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

We moan when stock go relentlessly down but this week they have relentlessly gone up .

I've dipped a short toe into the Dow @ 17, 062....

DOW having had a little flurry in both directions earlier this morning, is now almost stationary and holding its breath to see what the opening and the rest of the day brings

because i'm a silly boy, i've just added a very small extra dow short at 17,082.8
we shall see :-)

You should be right however the market just keeps going up .

banked a little profit (30 points) on the above, but am still running others
meanwhile, DOW is currently disinclined to climb further .... or to fall for that matter

cynic - Fabulous course! weather was fine but breezy only lost four balls :0)
When you do play make sure you hire a buggy pleasant eight mile walk, good distance between tees and hilly. Immaculate fairways and greens, lot of bunkers but not many steep ones. Challenging course, but you'll love it.

my aberdeen client will guide me well, but i fear will be unable to keep me on the paths of righteousness :-)

meanwhile, DOW is looking south, but not looking keen to take the plunge

Morning

Columbus day in USA.

A bit quieter than normal, whatever normal is these days. :)

Dragged lower again.

markets are all a bit strange
they're flopping about a bit, albeit with quite a wide spread across the day(s)
nevertheless, i note that DOW is currently reluctant to keep its nose above 17,000

for all that, i am not sufficiently convinced that all is heading south, so have banked a modest profit on some of my DOW shorts

China Q3 GDP numbers out on Monday morning

hard to know how the markets will take them, whether good or bad

Short DOW 17195 .. see if they sell off tonight before those figures come out

good call so far jimmy (17138)

I'm surprised you didn't tonight ....

I closed at 17130 ,, 65 pts will do .

good boy ..... i see it's now recovered to 17187

was cooking dinner and am also pretty tired

China numbers are trending down still. A bit of a sell off to start the week!!!!!!

China Shares Rise After Growth Report Eases Economy Jitters
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP BUSINESS WRITER TOKYO — Oct 19, 2015, 1:15 AM ET
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Chinese shares rose Monday after quarterly growth figures countered pessimism about the world's No. 2 economy. Other Asian markets were mixed after trimming losses.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent to 18,176.52 while China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.5 percent to 3,408.41. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.4 percent to 22,974.36 and South Korea's Kopsi shed 0.3 percent to 2,024.11. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed at 5,266.20. Stock market benchmarks were higher in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.

CHINA GROWTH: Data released Monday showed that China's economic growth decelerated in the latest quarter but relatively robust spending by Chinese consumers helped to avert a deeper downturn. The world's second-largest economy grew by 6.9 percent in the three months ended in September, down from the previous quarter's 7 percent and the slowest since early 2009 in the aftermath of the global crisis. Growth of 6.8 percent had been forecast by analysts.

ANALYST VIEW: "Markets have clearly been buoyed by the better than expected headline number, and it shows that China's economy has not deteriorated as much as some had thought," said Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG. "Although growth may be holding up in national headline figures, north and northeast China are basically having a regional recession with their heavy exposure to commodities and over-capacity secondary industries. How China lessens some of the strain they are suffering is still an open question for the government."

WALL STREET: The Dow rose 74.22 points, or 0.4 percent, to close Friday at 17,215.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 gained 9.25 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,033.11. The Nasdaq composite added 16.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,886.69. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 3.2 percent this year. The Dow and S&P 500 are still negative. The Dow is down 3.4 percent, while the S&P 500 is off 1.3 percent.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 22 cents to $47.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 88 cents to close at $47.26 in New York on Friday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 29 cents to $50.17. It rose 73 cents to close at $50.46 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 119.33 yen from 119.43 yen on Friday. The euro rose to $1.1370 from $1.1348