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

DOW
banked nice long profit on 50% and have reversed DAX so now (overall) running small short

DAX
closed DAX short for ok quick profit

DOW
looking very shaky
a couple of days ago, it broke quite smartly through 21,500, but yesterday it stuttered and dropped below that by the close
there was a half-hearted attempt to go back north earlier today, but has now fallen back quite sharply to just above 21,400


DAX
to some extent has mirrored DOW, its upper limit being 12,900+ but has now tumbled back to 12,750
this does not augur well for the bulls

DOW
last night it had a few peeks at 21,400 but managed to hold that line
perhaps worth keeping an eye on its direction today for other markets

what spooked DAX while i was out, or is it just computer generated mayhem?

Being flippant - USA is going to nuke Germany.

:-)

More like N Korea

US Indices keep powering on.

China's central bank has revealed shocking figures on the scale of shadow banking operations in the country, admitting that off-balance sheet business is more than double previous estimates. Bank assets are approaching $38 trillion (£29 trillion). The explosive growth of hidden activities on the margins of the financial system has alarmed the People's Bank (PBOC), and suggests that the two-year credit spree since the downturn in early 2015 is treacherously unstable. - Telegraph.

Wonder what effect if any that will have on markets.

Has Ftse 100 peaked? I am undecided which doesn't help.

What about Wall ST ? crazy.

.

Time to line up one's shorts I fancy... in one's shorts of course.

Timing as ever.

Fast turnaround on FTSE 100

BBC

Inflation drops unexpectedly to 2.6% in May, official figures show.