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

Sounds like Greece have done some kind of deal ,although whether it's one that will please markets we will see .
Now we have China to stick a spanner in the works .

as i keep on saying, there's a lot more to this than meets the eye .....

for example, it is almost guaranteed that lot of existing debt will be rescheduled at minuscule interest rate and to 50 years hence (rumour has it that this was already in place but could not be admitted) and that IMF/ECB will fund some major infrastructure developments, partially paid for by the large scale privatisations

could be cynic ref 18000 & ftse.................

jimmy - looks like the greeks have no option - then pass it through their gov with a few key personnel changes............... interesting day / week ahead

china - lol yes but this would help them too if correct ref greeks.............

yep murky indeed cynic - not forgetting the red bear russia.......................

flat p1ss by comparison today...............

Here is a quick summary of the key points in the statement from the European Union:

Greece will need between €82-€86bn in bailout funds.
It will get those funds when the Greek parliament has passed reforms and the EU wants that done by Wednesday 15 July.
The final deal will need to be ratified by national parliaments - that could be done by the end of the week.
The reforms are substantial affecting VAT, pensions and requiring an independent office of statistics.
A €50bn asset fund will be formed to be run by Greeks but supervised by Europe. Half of that will be used to recapitalise banks, which will then be privatised.
The ESM [European Stability Mechanism] is prepared to provide an immediate €10bn to recapitalise banks.
A 'haircut' or reduction of Greeks debts will not be offered. But the debts might be restructured to make repayment easier, but only after Greece has introduced all of its promised reforms.

i'm currently long DOW from 17,875 (now 17,935) so watching to see if 18,000 can be hit ...... shall almost certainly bank the profit just shy of that level

am also long FTSE from 6725, but that has currently stalled, but shall leave to run

good luck cynic - i have just cashed in profit dow - the greek news wasnt as mind blowing as expected, other global events may well take precedence
long still looks a good call but wont take much to tip it into a bit of reverse imo..........if it goes further north dont mind good for others
gl

ha ha...............imf suckers :-)
china, india, brazil and others will be chuffed to bits to see more money going to the eu zone than anywhere else in the world..................

It's official, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is "ready" to work with Greece, it has announced in an official statement. "The IMF stands ready to work with the Greek authorities and the European partners to help move this important effort forward."

A third bailout deal for Greece is predicated on the country asking for further help from the IMF.

banked modest DOW profit, but i see that index has now climbed again .... never mind

DOW
just taken a brave short at 19,796 as it shows no inclination to surge higher and a resistance at 18,000 def in prospect

that is brave cynic - i hope it comes good for you - i am keeping my powder dry for the moment - gl

A bit of profit taking today after yesterdays bounce?

took my tweensy FTSE profit, but better than nowt
DOW short still running

i'm expecting some nervousness ahead of the vote in the greek parliament and 18,000 is likely to be a hurdle anyway

FTSE 100 just fell over

bugger ..... have cut my losses on DOW, though they were nothing remotely to cry about
short call looked to be right until about the last 30 minutes .... hey ho :-)
anyway, more than made up stock longs

unlucky cynic that was a hard and brave call you made there - i couldnt make up my mind hence keeping powder dry - as i said before long looks the better position currently
and remember this: 'a man who made no mistakes made nothing' so no shame in a wrong / unlucky call
gl

at least i wasn't punting silly money and it's all too easy to let losses run away too ..... have actually had a very good (fiscal) year so far, so long may it continue

anyway, it could now be argued that with DOW piercing 18,000 with relative ease, and FTSE finishing above 6740, that a further run north could easily be in prospect, always supposing the greasy ones do not spoil the party

DOW Short 18040

looks as though you should be thinking of getting out if you haven't already :-(