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 - (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.

,

have been cycling - finished back in Toulouse yesterday afternoon - so other than picking up FT news have missed all the fun and games
however, i see that yesterday, DOW staged a massive recovery having been down a further hefty lump earlier in trading ...... so still a great many ways to lose lots of money as well as to make it :-)

Cycling in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Mr C! Hoping to support Chris Froome next year then???

Manuel,

If you have finished waiting at table and not too tired, have a look at and pop into the Hotel de Ville Toulouse.

It has an amazing interior.

Well worth a look!

Said Fred , the champaign communist

aldwick 18326 - i am sure i heard fred say the other day: 'do as i say - NOT as i do!' :-))

fascinating on the dow with the US worried about an earlier than expected interest rate rise and europe via ecb worried about china shenanigans - fantastic peaks & troughs (from here troughs and peaks lol) ahead -ahoy me hearties!!

Tally bally ho Huzzah and hoooorahhhhh!!

we were somewhat disappointed with toulouse, though we did not spend much time there .... this was leavened somewhat by the number of pretty girls!
however, we passed through a number of very pretty villages and took plenty of pix which can readily be labelled and turned into our annual "trip book" via photobox
something i certainly want to investigate is the link between montauban and the armenian genocide 1915/20 courtesy of the turks ..... a good friend of mine could not enlighten me, though his parents had to spend a fortune in protection money at the time, and also to escape

staying o'night in dreux which is surprisingly attractive and even chic, and shall then drive to calais in the morning, and partake of a good lunch before catching eurotunnel

Any crumbs of comfort out there to turn FTSE 100 around?

Here , put this on for now Claret ..

apparently 6429 is the next key level for FTSE - a mere 25 further south
DOW support should be any point now - if you/we are lucky

Thanks jimmy b.

Full body armour required soon if this carries on.