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

i've got to whizz off, but from memory 17,300 on dow is the solid support and if that fails, 17,200
as i can't watch, i've closed out dow short at 17,302

no idea for ftse, though that is looking surprisingly solid under the circumstances
shall leave those short positions running

dow
interesting evening by the looks of it - i was out to dinner
recovered sharply to a tad below 17500 and then fell back 100 points
however, after hours +74 probably on the back of fantastic results from APPL

no idea what tomorrow will bring

hard work making a shilling or two today, though still think 17300 (dow) may be challenged again

No trades running. Waiting for Janet Yellen to start talking in rhymes at 7.00pm. Then I might have a punt.

after dithering about, dow has now headed firmly south and nearly has 17,300 in its sights once more

===========

small long at 17,306
if this level broken then perhaps down to 17,200

chuckle ..... didn't expect that when i went for my shower; already 17220 .... time to add a few more

no loss overall as am relatively heavily short ftse from about 6800

============

did so at 17199.4

and now i'll sit and wait and perhaps even let them all run o'night

Up on the day but gave a lot back in last 30 mins. A bit worrying for Dow to ship 300 points in last 2 hours. Cut all positions.

.

dow position almost back to b/e on the combined purchases
ftse in profit of course, and shall just sit with that for the moment but may cash in at least some later

Still holding FTSE shorts and EUR/GBP shorts, CHF tempting for a long position. NOK should get hit due to US crude inventory supplies in weekly data.

got lucky and made good money on dow long positions (all now closed), and ftse shorts also in the money (still holding)

will you control your relative on the afren board cynic.....;)

would that i could even talk sense into young sticky; he really is an ass at times .... as for mentor, i've concluded that he's mental and have squelched him .... avoids or even evades the temptation of reacting to his abuse

You are getting sensitive in your old age!

not really, but he really is a tiresome fellow
sticky just gets his knickers in a twist every so often, usually without rhyme or reason
no idea why he's taken deep umbrage with me all of a sudden, but no doubt he's found some sort of reason even if misplaced

you'll note that i've never even squelched you :-)

B, it!

you don't merit such an honour :-)

US growth cools to 2.6% in fourth quarter
The US economy grew 2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter – below consensus expectations for a 3 per cent increase. That was a marked slowdown from the 5 per cent annualized pace set in the third quarter.
Real personal consumption spending rose an annual 4.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, accelerating from the 3.2 per cent in the third, according to official data.


markets won't like that
it's also the last trading day of the month, which would likely bring erratic trading in any case

this may interest you from IG .....

Sunday indices
FTSE, Germany 30 and Wall Street markets are available for Sunday trading from 8am until 10.40pm (London time).

FTSE, Germany 30 and Wall Street markets are available for Sunday trading from 8am until 10.40pm (London time).

And how much did IG lose on the CHF Black Swan? They've got to recover their £30m losses somehow, and a fool and their money are easily parted, I suppose. But why anybody, anywhere would ever trade against a B book broker mystifies the hell out of me.