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

5975 and 16,500 are the levels to watch for

both indices, especially the DOW, remain quite well below those, so the fairly brave may wish to try to ride the wave

Is the DOW going to go and spoil it today ..

it's certainly trying to, which would be very dull indeed

i am getting pretty uncomfortable with the pattern today's DOW trading is forming

US off down again to new lows this year

5 year FTSE chart requires no further comment

I've had better days.
2517

I've had better months ,this is crazy..

If anyone was watching Newsnight last night ,very interesting piece on shipping ,how a lot of these huge ships built recently are now transporting goods for nothing or standing in ports idle.

and i bemoan the disconnect between what i have been saying for months and my actions

Meaning ?

i have been saying for months that i see nothing but gloom ahead but have not been shorting the market

In October 1987 I believe the FTSE 100 went from 2400 to 1600 in a matter of days.
2517

The £ has lost around 12% against the Euro in 5 months, and has a 1.41 handle against the $, so it's not looking good.
2517

Rate cut comıng soon and a another shed load of QE

Which is the reason we are in this mess anyway. these prats never learn.
2517

Agree George. Too much meddlıng but ıt wont stop them.

so what would you propose?

doing nothing cannot be the answer, for then you are guaranteeing a plunge into worldwide deep recession

do you borrow heavily (uk that is) and fastrack major structural development - eg HS2?

don't look to me for answers, as i have no idea at all

Boom and bust we never learn ,look at the housing market crazy prices again ,with newspapers telling us they are up by so many percent and due to rise by 4 million percent next year.
As i said earlier the Newsnight piece on shipping was telling you how they rushed to build these huge cargo carriers and within a couple of years they are sitting idle .

housing is an oddball insofar as it is always supply and demand especially in the right location
for all that, properties in central london - and i'm talking about stuff say in the range of £500k to £1m - are sticking and even my own house does not feel to have risen in value greatly even over the last 5 years (perhaps i'ld be pleasantly surprised if we chose to sell)

when you come to major projects like building a large ship, which will take several years from thought to decision to planning to ordering to completing, a company has to take a long-term view

in case some of you did not notice this little gem of gloom from this morning's FT .....

Davos: Global economy hangs in balance
World teetering between continued recovery and third leg of financial crisis, say economists