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

Non Farm Payrolls out today, so staying out for now.

Figure of +195,000 expected.

i am lightening my portfolio b4 today's employment numbers
it's also the end of the week, and confess that i can make neither head nor tail of the current market gyrations

Was it all artificial & overreaction due to too much media coverage?
Maybe, there is something behind the ashes!!!

Metals, oil and banks are recovering gradually. Haven't jumped as much as they used to crash in a day though.......

Let's hope the NFP do not derail progress
2517

+242,000 jobs. NFP.

.

only 195k expected
does that mean US is suddenly getting lined up for another rise in interest rates?

So, we are not in recession!?

herewith ......

US job growth accelerates but wages disappoint
The US added significantly more jobs than expected at the start of the year, data released on Friday showed, adding to evidence that the world’s most important economy is weathering global growth headwinds.
The US economy added 242,000 jobs in February, a much swifter pace than the 195,000 Wall Street economists forecast. Meanwhile, the reading from January was also revised higher by 21,000 to 172,000. However, wages slipped 0.1 per cent on a month-on-month basis, compared to expectations of a 0.2 per cent rise.

It's seems the jobs data is boosted by low quality jobs in the leisure and hospitality sectors........so the figure is receiving mixed views.......thus, hold on your recession question!

sounds like a report on UK jobless :-)

Reckon the us will be leaderless quite soon......... then what?

Is oil headed for $40 per barrel ?

Seems likely....I wonder how quickly the UK pump prices will go up? Faster than they went down I bet!

All if's an but's as usual but March historically has been a strong month for Oil apparently, so if Oil generally will be on the up then we might well have an VG uptick for the FT100 this month. That assumes that the other indicators are positive as well, but as they say never assume anything.. Tricky stuff and wait and see.

from this morning's guardian, though the markets continue to think (behave) otherwise .....

'Gathering storm' for global economy as markets lose faith
The Bank of International Settlements warns that trouble has been brewing ‘a long time’ but central bank options are dwindling

GOLD SHARES
if the markets are now going to retrench (or more), there is perhaps scope for a further rise in bullion

indeed, this morning gold has continued to rise, though the miners have backed off

with that in mind, are there are quality (gold) miners who have been neglected in the recent rise? ...... POG doesn't qualify as quality!

Depends on your appetite for risk......HGM?

I think you may have missed the boat ..