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

4 on the DOW at the moment, will switch to 6 after the close. They also widen the spread at times of high impact news.

Right on the button, will it hold?

Yep :)

12250 provided support again, summats gotta give. Sat right in the middle of the channel, not a good time to take a position. Any rally should top out 12270 (unless of course there's a proper rally)

Talking to myself here, oh well :) Nothing unusual there

Dropped out the bottom of the channel, no idea where it will go now

Hi pt - not quite talking to yourself! I'm trying to recoup some losses from earlier in the day. Early part of this week went so well that I rather lost focus today...

I'm Listening with interest
Also think Ftse's in a down channel at minute keep kicking myself fo rnot getting in But channel is narrowing so might break out up

closed my FTSE short. Think I will call it a day @ 5665.

Having traded all day - I come out with a small profit. What is hurting me is the commission - so although I make a profit from trading - by the time I take account of the buy and sell costs (12.50 per trade) - it reduces my profit quite dramatically - as I am only confident enough to trade in small amnounts at the moment.

I think I am over trading

Blmey, the undivided attention of two girlies :)
It's trying to get back into the channel, personally I wish it would as I would be a whole lot more confident shorting it again from higher up, always wary of the remarkable rallies this market is prone to. The previous top at 80 was an absolute peach, wish I hadn't closed too early :(

Use SBs - no commission :) (err and no tax)

Is that why the spread is greater with IG cos it's an SB?

Not sure what you mean maggie. All the brokers offer differing spreads whether it be SBs or CFDs and quite often the spreads wll alter during the day for differing reasons.

Good luck for the rest of the evening to you guys. I've messed up enough for one day! Will make a fresh start and rebuild on Monday.

That's me finished as well, have a good weekend all.

Any views on the FTSE.

I was long all morning - but have just gone short at 5700. Think I might have been a tad early though - any views ?

Well, I'm kinda of the opinion that the DOW will have an up day so I'm avoiding being short on any markets that might be influenced by a rising DOW. But it's only a feeling based on not very much, so don't take any notice of me ;)

such is the volatility of the markets that money can be made or lost on either tack ..... for myself, i was short both FTSE and Dow over the w/e, fully expecting blood this morning .... this did not happen, so i closed both with a modest profit but have subsequently gone long of both, which are also just in the money

well I am negative at the moment on the ftse - athough up overall - atm

Some data (PMI figures) due out in the US at I think 2:45 our time (9:45 EDT). This could give the Dow a jolt either way, depending on what it says.

"WASHINGTON (AP) - Wall Street economists expect an index of Midwestern regional business activity to show a slight recovery in March from the six-year low it hit the previous month.The Chicago Purchasing Managers' index is considered an early read on business conditions nationally. The monthly index, which covers services as well as manufacturing, is expected to increase to 46 in March from a reading of 44.5 in February, according to a consensus of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.An index reading above 50 indicates growth and below 50 contraction."

Not sure I'll be in at the time, which is a drag as I need the FTSE to get back above 5700. Made a nice profit this morning and then when long again at too high a price by the looks of things.

I was just about to ask if the dow still opens at 2,30 now that we are on BST. So am assumint US went on daylight saving time at same time as us