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

StockMarketWire.com
UK's manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to a 16-month high of 55.5 in October, Markit/CIPS data showed, well above forecasts for 51.3 and from 51.5 in September.

these markets are almost impossible to read and thus very dangerous indeed
gut feel this morning was that the correct position was to be short, but this has now been turned on its head - not that i would want to now go long either!

overall, i confess i am very gloomy indeed

as i have said before, we deal in the movement of chemicals worldwide, so we are very much at the sharp end ...... business is currently as bad as i have ever known it, though this is exacerbated by the chinese manufacturers dumping equipment on an already sated market, offering "special" deals - eg any payment deferred for 2 years

Bulk chemical industry I know nothing about, but presumably you are at the mercy of Fx fluctations, cyclical demand and warehouses full of unsold inventory? Almost sounds like the oil industry!!!

Ah China again eh?

But cheer up Alf, a chance for you to get some work done for a change -):

the rally was very short-lived indeed!

I am short both Dow and FTSE 100

harry - forex is not greatly influential in that $ is the international currency for most parts .......

as far as i can determine, the market for many petro-chems and similar has collapsed and many refineries find it barely worthwhile to produce as they cannot find buyers for the end product
that's a bit of a simplification, but it'll do

Start making Uranium cynic and become a Bond Villain .

DOW currently sits right on the cusp of an important support/resistance

phew!
thank goodness i wasn't tempted to do anything this morning, as for sure i would have gone short

FTSE has just about struggled back up through a decent resistance/support (6756), but in general, it still refuses to get its skates on regardless that DOW is romping along once more

i guess it's primarily due to the FTSE components with its weighting in banks and heavy-duty miners, but one can but hope :-)

DOW
in theory, we could now be heading back to 17,800 and more, but i admit nervousness after friday's late collapse

DOW roaring once again and over 17,860 ...... 18,000 next stop though i have no position here at all ...... lack of nerve!

FTSE remains reluctant to follow suit, which is pretty dull

Had 3 longs on FTSE today got out and tried to get back in lower ,made a couple of points , now it moves after hours ,wouldn't want to go long now .

went long ftse just before close at 6372.5, on the basis that it cannot lag indefinitely while dow keeps heading north

undecided for how long to hold as ftse really does need to breach and hold 6400 and even now we're only at 6395 ...... may cash in before going home, and then watch more casually :-)

discretion and valour and all that :-)
cashed in at 6392.8 ...... every little helps as i have heard elsewhere

FTSE
in/out this morning for a nice 33 point profit
however, both ftse and (cash) dow have now run out of puff (for now?) and certainly 6440/6450 is proving a stern test for ftse

Patience Alf patience.

trading the indices is somewhat different from trading stocks

jimmy is rather the "whizz man" in this area, and i'm sure he'ld tell you the same

Agreed, but not if trading "in harmony" stocks which can be profitable at the same time.