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

for your contemplation ......

Euro
i think Euro could be very close indeed to the top of its cycle against .
some time back, my memory is that i was told 12700 would be the limit, though this has subsequently given way, with level now at about 12545.
0.25% UK rate cut surely already built in
European Central Bank will probably continue its no change stance

however, the (over)strong Euro is already hurting European exports, so in the reasonably near future, my guess is that either ECB will start cutting rates, or the Euro will fall out of favour as the perception is that it is not such a good place to put money after all.

Seems to be a good scalping range ftse between about 5958 to 5970 at moment. I'm up 4 now, at least it's a profit, and good practice for me.

Fair bit in the press about Ireland, Spain, Italy wanting to bail out of the Euro, rates seem to benefit Germany mainly. If they jump ship the currency would disentegrate it is argued!

although Alcoa's figures look to be disappointing,apparently sp rose 1% after hours on their issuance

Just had a look at Eur/Gbp chart, quite a formidable rise since August! Would be nice to trade the turn around but not easy to guess the right entry

Falcothou where do Ireland, Spain and Italy jump ship to, the US dollar, sterling the renminbi? They have burnt their boats the euro is here to stay for better (for some) or worse. A lesson for us perhaps!

I think the suggestion was back to their old currencies. Unsure whether they have kept the notes and coins in one huge lock-up for a rainy day

The suggestion that they revert to their own individual currencies smacks of journos short of a story. In the most unlikely event of it happening each currency would have to be massively devalued.

perhaps Spain and Italy in particular would not mind that ..... in any case, it does rather help to highlight the disquiet amongst member nations about the strength of Euro .... i cannot even so how it benefits Germany (or France) ..... it may help some of the pauper newcomers, whom i feel are of little general benefit to the commonwealth anyway, apart from being a source of cheap and often illegal labour .... of course the significant criminal element from Croatia and the like, think the freedom of movement is like manna from heaven

Have taken a very small short on the Dow @ 12565 - testing the water so to speak

....and as soon as I said that - it starts to climb grrrr

Dow is a downer as soon as the first quarter results start to come through.

- but thats not till next week is it ??

I thought I would get in early !!!!!!

My dow short struggling

shouldn't be ... at what level are you short? ...... expect support at 15525 .... if that fails, then could be a long drop on offer

..went short at 12565

when you say support - you mean if it drops to 15525 - it is likely to bounce ??

potentially, yes ..... i see that Dow is currently moving in a very narrow range indeed ..... only about 20 points either way

yes I agree - and again my timing appears to be at the wrong end of that range - I had expected a bigger and more sustained drop this afternoon - indeed it did drop to 12 530 at one stage - but I stayed in rateher than take the profit - ho hum.

Coming back to the currency debate : the likes of the UK, Denmark and Sweden, could create a rival northern currency (you could call it the "kround" ),... as the Norwegians are not in the EC...I don't know if you could include them !

How about calling it the Viking