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

London prices ? :-)

Northern prices. It wouldn't buy me a glass of tapwater in London :-)

blast! .... was pre-occupied earlier as had intended to take a further dow short at about 17390

anyway, probably extended enough, and after a lot of dithering about, dow has suddenly dropped straight south through 17300 (17315 to be exact), so am now watching for 17200 .... i would be surprised if that was pierced today, so shall try to be alert and perhaps take some profits anyway

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that's a few pennies banked for +62

there's an interesting article on www.money.cnn.com entitled "Taxes and spending: What happens if Republicans win the Senate" .... it's well worth a read

It looks like it's going to be a good day for investors, and an especially good day for Republicans.

1. Midterm election results: CNN projections show Republicans won the balance of power in both the Senate and the House.
This gives the GOP control of Congress and the power to pin down President Obama during his last two years in office. Many investors expect that the Republican takeover of the Senate will lead to more pro-business policies, and benefit the energy and financial sectors.
U.S. stock futures were pushing higher before the open with the S&P 500 and Dow poised to jump to record levels.

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am i totally nuts in thinking that for the next two years, there is going to a total shambles with regard to us domestic policies, with a probable(?) vicious stand-off when it comes to the next budgetary discussions?

.

Why'd I get the feeling tomorrow will be a down day, contemplating a short play!! hhhmmm..

if for no other reason than nothing ever goes up in a straight line, though dow has had a damn good try over the last 3 weeks

6594.8 gone short, 6604 seams to hold some resistance I wonder what this afternoon numbers will bring, an in crease in the claimant count I hope.

IHS as highlighted yesterday.

US adds 214,000 jobs in October, unemployment at 5.8%
US payrolls expanded by 214,000 jobs last month, as economic activity remained robust and employers added to their workforces, the Labor Department said on Friday in its monthly snapshot of the labour market.
That gain compared with a revised 256,000 in September, which was revised up from a first reading of 248,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 5.8 per cent from 5.9 per cent a month earlier.


it seems the pundits were looking for 233,000 new jobs, but market looks undecided as to whether the actuality is good, bad or indifferent

DOW
17600, which is where the index is now challenging OUGHT to be a pretty good place to short, though recently gravity has been defied heavily (a nice oxymoron!)

DOW
17600 proving to be something of a battleground in both directions

At 8:30 a.m. ET, the U.S. Census Bureau will report October retail sales figures.

guess that might set the trend for the day
no idea what is expected

whatever it was and is, it looks like something of a damp squib with cash dow moving barely 10 points higher

Take your pick!

"StockMarketWire.com
US import prices fall,
US core retail sales up."

No one posting as nothing really moving, now what does that tell you about the people that post here??

dow has been unusually quiet .... it's moved in a range of about 30 points since this morning

Conversely, nothing really moving and a certain other thread prolific with it's posts. What does that tell you about the people that post there? ;o)

IHS completed.