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

FTSE after close now down another 54 points , DOW still going and oil down another 200 points ,mad !!
I shall probably get stopped out of this last one .

At some point we will have one hell of a bounce ..

Not much to be positive about. I expect the markets price action will drop into the economy soon with job losses. Then the real damage will start. Hope I am wrong

i had another DOW long at 16913 and got out of that +60 and even my 1st escapade at 17,044 may turn out ok too

nevertheless, all very scary indeed

closed last position for -43, but overall a again of about 70 points on the 3 positions, so not bad i guess .... little money involved, but good for confidence and morale

.

as the song says ...... pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again

iran - lifting of sanctions
this has happened very much faster than i expected

my kneejerk reaction was that this would be a "good thing", and there should certainly be some sectors which could benefit - eg infrastructure focused companies

however, there must surely be further huge downward pressure on crude which will not only affect oilies but also many industries around the world
what odds on <$20 within 6 months?
I don't like to think

my buddy in saudi also points out that iran has learned to be self-sufficient over recent decades, so though there will be opportunities there, we should not expect the demand floodgates to open

on the other hand, it's just possible that this rapprochement will bring about at least some stability in syria and the rest of the region ..... not sure how or why, but i'm certain this must have come into the negotiating equation
that netanyahu is jumping up and down with rage is irrelevant

so are we going to see a big jump in the markets tomorrow morning?

Sunday IG indicates a reasonable probability, but it also shows chinese futures weakening further

for general info, markets across the gulf region have slumped about 6% today

US Closed tomorrow,

won't hurt ..... at least it means european markets may be a bit calmer!

interesting rumours in ST today about DC/EU/rabbits
quite possibly or even probably true, though there will inevitably be something of a quid pro quo

FTSE opened quite firm, but looks disinclined to hold, not remotely helped by further weakness in oil

for sure there will be some quick bursts of recovery, but overall, i remain gloomy

Out of DOW this morning 16050 .

that was very brave to hold over w/e

It was but 160 points goes some way to less stress over holding a FTSE long that i still have . Can't believe the mayhem still .

Off back down again

FTSE is doing bugger all within a tiny range
DOW is perkier and holding above 16,000 albeit that that is cash rather than trading

DOW futures c15907 at mo. Not much that I can see to upset the US market this week. Housing starts on wed and unemployment figures on friday. No doubt I will be proved wrong as just about anything causes a knee jerk reaction.

Hi Cynic,
Where do you get cash DOW?

http://www.ig.com/uk/welcome-page

Oil is recovering.
I think Iran delays oil production increase. They don't need the money as much... They survived 30 years sanction without $160bln asset release. They should be more clever not to waste their money that way.

don't forget that iran also wants to screw saudi