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

Renewable sector looks more expensive every month if this trend continues with oil.

more so than XEL?

Never traded Xcite, but a quick look at their 2013 highlights and "Strengthened balance sheet, with new debt financing of US$80 million unsecured 12.5% loan notes, with repayment in full of the existing US$60 million unsecured 14% loan notes." does make you wonder if they'll be easily tripped up..

i don't know the quality of FPMs oil finds (light or heavy or what), but certainly XEL's are heavy and difficult and sell at a (considerable?) discount to light, and that is once they can even extract it

A day of small runs on the FTSE, debating a large stake play now...

made a small turn on dow just now - short
may have another dabble, being very wary of psychological 17900 barrier

I'm waiting for 6740+ then I'll drop a large short position.

another small turn, but i haven't really got the time to stand and stare, so shall go off and do what i should be doing

Yeah, think I might go back to currency as FTSE is going sideways still, up or down I don't care which but sideways drives me up the wall..

currencies are far too difficult for me to understand .... i'm still working on imperial and £sd

Ah, successfully mastered the groat then? :o)

Cynic all you need master is the humble chart and its many curves...

i certainly think fred may have had his groats squeezed rather hard when he was a lad playing rugger

shortie - i see ftse touched 6740 .... did you manage to get your short in place as of course it has fallen back considerably since?

Nah, missed it... I gave up waiting..

Dec 4 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank slashed its forecasts on Thursday for growth and inflation over the next two years, saying the outlook had deteriorated since its last staff forecasts were published in September. It forecast 2014 inflation at 0.5 percent, rising slightly to 0.7 percent next year and 1.3 percent in 2016. Staff cut their prediction for economic output in the euro zone to 0.8 percent this year, 1.0 percent in 2015 and 1.5 percent in 2016. In September, ECB staff had predicted that inflation would be 0.6 percent this year, then rise to 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent in 2015 and 2016 respectively. It had also forecast in September that gross domestic product would grow by 0.9 percent this year and by 1.6 percent and 1.9 percent in 2015 and 2016 respectively. By lowering its forecasts, which show how the ECB expects the economy to develop, the euro zone central bank will heighten expectations that it will take further steps to bolster the bloc's flagging economy. ECB President Mario Draghi recently threw the door open for drastic measures to prevent growth and inflation from sliding further and expectations are rising that a move could come as soon as the first three months of next year.

markets are clearly unenamoured

Eyes are on the Dax, will it rebound?

9915 gone long

9847 long again