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

It worked out good for me!! ;-)

And me! :-)

Skinny are you also sensing a rally before Christmas? About time we had some movement.

Yes, I posted the FTSE closes last week - you don't often see them that close and said the FTSE looks ready for a break one way or the other.

I'm hoping for the upside as its a bit galling seeing the DOW & DAX etc consistently making new highs.

Last week's closes :-

24/11/2014 6750.76 6763.97 6720.09 6729.79
25/11/2014 6729.79 6750.87 6709.31 6731.14
26/11/2014 6731.14 6765.01 6718.53 6729.17
27/11/2014 6729.17 6749.91 6713.76 6723.42
28/11/2014 6723.42 6734.71 6667.08 6722.62

I think the we'll see a commodities based rally before Christmas which will kick off the FTSE.

crude prices may conceivably rally as we move into the winter months, but unless there's a sudden upturn in chinese demand (unlikely over just a few weeks), it's hard to see ore and copper and nickel prices recovering much

as for gold,m who knows

'Commodities' could cover any number of products. I agree that Iron ore, copper, nickel and all of the precious metals are unlikely to rise before the spring. 'Soft Commodities'....Looks like most harvests were very successful this year, so supply exceeds demand. Cacao and palm oil look to be the money spinners atm.
Not looked at orange juice or pork bellies recently!

Gold price very dependent on the Dollar isn't it, so all the while the dollar's strong Gold will remain relatively weak, is that not how it works usually?

Bet it wasn't long ago you had a bit of crackling Harry.,.

I wish, Bb! However, getting to the stage where I'd rather go to the pub! ;o)

I'm keeping an eye on Softs, sugar, coco, coffee, the luxury products for first clues along with cattle. Worth remembering that gold prices are also affected by fear and 2014 saw central banks (the biggest buyers of gold) shift from being sellers to buyers to hold against their foreign currency reserves. No doubt the Russian central bank will be at the forefront of gold buyers right now.

What a coincidence Harry I'm down there as well for a day, but a Sat.

I'll post some Sunday lunch recommendations when I get the latest.

Thanks Stan.

The US economy added 321,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate stayed at 5.8%, official Labor Department figures show.

The number of jobs created is above forecasts of around 225,000 new posts.

The figures are a significant gauge of the health of the economy.

US employers have added at least 200,000 jobs for ten months in a row, the longest growth period since 1995.

Should have stayed long on the DAX yesterday!! doah..

Another new high on Dow.

but it is or should be a considerable concern that germany's economy is faltering badly, russia is now a basket case and ....

"Mutiny at ECB after challenge to Draghi ..... facing fgull-blown leadership-crisis ..... powerful implications for for financial markets and the long-trerm fate of monetary union ...."

there's quite a lot more - today's fascist gazette

"there's quite a lot more - today's fascist gazette" there are so many of them to choose from, but do I assume that your mean the Daily Mail?

Alf?.. Answer the question -):

Any chance of keeping all things political on the Communists rule /Talk to yourself thread chaps, enough shite on there for everybody to endure. I seem to recall even though free, MAM is a Financial Bulletin Board. Anyone who agrees say AYE!