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

Not sure this is a bounce maybe the DOW will tell us later ,not going long on anything here at the moment ..

made a turn on ftse but now out of that
still all twitchy, presumably ahead of NFP though i don't think those will have much effect
iran talking down the crude price to put the squeeze on saudi is also far from helpful

Dow futures tracking back from 200+
2517

DOW seems to like the non farm payrolls

292k vs 290k predicted
amazed market hasn't caught fright at the thought there may be more rate rises on the fairly near horizon

both dow and ftse remain nervous of those "round numbers"
let's hope when wall street opens we'll get some further zip

I didn't realise they predicted such a high number (290k) CNBC were talking 200k and could be 150k. Seasonal factors in play?
2517

Well the bad news used to be the good news, could the good news now become the bad news for the market? Not betting on it, but I'm thinking the threat of increased rate rises will end in tears.

cynic alluded to that earlier Chris, I expect that will be the case, although banks would welcome any increase.
2517

it's a bit rock and hard place for the amis
they may want or even need to raise rates in a few months time, but with the rest of the world economies struggling somewhat, they will have problems exporting

also, indebted 3rd-world countries will almost certainly be borrowing in U$, so that will be a double whammy for them

Good point.

george - i think it's a typo of mine; i think 200k was indeed the estimate

anyway, DOW all over the place, but with nimble fingers there's some dosh to be made
i anticipate jimmy buying a private jet with his proceeds ..... perhaps he can then offer to fly MrT to argentina and fred to north korea, all for free of course

Free?.. can I come.

I do have a private jet ,i love a bit of Airfix !

Why take Fred to North Korea? he'd get on great , just his sort .

Looks like a crap finish to the week coming .

yup, and he can take stan with him too and they can both enjoy the finer things in life

How will Stan get those monitors from EL if he is in N. Korea.
2517

Cynic,
I think the fight between Saudi and Iran is related to sanctions. If sanctions removed, Saudi and allies will lose some of the attractions and Iran benefits a lot.

What do you think?

i think the sunnis and shias have been at each other's throats for generations ...... like the catholics and protestants in ireland

don't forget that the saudis are only one or two generations from being desert nomads

meanwhile, what an f* end to the week .... and to think that today has looked very jolly at times