



Also BA. is looking good with a gap to fill.

I had a dabble with TSCO yesterday.

Market Report: Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's enjoy bounce after Asda sales growth

I've just sold SBRY +3 after pocketing the dividend on Wednesday.

Nice move on SBRY Skinny...

Thanks Shortie - I took my eye of PIC after being 50 points up - now only +14.

The last time there was a hanging man on the FTSE (post 15587 above) was mid January and it preceded a 400 point fall.

interestingly, my chartist guru is still very bullish on dow - not that any of us (especially me!) get it right all the time

Acampora talks of ‘sick feeling’ and possible 25% slide for some markets

Well I got 5 FTSE shorts running currently at different prices sold 1 for a profit this morning.
6852
6787.3
6743
6731.5
6712.8
I'm averaging 6760.3 currently and am tempted to cash out the 6852 and take a profit to buy back later, this is typically what I've been doing for the past week.

JCP's figures were very well received (+20% pre-open) so let's hope the asst'd gov't figures due in about an hour are also cheery

numbers are out but haven't seen them .... however, judging by cash dow reaction, they're ok rather than exciting

Iv'e a great new scheme , if i post daily what i'm buying then you can make sure you don't ,, (or short it) and just pay me per for each time i advise . I'll take payment in alcohol or crack .

Calm down Jimmy, it can't be that bad! I think alot of us are probably carrying unrealised losses on indicies, I sure am on FTSE and Cable currently...

Just one of those months shortie ,, should have took a couple of small loses earlier in the week and got back in at much lower levels ,i knew the markets were going to have a setback , but it's damned if do and ... Shouldn't moan i had a good month in April ..

I reckon Jimmy has worked out that he can make more money reselling Colombia's finest than he can trading stocks. Sounds like a really good plan to me!

Oh no HARRY i'd end up straight in the slammer I think Pablo Escobar was a bit smarter than me ..

glad to see my dow long is flowering nicely :-)

I have mrw +8p and div, still looks like it's got more to go, see monday.,.

i've stayed away from supermarkets for ages, but with nice little rise on wall street last night, which i hope will be extended on monday (cash dow will indicate), then there must surely be a good chance of a strong day in london to open the week

there were certainly some stocks that have been badly whacked for no fundamental reason in the last couple of days - e.g. EZJ, TCG (recovered a bit) and XEL (bought some friday) - that may pay closer investigation before the open

whether or not there will be a rally before a further sell-off is of course a great unknown ..... shortie would reckon so, as he is short ftse, but good as he assuredly is at reading the entrails, he isn't always right