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

IMB (was IMT) is an excellent defensive stock
BATS should be but isn't performing nearly as well
DOM continues to astound

just to cheer everyone .......

20th january, dow dropped to 15,450 and then closed at 15,850!
today, dow opened at 15,850 (guess that means midnight) and has so far been as low as 15,515 ...... currently 15,580 and really struggling to break north of 15,600

must be more than a certainty that china will be truly dreadful tonight, but perhaps that's already been discounted

shall keep a wary eye on S&P500 ..... currently it's nicely firm along with everything else, so fingers x'ed that it stays that way until NY close

for all that, i can't believe this is more than a short-term relief rally so shall endeavour to remember that!

I agree. Just a trading bounce, so am not going to get sucked in to buying stocks........yet.

ditto with indices ..... might be ok if you're already in, even if just ameliorating running losses(!) but quite brave to open new except for quick trades

Things to come:

go and annoy the NOWT thread with your tiresome cartoons

Decent bounce after awful week. Hope we can get a bit more upside next week.

S&P looking a little bit shaky, so i shall be keeping my eye on that

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since when, rocket boosters have been on and S&P has crept up through the important 1850 level ...... needs to hold

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overall, i still don't trust this market and am disinclined to throw in more money

Well a good strong finish ,now what for next week , like you cynic i don't trust these bounces .

Me neither :0) Hunch not to buy Gold yesterday was correct (for now)

Looking at the Forward Diary, Wed and Thurs next week look to be the most important data releases, both UK and US. No doubt something else will crop up to dampen my enthusiasm for Mon and Tues!

i took a bit off the table earlier for a small profit on DOM ...... it was a bit too soon, but it's so easy to get sucked in and make some bad decisions

crude is up about 10% which while very nice, is seemingly without reason .... and that is a concern

also watching S&P and DOW very carefully, the former being the more important .... so far so good

Oil rumour is cutting production.

Been said before and nothing happened.

Closed out for the week.

Been down but finished week up. Amazing really as I have made huge schoolboy errors.

Looking like an early uptick to this week from Friday's gains.

currently looking like a bit more than a tick ..... any known reason?

Strange start on IG

Some good news from Japan, China back from NY hols. are two of them.

FTSE 100 locked for first 10 mins with CMC.

Same with IG plus they still have a 5 point spread .