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

6845.3 large short again

LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - British retail sales grew at a slower pace this month, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry suggested on Wednesday. The CBI's monthly distributive trades survey's retail sales balance eased in May to +16 from +30 in April and below economists' forecasts of +35. The survey of 136 firms showed retailers predict a pick-up in sales next month, with the index for expected June sales at +29. "Although that growth was at a slower rate than expected, the fact we've seen a steady increase for six consecutive months is a sign we're heading towards sustainable growth and strengthening consumer optimism...," said Barry Williams, Chair of the CBI Distributive Trades Survey Panel. Consumer demand, buoyed by a strengthening housing market, has been the main driver of Britain's rapid economic recovery. In the CBI's quarterly survey, the business situation index was +13 in May, down from +18 in February.

6845.3 large shorts closed at 6842.8 +2.5

A good read when you get 5 mins..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27026704

Tiffany & Co short on the cards ...maybe...

:-)

Its funny where ideas can come from. Think I'll follow the Tiffany & Co one with interest.

http://www.nationaljeweler.com/majors/market-developments/In-Tiffany-vs-Costc-2565.shtml

Looks good for a short right now!! :-)

Hmmm - do you know what caused the gap up?

Not a clue, only came accross it after reading the BBC article which I though was good and decided to post here as a potential short play.

9667 short, leap of faith... Well the chart supports it anyway.

wrong thread

Closed MKS +1 +10.80p dividend.

Well done Skinny, Tiffany & Co, think I may have just jumped straight into the fire!!!

Should have waited to short, oh well, think I'll sit on it for a few days and see what happens, thats a large gap and its kicking around the high currently looking overbought still. Margin is a monster though!

Bad luck Shortie - I thought perhaps it was a typo and you meant 9767.

Affraid not, I'm looking at the loss right now (good job it was a small bet) and it has wiped out my realised profit today and is sat on quite alot of margin also. Fingers crossed Wall St crashes later.

Small short @6872.3

Same here, 6872.5 short.

6872.5 closed @ 6863.3 for +9.2, it was a large short and I'll wait and see if it returns.

Well done Shortie!

Large shorts! :-)