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

WTB
finals due tomorrow
watch for fallout as it may present a buying opportunity ...... sp currently close to 25/50 dma levels (3855)


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BOO
finals due tomorrow, but though sp has had a very good run, i reckon the numbers are likley to be good, so selling ahead could be dangerous

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BATS
trading statement due tomorrow
am hoping for good things, but have no feeling as to what will happen to sp

A nice little reverse as the Dow starts up for me.

going long either DOW or FTSE looks a brave move

Another nothing day on either market.

What has spooked early on wıth Dow futures?

Take your pick from this lot CD, Oil still on the up though.

FTSE set to retreat on open.

StockMarketWire.com

The FTSE 100 is set to surrender a chunk of yesterday's gains, according to financial websites, as the Nikkei flopped after BoJ held off on further stimulus and left rates unchanged, while the Fed issued a dovish statement but also kept interest rates on hold.

US & ASIA

In the US last night, the Dow gained 51.23 points to close at 18,041.55, while the Nasdaq fell 25.14 points to 4,863.14 and the S&P 500 inched 3.45 points higher to reach a new high for the year of 2,095.15.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently down 513.54 points at 16,776.95, while the Hang Seng had gained 84.39 points at 21,445.99.

WTI crude oil traded at $45.16 a barrel and Brent at $46.99.

Gold settled at $1,250.73 an ounce.

DOW
opened a small short last night which was at b/e at close so left it running ..... big smile


GOLD stocks are surprisingly muted

Interesting to note that near the end of Feb bounced off 25DAM crossed above 50DMA and since then has remained above 50DMA creating higher highs and higher lows.

Big fall overnight, but again so far intraday has failed to go below 50DMA.

Can it last? Answers on a post card :0)

DOW
currently standing still at about the o'night lows
the following is likely to galavanise one way or another ......

The Commerce Department is due to release its first estimate of U.S. first-quarter growth at 8:30 a.m. in Washington this morning. Expectations are for annualized 0.6 percent growth in the January-March period, which would be the economy's third successive awful start to the year. Initial jobless claims data, also due at 8:30 a.m., will be worth watching as the recent numbers there have been setting lows not seen since the early 1970s.

Dow down, hoping that continues and the Ft100 follows on tomorrow.

Finished -210.79 -1.17% excellent.

agreed ...... dithering, i missed adding to short position at 18,030 in the late (uk) afternoon, so thought i'd missed my chance
never mind

Thats the good thing at the moment, you can get it wrong but if you wait long enough it turns into a winner -):

DOW
TIMBERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
already down 130 and challenging 17,700 level ..... 17,775 was the important support level

if there's no recovery during the evening, there could be much blood on monday (not a hol in us)

Very good news.

I missed out on the DOW ,left it alone because oil kept going up.

FTSE
remaining surprisingly solid, but that could be a distortion due to the preponderance of miners that have done quite well today

Looks like my short will remain in place over the holiday unless the FT moves down before the close.

DOW
now crashed through 17,700
will it stay that way?