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

dow closing down about 220 at about 13325
ftse cash down 50

Post 16325

Yes Claret they did look a little overcooked and could come off but not Armageddon !!

.

Not inferring we go off a cliff from here, Just see the same pattern starting as in 2007. Just the way it feels to me.

I hope you are wrong I am long.

What am I doing?

looks like another awful day dragging out before us
managed to scrape a small profit on a dow long o'night - more luck than judgement
other than that, little jolly apart from (for me) ASC and QPP

a decent recovery since my last post, but dow is still all over the place so goodness knows how today will pan out

nimble fingered shortie and skinny are probably making a fortune in both directions

and whiled i was gassing with young sticky, i'm glad to see a nice 64 point profit limit hit for a just a very small dow long ..... every little helps :-)

;-)

have another small long at 16420 for which i have targetted 16495 as the next hurdle is ~16505

Wrong thread...

dow fizzling out which is a pity as that will mean yet another weak opening for ftse
however, if dow falls back just a little more then i may well buy back at 16340 or a bit lower

===============

16329.1 so now fingers x'ed that it's not money down the drain
still, only a pretty tweeny outlay

I hope you held through the subsequent spike down.

I've crystallised my currency and indices plays for a profit... Not much in my portfolio except ASC, JMAT and IMG right now...

yes i did .... i've placed a limit (again) at 16415 which proved just a bit too far as it touched 16410 some time o'night

Large bets on the FTSE for small movements today I think... Euro, Yen and Cable overnight movements also look interesting.... Weaker Pound so you'd expect the FTSE to find support at the short term double bottom.

surely ftse falls are exaggerated by SHP and perhaps computer generated sales thereafter

I'd question if the FTSE is really out on a limb as it looks, Sterling is clearly down following yesterdays inflation report changing the likely-hood of a rate rise. This should make UK stocks more attractive as a whole and you'd expect the FTSE to rally, but with downbeat manufacturing and retail data there's no driver behind a rally right now.

LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Sterling stayed near an 11-month low against the dollar on Wednesday, giving up early gains as weak jobs data did little to shake a growing conviction that UK interest rates will not rise until well into 2015. Jobs growth in Britain was at its slowest in more than a year in the three months to August, official data showed, even as the unemployment rate fell more than expected. Workers' earnings inched up, lagging far behind inflation. ID:nL9N0MN00B The Bank of England has said that any rise in interest rates from their historic lows will be dependent on economic data, especially wage growth. In the wake of Tuesday data showing inflation slowing sharply as food and motor fuel prices fell, sterling fell as low as $1.5878 GBP=D4 in Asian trade - its weakest since November 2013. After Wednesday's employment data, sterling hit a high of $1.5940 GBP=D4 but quickly slipped back and was last trading at $1.5915, flat on the day. "The key still remains this relentless downward pressure in imported inflation," said Simon Derrick, head of currency research at Bank of New York Mellon. "If you have no imported inflation, if there is no desperate need to raise rates, why should sterling be the place to park your money at the moment?" Against the euro, sterling strengthened to 79.50 pence per euro EURGBP= , up 0.1 percent on the day. Expectations that the BoE would be the first major central bank to raise rates drove sterling to a six-year peak against the dollar in July. But increased signs of economic weakness - partly the result of a spillover from the euro zone - and the sharp fall in inflation have poured cold water on those expectations, and sterling has fallen 7.5 percent since July. BoE Governor Mark Carney struck a somewhat dovish tone on Monday, saying the bank's rate-setting committee would have to take into account "a more modest global recovery, particularly if that's the case in Europe". ID:nL6N0S8220 "The lack of wage growth remains a thorn in the side of an otherwise fairly robust recovery," said Ben Brettell, a senior economist at financial firm Hargreaves Lansdown. "The absence of inflationary pressure - both in prices and wages - makes holding interest rates at 0.5 percent a straightforward decision, and as such this week's data may have come as something of a relief for Mark Carney and his colleagues."