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

May 20 (Reuters) - The following FTSE 100 .FTSE companies will go ex-dividend on Wednesday, after which investors will no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. According to Reuters calculations at current market prices, the effect of the resulting adjustment to prices by market-makers would take between 0.93 points and 5.42 points off the index. Name RIC Currency Dividen Stock Max Shift Min Shift d Alternative CARNIVAL CCL.L USc 25 0.107345775 0.107345775 COMPASS CPG.L GBp 8.8 0.626860737 0.626860737 GROUP HSBC HSBA.L USD 0.1 Yes 4.487234743 HOLDINGS INTERTEK ITRK.L GBp 31 0.197504042 0.197504042 GROUP Among FTSE 250 .FTMC companies going ex-dividend are: Name RIC Dividend Unadjusted Currency Dividend CAPITAL&COUNTIES CAPCC.L GBp 1 COMPUTACENTER CCC.L GBp 12.3 DIPLOMA DPLM.L GBp 5.4 DIGNITY DTY.L GBp 11.83 EUROMONEY INST ERM.L GBp 7 HICL INF. HICL.L GBp 3.6 HOME RETAIL HOME.L GBp 2.3 HOWDEN JOIN GRP HWDN.L GBp 4.5 MICHAEL PAGE MPI.L GBp 7.25 PROVIDENT FINCL PFG.L GBp 54 REDEFINE INTL RDI.L GBp 1.2 UDG HEALTHCARE UDG.L EUc 2.69 WITAN INV TST WTAN.L GBp 3.6 XAAR XAR.L GBp 5.5

Just closed an intraday short @6,809.0 +35.

Bought HWDN for the dividend tomorrow.

I was thinking about long here for the divi.. Support at 2000 I think considering prelims..



25 February 2014

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2013
Provident Financial plc is the market-leading provider of credit cards to non-standard consumers in the UK and the market-leading provider of home credit in the UK and Ireland. The group serves over 2.6 million customers and its operations consist of Vanquis Bank and the Consumer Credit Division (CCD).

Highlights
Strong financial performance and dividend increase
•Profit before tax and exceptional items up 9.9% to £196.1m1 (2012 restated2: £178.4m).
•Adjusted earnings per share up 11.6% to 112.0p1 (2012 restated2: 100.4p).
•Total dividend per share up 10.1% to 85.0p (2012: 77.2p).
Very robust funding position
•Core bank facility of £382.5m renewed in January 2014 with lower all-in cost than previous facility.
•Gearing reduced to 3.0 times (2012: 3.2 times) through strong capital generation.
•Group fully funded to the seasonal peak in 2017.
Excellent growth and returns in Vanquis Bank
•UK profit before tax up by 59.5% to £113.7m (2012: £71.3m).
•Customer and average receivables growth of 22.2% and 37.5% respectively, reflecting strong momentum from addressing the under-served non-standard credit card market.
•Risk-adjusted margin3 of 34.2% (2012: 34.8%), above minimum target of 30% with arrears remaining at record lows.
•Further development of pilot credit card operation in Poland at a cost of £7.6m in 2013 (2012: £3.3m).
Repositioning of CCD progressing well
•Development and roll-out of technology to support step-change in agent and branch productivity and reinforce compliance fully on track.
•Encouraging start to Satsuma online instalment lending following November 2013 launch.
•Profit before tax and exceptional items of £102.5m1 (2012 restated2: £122.9m) reflecting reduction in customer numbers and receivables due to weak demand and tightened credit standards.
•Cost savings of £10m delivered in second half of 2013, with a further £26m secured for 2014, including the previously announced headcount reduction of 520, at a one-off cost of £13.7m.

PFG gone long divi tomorrow is 54p per share.

posted to wrong thread

Nice trend going back to Jan 2012.

Yeah, logically also when interest rates go up it should benefit the loans market.

So if the FTSE takes 5.2pts off tonight then that equates to £5.20 for every £1 short. PFG goes ex div at 54p so pays £54 for every £1 long. Is this correct Skinny, if so I think I bought too many PFG and got lucky as 2014 right now..!

Yep - nice when it works like that :-)

Everything about PFG says up, I'm surprised I didn't come accross it sooner. On the daily chart the lower trend line seams to track the 50DMA so until this breaks I'm gonna go with the flow and hold.

Sorry guys, I know this is the FTSE thread, will continue PFG dialog over on the PFG thread.

A look over the 6800 wall and didn't like it!

Over half the HWDN dividend so far.

hmm .....

for some reason, the chart above is not updating, unless it only does it every 15 minutes or something

anyway, have just banked an adequate profit for outlay on dow short (+70) and am now tempted to reverse that as index has gently bounced a couple of times from 16400

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so with small beer am now long again 16416.6

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a further small beer at 16365.6

Closed my FTSE short for +90.

Nice one :-)

So what happens now?

not sure why, but after a distinctly lacklustre opening, markets are suddenly looking quite chirpy .... even my dow long is marginally back in the money overall

6819.5 short closed +30pts, no plays in the 6800's range remaining

I've still got one in place based on the hanging man.

Yellen speaks @4:30pm.