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

US jobless
the forecast is that 230,000 jobs are expected to have been added in January, down from 252,000 in December, while unemployment is thought to have stayed at 5.6%

the collapsed oil price means that the oilies are shedding shedloads of employees, though of course many of these are other than in usa .... nevertheless, there will assuredly be collateral losses throughout the suppport industries and so on down the line

US jobless
US adds 257,000 jobs in January, unemployment rate at 5.7%

The economy created 257,000 jobs in January compared with a revised 329,000 in December. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 5.7 per cent.

Economists had forecast a tally of 230,000 and that the unemployment rate would hold at 5.6 per cent.

America's labour market proved a consistently bright spot for the economy last year, with monthly job growth averaging 246,000 last year. That is up from an average of 193,000 in 2013.

Expectations not met then.

which bit didn't you read? :-)

i'ld also guess that this brings a rate rise rather closer, except $ is already very strong against other currencies

Good news is bad news then? Casino. :0)

markets tend to be perverse

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high speed yoyo, but looking to head south for the moment

markets continuing south on both sides of the pond

i can see reasons for wall street to recover, but not many for ftse

uk has to contend with ukraine and greece, and of course the upcoming GE which assuredly will unsettle both before and (almost certainly) after

My only plus today is KAZ.,.

DOW
the real tester will be if 17670 gets broken, though we're still ~100 points north of that

i have a short position which i am prepared to sit on for the moment, but also dip and out with "quickies" when the mood takes me

DOW
currently below 16700, so watch and beware ..... if it closes below 17670, then get out the tin hat

UM...... currently 16700...... if it closes below 17670...... UM wein glos doont unerstan.,.

try 17670, though it has quickly recovered 40 points to 17720

.

can someone keep an eye on international news as something nasty (ukraine?) may be afoot
Dow has quickly dumped 100 points

i currently have very poor connectivity

MINSK/DONETSK, Ukraine - The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine began peace talks in Belarus on Wednesday, while in Ukraine pro-Moscow separatists tightened the pressure on Kiev by launching some of the war's worst fighting

DOW over 17900 / oil up ? ...

oil has barely moved but dow bolted about 30 mins after close (21:30)
no idea why

this was almost certainly the reason .....

The US Congress gave final approval Wednesday to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would transmit Canadian crude to US refineries, defying President Barack Obama's veto threat.

oil
it very much looks that Saudi is cutting back on oil production, regardless of what they may be broadcasting
in the last 2 months Aramco, for which read Saudi Oil, has pretty much stopped developing new or even existing wells
while there will not be a sudden surge in crude prices, the effects will slowly filter through
i'ld still bet on it settling at perhaps $60/70, though longer term Saudi will want it back above $85 as that is the sort of level around which their budget is structured

Gone Short FTSE.

6950 STOP