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

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

At the crossroad again from my perspective.

the weakening of the chinese economy is of considerable concern right across the world

i'm undecided as to how bleak an outlook this creates for the markets
worldwide economic stagnation or worse is the last thing that the various powers that be will want to see, but i'ld have thought their weapons for staving off this were pretty limited

Plus we have had a run up on both FTSE and DOW of late ,i certainly don't fancy going long right now .
Oilers and miners such as PMO,TLW, KAZ,GLEN,LMI, have tanked again . Oil and Copper going back down .
I'm wondering if the DOW and FTSE will not take a step back , just my thoughts ...

Earnings in US have been hit and miss. Nike and Walmart going in opposite directions. A good example of picking the right stock.

what a very strange day
i have a very small long DOW profit, but am almost inclined to bank lest it melts

DOW
a quick surge above an important resistance - 17,230
if that holds, then in theory it should be further onwards and upwards, and that will no doubt drag FTSE with it

FTSE
good to see 6340 holding out through the close
a bit straw in the wind, but may move higher from there in the morning or even o'night depending on what wall street does

Went long FTSE this morning when it was down for a few points ,won't move much at the moment ,may be tempted to go long again this afternoon.

DOW looks a better bet ...... though it disturbingly dipped quite well below 17,200 last night, it has now recovered that important level (currently 17,222) and with luck will push higher

that ought to drag FTSE with it, but that index has been reluctant to follow of late

cashed in dow long at 17,300 for +80 :-)

quite probably back in again later and probably long again

And stayed with long FTSE ,been a bit boring and slow though ..
Cashed in +56 on dow .

DOW is now roaring, but will it hold
went out to buy some veg for this evening, and 17,300 had been well and truly breached on my return, so have (rashly?) gone long with very small stake at 17,340
shall continue to watch and may add if there is a new meaningful move in either direction

Out of FTSE +42 . Not sure it will hold maybe short if it goes too high .

from memory around the current level of 6,370 is a potential hurdle, and if so, it needs to move significantly past this and to hold at least into the close, with 6,400 the becoming the next point of note

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which has just been hit, so i banked a useful little FTSE profit at that level, but shall watch

DOW still running and yummy yummy :-)

discretion ruled and banked my 2nd good profit of the day on Dow at 17,466 which may also prove resistance
as i'll be off-line for a bit, i didn't want to risk losing a bundle of profit, but shall def keep an eye open during the evening

I have been long on the FTSE this morning for a few points , should have just carried my long over from yesterday .

i also went long FTSE this morning, but i'ld like to see some stronger action from that quarter
meanwhile, i went long DOW once more yesterday evening (17,488) and so far that looks to have been a reasonable idea