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 set to march higher

StockMarketWire.com

The FTSE 100 index is set to push higher this morning, according to financial websites, in response to improving oil prices, positive overnight trading sessions on Wall Street and in Asia and assisted by talk of further ECB stimulus measures.

Markets up today CD?...Apparently so -):

they're certainly indicated strongly that way
just as an aside .....
though cash dow is currently +150, the level of 16,030 is still below where it reached during trading yesterday

also of course, we should all remember that markets are still inclining strongly south, so there may well be selling into any rally

Markets in Asia have rallied, picking up on a rebound in oil prices and a strong lead from the US and Europe.
The recovery comes after a sharp sell-off earlier in the week.
Hints from European Central Bank on Thursday that it might consider more monetary easing helped lift investors' confidence.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped 5.9% to close at 16,958.53, after hitting at 15-month low the previous day.
Markets in China also managed to recover some of the past days' heavy losses.
The mainland benchmark Shanghai Composite gained 0.8% to 2,901.32 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2.2% to 18,950.19 points.
Markets were encouraged by a recovery in oil prices, which had hit 12-year lows earlier in the week.
Brent crude was up 98 cents at $30.23 a barrel, while US crude was 85 cents higher at $30.38 a barrel.

As i said yesterday oil seems to be pushing the markets higher ,i suppose next week will tell us if this is just a bounce .

Looking at the forward diary for the US next week, there is so much data to come almost every day, that it seems high risk to expect this bounce to be maintained, imo.

True HARRY but unless there is some disasters out there we are starting from a low base .Here's hoping.

stay aware of this ......

US existing home sales figures will be released on Friday. Analysts estimate sales rose 9.2% in December from a month ago, following a 10.5% plunge

Up to 5900.. higher higher.

Dow futures up 200.

i think i'll have a small dabble (DOW) though with some misgivings
if the home sales are disappointing, all could quickly disintegrate, but with oil having a firm day, the odds are just favourable

.

Any idea what time those home sales figures are out Alf?

Relax Stan everything going well , oil up more than 200 pts ,your FTSE long must be looking a bit better.

DOW has stalled a bit at ~16,120 but i wouldn't be at all surprised to see a further surge
north (i hope!)

on the other hand FTSE has no appetite at all to take on 5,920 which is not very encouraging for the rest of the day as that is quite an important resistance

Relax is my middle name James but yes FTSE long looking better.

Good couple of days but not sure if the DOW's going to hold up .

it's trying hard not to, but if it falls back to 15,950, further buying may emerge
all quite tricky to say the least, with w/e starting tonight

Tıme to reflect on the week. Stıckıng my neck out and goıng for the 50dma as a target for FTSE 100 thıs week. Dow looks a long way from the same lıne. Inroads towards ıt.

Have a good weekend.

I can see your logic Claret, trend is down, never goes in a straight line. How are you going to play it. Go long Monday with no stop and pray oil does'n't tank again or no other sudden disaster to take it back to 5700, or trade it daily? Curious, hope you don't mind me asking.