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

MARKET VIEW
i find it strange that the markets remain sanguine to strong even though there are various important elections across europe within the next few weeks

elections always breed uncertainty, and this time around there can be little doubt that right wing and nationalist parties in nl, france and probably germany too are on course to make considerable headway

though these elements may not gain power, they will still cause more than small ripples

Do we need to be reminded daily on the Stockwatch page that the FTSE is about to open, bring back the forecasts for its movement- which were always wrong, but a laugh

hahahahahah

What a narrow band the ft100 has been in all day!

now short both Dow and Dax as they're both looking very soggy now

Trumpie speaks in 5 minutes!!!!!

Talks more balls then Stanley Mathews that bloke.

Now been delayed 30 mins. God knows what he's going to say!

DAX
just banked 83 points on a Dax long, though (un)happily admit to nursing a larger loss on a short position (and ditto on Dow)

confess i cannot convince myself that we are truly heading for the sunny uplands, though doom and gloom seem detached from reality as well

DOW + DAX
thank goodness i (effectively) reversed positions here this morning so long both

No stopping US Markets. Only major potential bump in the road is the debt ceiling has to increased in a couple of weeks. QE 4 !!!!!!!!

DOW + DAX
party may now be over at least for the week so have have banked long profits and reverted to short

Very quiet today.

so far so good with that call

just returned after a very enjoyable evening in a fairly smart tapas bar ...... big lunch so just snacked on iberico ham and olives and other light bites + a couple of glasses of very respectable rioja ..... ridiculously cheap at € 5,00 for a decent sized glass

How the other half lives eh... non-farms tomorrow wonder what that brings, not much if the last few months are anything to go by.

good stuff i do admit when nearly all paid for by the client

i see further rate rise by month end strongly predicted

Well I hope they get on with it, these no move days over here are so boring.

I wonder when the Trump effect will wear off! Lets hope there isn't a disgruntled citizen on a grassy knoll to spoil it!

$20 trillion debt ceiling reached in two weeks time.

Surely that must set off a horns !!!!

Any relavent news about NFP from the US yet?