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

Just seen this on the CNN website; click the link below:
CNN - Stocks ready to roll

Should mean a good opportunity on the DOW today.

PTH: thanks for your message. Have replied but never know whether the system actually works!

Unfortunately I am out for lunch and no power this pm - so will have to duck this time - but it does seem a good opportunity for Dow - although index up 75 already on futures.

Toya - I hope you took advantage of the rise you predicted ?? I am too late

I have just taken a short on the FTSE at 5812 !!!

Oops - too soon me thinks

I got in at 5765 long but had to go out so set a limit !!!!!!!!!!!!!! got stopped out way too soon b****r
Think I'll take a short now.

I have gone short again at 5835 too - hoping there wont be a final flurry !!

in answer to the Q, i chickened out of a late Dow long last night but held on to a (modest)FTSE long .... rather belatedly, i have now gone modestly long Dow, but shall get out at 12625 or thereabouts if not sooner.

also bought XTSA afternoon as sp was close to 200 dma from where it has bounced twice before - and has now done so today

profit taken on FTSE at 5857.5 .... could be toppy at this level .... however, shall stay long Dow, at least for now

well done cynic - my shorts looking a bit sick

.I would close that dow long if I were you - mind you I have got it wrong all afternoon - so would not listen to me ?

when I asked yesterday why have both a FTSE and a Dow - I guess today provides a good answer,

When the Ftse closed at 4.30, the FTSE stood at +152 and the Dow at + 266.

Now 45 minutes later, the FTSE has dropped to +142 (-10) whilst the dow has risen to +290 (+24)

Bhunt: yes, I did follow my own advice, thanks, and made a better job of it than yesterday. Was without internet access for a while, which was very frustrating, but luckily stayed in profit throughout.

The FTSE also had a very good day today, and it might still be positive tomorrow, riding on the back of today's DOW I guess. I shall be reading the early-morning bulletins to see how the Far East does overnight, as a pointer. - Does that make sense to those with more experience??

toya - well done - I have made a mess of today - so dont think I am qualified to offer advice - but I would guess if the Dow stays as high as it is now and asia and Japan are all positive - then it I would agree with you - bwdik

bh: I've only been trading the ftse and dow for a short while (i.e. couple of weeks!) but have found it certainly pays to read those early bulletins to get a feel for what may happen. It's also worth being aware of the data due in the US, and the time of the announcements.

This may be of no interest and simply coincidence but yesterday's and today's graphs of Dow & Ftse are very similar ie today's both dipped around 07:40 then continued up the rest of the day. I too have only been trading Ftse, with money, (dummy traded for a while) for days inspired by this thread but would agree with you Toya I also check out graphs for Asia to see what they're doing. have also made a mess today and hope Ftse falls back so that I can close the ill timed short I opened.

I also look at Asia overnight and dow finish to have a feel of how ftse will open, most times it helps for the first hour or two, but then announcement and events take over. Sometimes I'm caught out of course, I didn't anticipate yesterday's recovery at all, but did better today.

Still short on Wall St runing with a May Future so not bothered about today rises, considering opening another position though. Closed my GBP/YEN buy for good profit.

Well, we should all get-rich-quick then, being so diligent in our daily research!

Maggie: I too was fascinated to discover that the Dow and Ftse move more or less in concert for much of the time, and so have sometimes traded both at the same time for that reason.

Looks like the Dow has gone completely insane, doesn't quite reflect the front page of today's Independent headlined the Great depression with people queueing for food!