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

Actully your not wrong, your recent run of Wall St profits hasn't gone unnoticed and I thought I'd jump in for a change and follow someone elses picks.... Must say its far easier then doing the hard work for myself... ;-) ... no pressure...

Crude rising....

i own up to being totally unscientific, but it seems to me that indices have a rhythm, and when i'm "in tune" i seem to be moderately successful
the biggest difficulty is getting the first move at least reasonably correct

I get that problem in bed cyners......

i thought you'ld be more like "crude rising" :-)

I'm not sure where the FTSE gain is coming from this morning - not many heavyweights up SAB,IMT & BATS.

I just placed a rather large short on the FTSE @ 6832.8 which averages me upto 6796.2.

Cynic, I bet you were good at 'Play your cards right'...

FTSE should track the range I think, so outside the lines without conviction of a breakout its a game on play in my eyes.

Celibacy can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by circumstances.

While attending a Marriage Weekend, my wife, Irene, and I listened to the instructor declare, "It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other."

He then addressed the men: "Can you name and describe your wife's favourite flower?" I leaned over, touched Irene's hand gently and whispered, "Self-raising, isn't it?"

And thus began my life of celibacy.

6832.8 closed 6825.3 +7.5pts.

shortie - i suspect your comment isn't exactly a compliment :-) .... anyway, i'm happy enough to stay with my current dow short

9700.5 gone short on the DAX

That's a cracker, Skinny! Thanks for trying to brighten the mood :-)

Closed DAX over lunch +10pts

Dropped back into the range.

Doji on the daily FTSE - so maybe more weakness to come?

6740 next downside short term support.

Ex-divs to take 1 point off FTSE 100 on May 28

LONDON, May 23 (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 1.03 points off the index. COMPANY (RIC) DIVIDEND STOCK OPTION MAX MIN (pence) IMPACT IMPACT M&S MKS.L 10.80 N/A 0.698 0.698 WHITBREAD WTB.L 47.00 N/A 0.336 0.336 Among FTSE 250 .FTMC companies going ex-dividend are: COMPANY (RIC) DIVIDEND (pence) AMEC AMEC.L 28.50 BRITVIC BVIC.L 6.10 BELLWAY BWY.L 16.00 CABLE & WIRLESS CWC.L 2.67 US Cents DCC DCC.L 50.73 GT PORTLAND GPOR.L 5.40 INCHCAPE INCH.L 11.70 MARSTONS MARS.L 2.40 NMC HEALTH NMC.L 4.44 PREMIER FARNELL PFL.L 6.00 SPECTRIS SXS.L 28.00

Blimey - that's early - probably making up for being so late this week.

The 3 that I have written down for next week are MKLW 9.04p, MARS 2.4p (which I hold anyway) and WTB 47p, for divi plays.