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

carnage on wall street - already down 220 to just below 16,300

i recollect 16,250 might be the next port of call
at least i opened a tiny ftse short this morning and may now extend it

Sooner we get to the bottom wherever that may be, the sooner we can start up again. We have been told repeatedly that the US market is overpriced, it's now unwinding.
2517

i don't know what has triggered this, but the chart below is a quick reminder of just a few months ago .....

phew! DOW now 16,200 .... glad i'm short FTSE but pity it's not DOW

New low broken since summer.

do i see 16,000 coming this way?

not sure what to do with FTSE position
a stop must surely be sense but leave it to run o'night

Capitulation perhaps, although it would need anywhere between 1000 and 2000 point drop for that. It's trying to claw back some of the loss atm.
2517

decided to bank ftse profit

not that it will, but dow could easily recover 100 points in the blink of any eye, for the same reason that it has lost 300+ points - no reason at all!

Gone long ftse 100.

500 point decline from 8am this morning until close Dow 30. Too much!!

Gone long Dow.

I bet it puts back on some weight in the night ,risky trade but i have gone long .

Snap Claret !!

Who know what happened today.

Oil at these lows will soon be seen as a positive,

ISM is a bigger worry for me than Oil

ISM?

Closed DOW long this morning + 110 .

good job you got out quickly as dow now only up about 35

This is a mad market for sure..

indiscriminate bloodbath as everyone (including me) heads for the exit

===============

logic says that there has to be a serious bounce, but we have been saying that for a while now, but still the markets head sharply south .....almost like the bursting dotcom bubble but on a market-wide scale

so what would be good defensive stocks in this bleak climate?

traditionally, this has been supermarkets and banks, both of which sectors stink
so then there are pharmas - GSK perhaps
and on the entertainment front, SKY or ITV may not be bad bets
tobacco is usually solid, so take your pick between BATS and IMT

now i get stuck!

Pharma & fixed line telecoms certainly on the list.
Possibly hospitality (IHG etc).
Not sure about shipping but BMS has held up quite well and divi still attractive.

i hold IHG as it's also a strongly rumoured t/o target

with a sharp downturn in international trade, i wouldn't go for shipping