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

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

Wrong call on FTSE

certainly is at the moment i'm afraid, but things do not go up indefinitely

Been one of those weeks. Just got it plain wrong.

well let's see what the new week brings and if the markets remain so gung-ho having digested the greek fudge

meanwhile, ukraine rumbles on of course

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as a marker, IG shows cash positions this morning
FTSE 6950
Dow 18132

an extract from sky news on the net

Greece Agreement 'Old Deal In New Clothing'
........... It was said that behind-the-scenes, the Germans were refusing to talk to Mr Varoufakis - that some Greek finance officials had been urged to get rid of their boss.
That would be a terrific mistake: their new finance minister is one of the biggest assets Greece has, particularly when it comes to explaining to an international audience why austerity has not worked, and why future deals might have to be different.
And there will almost certainly need to be another deal once these four months have elapsed.
In the meantime, Mr Varoufakis and his colleagues have a tough job on their hands explaining why what was agreed in Brussels was a triumph rather than a defeat.
Their previous feat - overturning decades of two-party domination in Greece - may end up looking easy in comparison.

correction under way perhaps
Dow now down 60 at 18165

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what an arsehole!
all recovered

.

Is the FTSE going over 7000 ? i don't fancy buying in to this at the moment ,correction coming ?

It will at some point no doubt but with interest rates not going down in the foreseeable future, answer has to be not yet. Always the possibility of a terrorist event but otherwise can't see it going anywhere except up short term at least.

Waiting for the first sell off before I commit to shorting. As for now I am sitting on hands.

how short is short term?
confess i find it hard to believe there won't be a significant correction ahead of GE and after .... but then i'm amazed at the current strength

''but then i'm amazed at the current strength''-------- Is that the US market cynic?
2517

both in all honesty, though at least US economy is growing strongly and visibly so

uk economy is also recovering well - forget all the crap that fred and his buddies will bandy about - but markets don't like uncertainty and a period of such is assuredly ahead

US earnings are faltering apparently so a setback there could/should be expected.
I read in the MoneyWeek mag that in real terms the FTSE would need to be over 10,000 to beat it's all time high.

Fred's posts contain some valid points but because of his dislike of the Tories (although I sense this is changing somewhat) anything they do or try to do he lambasts, whereas Len McCluskey's party can do no wrong in his eyes.
A lot less bias is required from Fred.
2517

i gauge most of us are waiting for a pullback. Is it this week?

6 year anniversary next week since the depths of despair.

It's coming !

Yeah we all know that clever clogs... but when? -):

eerrrrm