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

i have a VERY small short running DOW which went into the money very comfortably this morning
i'm quite inclined to extend that, as now DOW has dropped below 17,748 it could easily drop a further 60 points or more - ie to ~17,680

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harry - cash DOW is currently 17,725!

Yes. It seems the US is less concerned with micro events in Europe than we are.
Amazing that the Greek crisis seems to have been totally forgotten now. Very short memories within the financial world!

bits to watch in usa, the first report being by far the more important

A second estimate for U.S. GDP in the third quarter will post at 8:30 am ET.

At 10 a.m., the Consumer Conference Board will update the Consumer Confidence Index with November's number. The index dipped in October after reaching an four-month high in September.

FTSE - if you/we're lucky there's a support about at 6228 .... if that fails, then it's down to ~6200

DOW - now hovering around a supposed support of 17,685

More downside before the Christmas Cheer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

US third quarter growth revised higher
The US economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter, with the strong momentum likely to further bolster the Federal Reserve's case for an interest rate hike next month.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.1 per cent annual pace, up from the 1.5 per cent rate reported last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday in its second GDP estimate for the June-September period.

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no real reaction from cash dow as yet, but it ought to mean a bounce off the above support - or at least i think so

a modest little smile from this quarter :-)

Dow to turn positive after 4.30 our time (not for the 1st time I hear you say), any takers?

Funny day today Stan .

..and the rest James -):

There is none i'm confused ,waiting to go long for the xmas rally ..

Yeah me too.. timing as usual though of course.

Oh come on you Dow start turning.. the suspense is killing me.

a bit of a hairy day it has to be said ...... made a few shekels both short then long of DOW

currently out of all, but may buy back again later ..... or even short; or neither :-)

Gone blue ..

so i see .... i got out a bit early, but assuredly no complaints

however, DOW needs to climb another 60/70 points and stay there to break the current trend

What did I say blue after 4.30 again.. the little rascal -):

DOW is certainly fizzing, or relatively so
it was down about 120 earlier but now +21

i should prob sit on my hands, but one feels there ought to be money to be made ...... but not sure whether up or down

if it falls back to 17,770 then a possible buy