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 live in a strange world ..... CNN reports

Citigroup posts $5.1 billion quarterly net loss that is worse than expected as it takes hefty writedowns. More soon.

and on that back of that Dow indicators rocket .... currently +110 to 12730

Ftse also shot up - a strange world indeed.

FTSE shot up because Dow did ...... apparently there is some relatively good news behind the headlines and CITI are up about 6%

The news we're hearing and directional movement of stocks and markets makes little sense I agree. The only logic behing this is the amount of analysts who think we're at the worst point in any slowdown indicating that moving forward things will get better and implying a higher shareprice future trading..

exactly... the city is prob relieved just to see CITI can remain solvent...

it's actually a bit better than that and GOOG's figures were very good too

Maybe, wonder if the city will be so happy when dilution occurs as banks re-capitalise?

They were bullish on Bloomberg last night particularly after google results which suggested that they would prosper in a recession perhaps due in part to cheap dollar. Something about 82% earnings coming in better than expected albeit revised earnings, evidently not GE though. Again ironic that techs can boost the old stalwarts like financials. Evidently April is traditionally a good month for markets, read something about options expiry in the states today which is supposed to boost the afterburners too. Get ready for getting the shorts out in Mayuntil St. Ledger's, or may be it is not that simple! Also noted Goldman Sachs coming out with crude forecasts of $175 this year, perhaps similar to the $6000 gold when it was hitting $1000ie ludicrous and probably a good time to do the opposite though crude is a vicious beast to play with!

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made and banked a very modest profit about a week ago, and have bought in again today at 12607 ..... i just wonder if we will see gently appreciating in the coming weeks/months as for sure there is a strong body now that considers far too strong for its own good

I read something also about options expiry on 18th April could be pivotal as it was pivotal with falls back in June 2007. Not that familier with how this effects markets, but DOW is past 12800 level now which has proved risistance level in the past.

I know markets look forward on longer time scale, but they also hate uncertainty, of which we still have plenty of. ( re- housing in the UK )

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The 18th is when the months options are either exercised or walked away from if the strike price has been achieved, its also when the months futures close out also. Not sure what this has to do with rallys though, a trip back to the charts I think is required to see if there is any clear pattern.

Sure enough the 18th last month also saw a rally but this doesn't appear to go back any further, maybe due to the strong downwards pressure during Jan & Feb. 12800 tested strongly today which causes me some concern. We have also seen the sp move above 50 DMA so will be interesting to see if there is any support at this level or if profit taking will kick in and cause yet another sell off.

I'm no expert on charts but for anyone that plays with the beast ie us crude may find some dramatic moves when the ma's cross on the 3 minute chart

Reckon a reversal on EURUSD is due at anytime, it can only (surely) be a matter of time before Euro zone relents on its hawkish outlook...

Lack of jungle juice in Scotland....hell !...they will all be coming down south...that should add a few pennies at the pump !

Re GBP/EUR - this news from Reuters:

"The Bank of England will next week announce plans to swap 50 billion pounds ($99.8 billion) of government bonds for UK bank mortgages in an effort to break a lending squeeze gripping the home loan market, the BBC said on Friday . . .
A debt swap scheme, similar to one the United States announced last month, could make banks more willing to lend to each other at lower rates and could ultimately mean the BoE may not have to cut interest rates as aggressively as markets have been betting on." [my italics]

I reckon that would mean GBP rising against EUR - the Euro is in any case being talked about as too strong against other currencies.

reasonable supposition Ms T, especially if the tide (sentiment) is turning against Euro and/or more pro-

How nice to see you agreeing with me Cynic!

too scared of being soundly spanked if i do not!

Right...you've tempted me..I like the sound of Cynic's proposition = "I'll disagree with Toya" (only joking !).