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

Having reached my 12690 level (although not exactly a surge) I'll stick my neck out and say that's that for the day, although keeping an eye on the bottom of this channel to see if we get a sell off.

just keep yourself in suspense ... you'll enjoy it all the more when it is justified

Err, I hesitate to interupt, but Toya, you have email

hi peter ... let me know about the lunch .... meanwhile, Toya obviously has more important things to hand

lol Richard, email on the way in a few mins, apologies for the delay.

Thank you very much Peter - never thought of looking at the RSI! Cynic: I was interrupted by a phone call so didn't manage to take a profit - hope it moves back up a little way.

Phonus interupptus ;)

Changes so quickly this DOW lark, looked like I predicted correctly, but now I'm not so sure ?? (I used to be indecisive, but not any more!)

Dread to think what you two guys would be like together over that lunch of yours!!

Should have had the courage of my convictions :(
Now how many times have I said that??

Richard, you have an email as well :)

I can't believe how it's suddenly plummeted as soon as my back was turned! Luckily I only have a small position open but it eats into my total for the day which is very annoying.

About 400 points out the money on my Wall St May future, if Ihad the money to gamble I'd be opening another for June.... the greed easily sets in with these markets...

Well predicted PTH spot on Now please tell me the Ftse'sgoing to fall Mon.

perhaps the older one gets, and i am now close to senility, the more paranoid one gets, for i really cannot belive that we (the markets) are remotely out of the woods yet.

below i print off an extract from comment elsewhere .....



Analysts believe the performance of financial companies -- widely believed to be the group that leads markets higher -- will be a key to whether investors can hold on to their optimism.....

'I think the market is still very fragile, especially because people feel there are hidden depth charges on the books of financials,' said Stephen Massocca, co-Chief Executive of Pacific Growth Equities, a San Francisco-based investment bank. 'Right now, people are relieved that the crisis appears to be over, and at the minimum, we stopped draining.'

He and others might get an answer once some of the nation's biggest financial companies begin to report earnings later this month -- and, more important, provide outlooks for the rest of the year. That starts April 16, when JPMorgan reports first-quarter results, followed by Merrill Lynch & Co. the following day and Citigroup Inc. the next.

'Further collapse of the market could depend on them,' Massocca said.

It's very interesting, Cynic, that we appear to have read the same article (link below for those who would like to read it all). But while you have looked for the negatives, I have looked for signs of optimism:

"Certainly, worries about the economy and further calamities striking the world's investment banks haven't evaporated. What has changed is the way investors are looking at the market -- simply, that stocks are more likely to go up than continue their precipitous declines -- and that allowed the stocks to hold on to most of their gains this past week.

"After the Dow Jones industrials rose 391 points on Tuesday alone, the stock market's best-known indicator ended the week up 393 points.'Sentiment is the whole story, and what we're seeing is an improvement in sentiment,' said Alfred Goldman, chief market strategist at Wachovia Securities. 'I believe the market has bottomed, and eventually all the problems are baked into stocks and we can start looking beyond the valley to the peaks ahead.' "

Link to the article I read:
Wall Street undergoes big mood change

confess that i may have totally misread SOLA and may therefore shut that short, though i know that as soon as i do so, Wall Street will have a stinking day.

one of my concerns is that Dow is certainly having considerable problems breaking up past 12700, though conversely, having threatened to dive down to 12500 (or even below) yesterday, it recovered and managaed to struggle back above 12600 ..... even if we do get an upward break, it is unlikely that 12800/12850 will be easily breached, and thus there could easily be a reaction of say 300 points, though that in itself will not break the upward(?) channel

Peter ..... get back from the golf course and gives us your shilling's worth (more valuable that twopence!)

If FTSE reaches 6000 I would be very surprised, but it's not far off. I just can't see we are out of the credit crunch clutches just yet. Reading the IMF report on UK house prises against the economic health, states that prices are at least 30% over valued. In early 2007 the IMF said that USA house prices were 10% overvalued, look at what happened next.

The housing market have been looking for support that the mortgage lenders will give, but the news last week from First Direct, Nationwide and many others, which boils down too deterring new mortgage customers at the least, to no longer taking on new customers at worst is very bad news.

Sorry to sound so gloomy, I know the markets look forward with a longer time frame, and some commentators are suggesting that we have seen the bottom of this cycle, with markets having already discounted for the worst, but I just can't see that. Maybe, just maybe the FED have done enough to help the US economy ride this one out, but the Bank of England certainly haven't, and even now I can only see a 0.25bhp cut this week.

Whatever happens this week, good luck and have a profitable one.

I probably won't be on the long side, but on the other hand ?

Will do some more searching over the weekend re TA of the DOW. One thing is certain the 12780 (ish) level has proven to be a considerable obstacle for a while now, I haven't got a chart open in front of me but this has proven to be solid resistance on three or four occasions thus far. My own gut feeling for next week is that the DOW will have a down week, bad news after bad news from the US, but the one caveat that sticks in my mind is that the markets can remain irrational for a lot longer than I can remain solvent. I will chase up the TA, but I did yesterday and there didn't appear to be a straight answer; I guess my advice is not to trade what you think but trade what you see. If we see a push above 12780, the DOW has just gotta be a long.

And what about the Ftse?