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

Inclined to agree B T hoping for some resistance at 6200 bu tmaybe it's wishful thinking.

Oil nearly hitting 120 again despite dollar strength!

Falcothou: according to Thomson Financial News the price of oil rose "amid investor jitters over further violence in Nigeria and potential escalation in tensions between Iran and the West."

The West would be in big trouble if Iran refused to supply it let alone go to war. Some people suggest that Bush's remit is to renumerate oil and defense sectors and he has done a fantastic job! I don't know what percentage of oil revenue goes into defense for your average gushing tinnpot state but judging by the sabre rattling in Chavez land and everywhere else quite a lot.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aY8GpLUsUKMQ&refer=uk

managed to trade the dow yesterday to good effect.

Been looking at the FTSE today and it is looking toppy - tempted to short - any thoughts?

I think it looks toppy too but it refuses to agree with me. Not doing anything but sitting on my hands watching my long term short get longer.

Hi Maggie - I decided to go with my train of thought this morning and shorted it at 6240 and again at 6250 - but it refuses to drop.

i just cannot fathom this market - in danger of losing all of yesterdays profits if not careful !!

Hope you make loads today cos if you do I might I don't think FTSE knows what way to go

neither did i expect the dow to push back above 13000 again this morning, this can't all be because of the oil price and the recovery in the dollar ??

Could it be that feel good factor you mentioned @ week end? I'm not sure what's to feel good about with less money to spend than 17 years ago ( mail this am) I'll feel alot better if Ftse drops this pm!

You guys should remember that the DOW achieved a technical breakout from the long term downtrend last week. Might be sensible to keep an eye on that line :)

I'm no real technical buff but for what its worth I'll put my fourpennith in.

If you look at a ten year chart, the dotcom bubble was created very quickly which peaked around 2000. Thus the fall was equally dramatic. The difference in the bull run since 1993 is that it it developed much slower over the last four years so logically I'd though it was much stronger for it. The bear market and fall over the past 9 mnths has been dramtic, quick and nasty but not particularly strong.

IMO and I may be wrong, I'd thought we were therefore going to have a quick recovery back upto the peak of 9 mnths ago.

Technically it does look as though we might have a temporary pull back but I have decided that although unpleasant, chart-wise, the recent dramatic falls may turn out to be historically insignificant.

I'm sure some of you have a greater technical knowledge than me, so your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks PT & DD

Likewise Pt & DD

I looked at FTSE this morning and I really couldn't decide on a direction, so when in doubt do nowt, always another day. Yesterday was a better day to read and I did well following the trend and going short first thing.

AAAgh - my short on the dow got shorted out at 13030 - about 2 points less than its highest point - and look where it is now - down 200 I need to scream.

Still my FTSE shorts are still running

In a nutshell

FTSE waiting to see if BoE will cut rates.
Dow always had a support at about 12800

And if it doesn't???

The odds must be for no change today I would have thought ??