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

jimmy - it's back on line

dz - being in unusually cynical frame of mind, i am inclined to believe some very dirty politics are afoot to "depose" tsipras and his crew and to get someone more malleable on board
once that is done, there can be all sorts of skullduggery whereby a huge slab of debt is actually or effectively written off, leaving greece with an affordable rump to repay - ie a rump that represents <130% of gdp

hilary - you usually have something more insightful and intelligent to say, so what's your view?

you are right to be cynical - cynic :-)

almost certainly something similar to that will be / is happening - this has gone truly global and stirring up a hornets nest, and to say t stupid as has ruffled a few feathers would be an understatement to say the least - and no one in the west wants the russians to get a strong foothold via greece although it is rumoured stuff is happening behind closed doors ; what is working in t stupid as favour though is the underlying greek dislike of the germans -i dont care if that isnt pc - it is a simple fact......................

also t stupid as was seen getting ready for work earlier this morning - he was putting on his big plastic red nose, size 20 shoes and spinning bow tie :-D

dont forget to keep an eye on some of those other 'duffers' such as spain, italy, portugal et al ;

lastly - bitcoins lol!

i confess i have no idea what bitcoins actually are .... to me, they sound like something totally imaginary like emperor's new clothes with no actual value at all

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i now have very modest short positions in both ftse (already in the money) and dow (just out of the money)

i'll try not to get too greedy, but confess i cannot see any reasons to go long this week, though no doubt i'll be proved badly wrong

keep a close eye on ftse (and others) cynic - another factor to consider:

The UK economy grew 3.0% in 2014, according to the latest estimate by the ONS. That's an upward revision of its previous estimate of 2.8% and the fastest annual growth rate since 2006

gl

& lol the bitcoins - do you remember that guy who had about £1M or so worth of bitcoins on his laptop without knowing it - he only realised after he had dumped his laptop which is now amongst 1000s of tons of landfill at his local tip - now that is what you call bad luck, he the kind of guy who could fall into a bucket of roses and come out smelling of turds! - and the only way he can unlock those bitcoins is.............................. with his encrypted laptop!!

Had a couple of quick in and out trades this morning. Not holding onto anything too long appears the way forward for a time.

UK Growth at 3% Doesn't feel like it from my Ivory Tower.

no doubt you're right dz ...... perhaps i should keep my sticky fingers off my laptop while on hol

mind you, if the indices go against me, i have other long term long positions to offset, though no doubt the wrong ones!

cheers cynic - it is so volatile at the moment even a bad position can turn positive rapidly.......... some more developments - a rumoured bailout teleconference tonight - could be interesting indeed ;
more importantly enjoy your holiday with mrs c and good ref the other long term positions

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told MPs that Germany could not consult on a new proposal from Athens ahead of Sunday's referendum. If so that will mean Greece does default as had been expected, a source told Reuters

didn't make such a bad call after, and out of both about an hour ago with a very decent profit :-)
my inclination is that long is now the call, but need to look further and in due course

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looks that tsipras is being squeezed by the balls very hard indeed
read my earlier comments re dirty politics etc :-)

good stuff cynic - and yes tPISSra must have his nuts in a vice which is being closed quickly :-)

rather missed the longboat (hahaha!) as dow now +90 and more

Eurogroup teleconference Wednesday 11:30am, to discuss state of play #Greece

c 18021 down a bit now :-)

dining on really fine fish so haven't given the market any thought at all
so where from here?

it sounds that tsipras is now shitting himself, as imf/ecb/eu have no need at all to hold out a helping hand .... that being so, i think an awful lot of civil servants won't get paid which will scarcely win any "no" votes

a "yes" majority now looks have a good chance, and if that happens, there'll certainly be a serious surge ..... but fairly short-lived as that in itself will not settle anything, with all the ramifications that implies

my guess therefore, is that the next 3 days trading will be fairly muted for volume, but some hefty swings still on the cards as voting indications and forecasts are published

the fish sounds so good that i expect an aperitif was not required?

too many aperitifs and post-prandials for you tonight i fear :-)

IMF communications director Gerry Rice says :

"I confirm that the [Special Drawing Rights] SDR 1.2bn repayment (about €1.5bn) due by Greece to the IMF today has not been received.

"We have informed our Executive Board that Greece is now in arrears and can only receive IMF financing once the arrears are cleared.

"I can also confirm that the IMF received a request today from the Greek authorities for an extension of Greece's repayment obligation that fell due today, which will go to the IMF's Executive Board in due course."

ha ha lol the 18026 mrc - that is always quite possible ;

is this the long and the short of it? lol