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

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!

wow! .... just moved my stop to 12595 .... did have a limit at 12635 but cancelled it just in time

FTSE long looks interesting for tomorrow ... currently undervalued imo at the moment

It was another of those amazing surges wasn't it! I just hopped on board briefly for a small profit before it drooped back down.

good evening Ms Wilcox ....hope you amused yourself this evening

Today has been like an inverted crash! Can't quite understand why it has gone up at all with UBS writedown and another 400 billion still in the pipeline but then again the lunatics are running the asylum

Greatly so, thanks Cynic - I've just been riding another of those lovely waves on the dow. And your good self?

almost vicarious as was cooking and then having dinner, but a pleasurable smile to the the wrinkled and toothless was most welcome .... very fine pouilly fuisse too by the way

well I have been completely wrong on this all day - and my short is still open. Views on tomorrrow ??

Hang Seng & Japan almost certain to trade higher and momentum will carry on to FTSE tomorrow.

Do I let my short run - or take the hit ??

Painful dilemma bhunt. I have generally run my losses far too long, though yesterday's luckily turned around for me at the last minute. I try to make myself accept the pain sooner rather than later now, on the basis that I am then free to trade again with a good chance of recouping the loss.

shut out of Dow at 12610, but more than happy .... so long as Dow stays strong to close, then FTSE profit should also be assured .... nous verrons

Bhunt got the same problem - a short open. Toying with idea of moving stop well out of harm's way on the premis that what goes up (quickly) must come down (hopefully equally quickly) Also setting a break even limit in case it drops overnight when I'm lying in bed worrying about the short!!!!!!!

nothing is going to drop overnight .... F/E will inevitably follow US, and thus FTSE likewise .... whether or not Dow can burst through 12650 remains to be seen

Tomorrow will be important on the DOW, look at the chart at todays finish 12654 it is still lower than the two most recent lower highs, 12700 on 26th Feb and 12720 on 2nd Feb. If it can rise above these levels it will be past last resistance, if not it may resume bear channel.

Whatever happens I will just trade the trend. I must admit I don't understand the strengh in the indices at the moment. It does seem a classic case of euphoria when markets rise and extreme pessimism on falls. Have never experienced markets like these before. Strange days indeed.

These two may put a damper on things after 09.30 hrs wed:
"UK Feb BSA mortgage lending data (0930 BST) UK Feb consumer credit/mortgage lending data from BoE (0930 BST) "
But it's almost impossible to tell in advance if the figures are already factored in & whether they are better or worse than expected.
I am hoping to sell a few stocks at a small profit before that time, just in case.
Most 'Experts' seem to think the U.S. is now in the early stages of recession, so today's bounce may be just a blip on the downward trend.

This from Reuters today:

"European shares are seen tracking stellar rallies in Asia and the United States.
U.S. stocks shot up on Tuesday after strong demand for a Lehman Brothers share offering quelled fears it was headed toward a fate similar to Bear Stearns and raised optimism that the worst of the credit crisis may be over."

Maggie: If at all possible I try and close down all my positions in the evening, however good or bad, so I don't have to lie in bed worrying about it - just such an awful feeling. Hope things go better for you today!