Sellers took control on the US with a big drop on the DOW in late trading after a significant dividend cut by Kodak. A series of powerful earthquakes have shaken the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, injuring more than 230 people, causing widespread damage and blackouts and prompting officials to issue tidal wave warnings.

The primary reason for the rapid rise in household debt in recent years is an increase in home ownership and the related rise in secured mortgage debt, the Bank of England says. The FTSE 100 index is expected to fall through key support at 4,200 today after the heavy sell-off in the US We have the long-awaited decision on the Safeway takeover due at 11 a.m and this may push Matalan higher.Debenhams The Daily Mail reports talk that gazumped private equity bidder Permira is about to launch a knockout offer at 485 pence a share, while the Financial Times says leading bidder Baroness Retail is set to up the pace of its 455p bid timetable for the department store group U.S. GDP data due at 1230 GMT and the University of Michigan Sentiment survey expected at 1345 GMT for fresh clues on the U.S. economy

Viridian Group Northern Ireland power utility said it expected its first-half results to meet forecasts.

Minerva property group posted a sharp drop in full-year pre-tax profits on Friday to 1.4 million pounds from 6.3 million in the previous year, in line with expectations.

Nestor Healthcare Britain's biggest healthcare recruitment firm said it had ended talks about a possible bid for the company because it had not received a high enough offer.

United Kingdom Calendar (F)inals (I)nterim	United States  (GMT)	Europe & World (GMT)
Fri 26th Sep Atrium Underwriting (I), BATM Advanced Communications (I), Bertam Holdings (I), Goshawk Insurance (I), Marylebone Warwick Balfour (F), Minerva (F), Rowe Evans Investments (I), Retail Stores (F) Capital Radio Trading Statement00.01 Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin Released	13.30 2nd Quarter Final GDP q/q 3.1% 13.30 2nd Quarter Final Personal Consumption q/q 4.0% exp. 14.50 September Final Michigan Sentiment 88.5 exp.	07.00 EMU August German Import Price Index m/m 0.4% exp.
Good Trading!      david@FTSEDOW.com     www.FTSEDOW.com Pivot Calculator

zarfif on daytrading I do not use a stop loss as such. I use what I call constant re-evaluation and ask myself "Would I still take out that position at the present time". If the answer is NO I get out. Often I do this without any movement in the share price at all. Perhaps the FTSE changes direction or the sentiment changes in the Level2 order book gives me a good enough reason to cover my trade.

This very important for example when you trade a company first thing in the morning after declaring results. You have to try and work out the sentiment and get out ASAP if you are wrong otherwise you can lose money very quickly. Often you do not have time to get out at your stop loss.

 If I am well in profit on the order I am a little more relaxed and perhaps use a moving stop loss of approx  1.5% For my longer term positions I tend to use trends and channels as my guide. On a LONG I will set the support on the channel as my stop. Also I look for 123 patterns as below to indicate that I should close a position and take a profit.