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

DOW has now dropped 100 to ~17,600 which is below a fairly critical 17,635

.

indices are all over the place, but a worrying bearish tone persists with lower lows and lower highs on both sides of the pond

FTSE at 6700 is one key ...... having opened below that level, it has somehow clawed its way north and beyond, but the question is whether or not that can be held into the close today and the opening tomorrow

FTSE - having once again fallen back from 6700, it is making no effort to recover this higher ground


DOW - struggling manfully to stay above 17,600 but again stumbling at the 17,635 hurdle


very difficult to call, so the prudent will apply the old maxim of, when in doubt do nowt

money to be made by those of nimble fingers and strong nerves

DOW is testing both 17,500 - through that with impetus and die - and 17,600 - well 17,635 really

while FTSE is trying rather half-heartedly to keep its nose above 6700 once more, DOW is struggling to stay above 17,500

a head-scratcher

seem to have got my touch back at last :-)

more to the point ......
DOW is once again hovering just below a key resistance/support of 17,635

US employment numbers were disappointing, upon which the index somewhat perversely surged, presumably on the basis that it might delay any rate rise

now then, now then, now then - if one may still use that catchphrase! ..... DOW has suddenly surged through that resistance ......can it hold it through to close, or at least remain above 17,600?

One cannot use that catchphrase any more the same as you can't use

"do you know what it is yet" .

meanwhile, FTSE is heading into the close above a critical 6730

DOW - (currently) collapse of stout party and back to 17,550 which is almost unchanged on the day

bought back into DOW at 17,525 as it looks that this and FTSE are heading for positive days, or at least for long enough to be able to realise a decent profit

that'll teach me to be so smug :-)
guess i'll just sit tight and wait ..... stupid boy

Dow not looking good again this week.

YUM! China devalues.....

Reuters - Greece and its international lenders reached a multi-billion euro bailout agreement on Tuesday after talking through the night, officials said, potentially saving the country from financial ruin.

The agreement, reached after a 23-hour session of talks, must still be adopted by Greece's parliament and euro zone countries. The single currency bloc's finance ministers are due to meet on Friday, giving time to finalise the deal before a major debt repayment next week.

The negotiations appeared to have resolved all the main outstanding issues, after Greece's leftist government effectively capitulated last month to creditors' demands for deep austerity measures in order to receive loans.

"Finally, we have white smoke," a Greek Finance Ministry official said after exhausted Greek officials emerged in a central Athens hotel to announce the two sides had agreed on terms. "An agreement has been reached."

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos confirmed only "two or three small issues" were pending. Greek shares rose, with the banking index surging 6 percent, while two-year bond yields fell more than 4 percentage points.

"The institutions and the Greek authorities achieved an agreement in principle on a technical basis. Now as a next step, a political assessment will be made," European commission spokeswoman Annika Breidhardt said in Brussels.

Still, officials in sceptical northern European countries remained cautious, pending final approval of the deal.

Past three months have been full of chop.

Cant help feel there is more down side coming over next 6 months. Just my feeling.

could be 'me old CHINA' :-))
another fantastic day - another day of china devaluation with a very real concern of more to follow - currency devaluation war a real prospect, the fragility of china being exposed - as i said not long ago this will make greece look like a walk in the park - saaaaaaaarrrrrrrrfffffffffffff imo
gl

Eurozone industrial output eased by more than expected in June, as activity in the currency bloc's main economies of Germany, France and Italy fell markedly.

The European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, says industrial production fell by 0.4% in June from May, although it was still 1.2% higher than a year earlier. The largest fall in output came for factories in the durable consumer goods and capital goods sector.

,