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

bollocks!
DOW is only down about 80 and a correction is overdue after such a long upward run

Trump's secret stash of oil found. Not enough for him to overbuy the market.

DAX
if DOW recovers during the evening, then expect similar from DAX in the morning as it is currently sitting on a support

Claret Dragon incoming?

DOW
if there's a dip close to 24,630 i think i may have a little dabble - currently 24,700 though it has been 40 points lower

i did at 24,635 and had a fortuitous fat finger, buying twice what i intended
have therefore just sold half for a bonus profit of 53 points

Bloody hell Mr C! .... Careful. Fortunes have been won & lost with fat finger syndrome.

true, but i realised almost instantly, and just kept a watch
ultimately sold the balance for +150 so i was very happy, though DOW has gone further north overnight

Mr T not tweeted for a day always helps.

all very nasty this afternoon
doubt there's any new news, but markets have been threatening a tumble for a couple of weeks

Gone long FTSE 100 this morning.

sudden surge in the markets is almost certainly due to the note below (ex FT)

Steel users file legal challenge to Trump’s tariffs
A group of steel users has filed the first known legal challenge to steel tariffs imposed by Donald Trump earlier this year.
In a suit filed with the US Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday the American Institute for International Steel and two of its member companies argue that the US president’s move is unconstitutional. They also challenge Mr Trump's invocation of a 1962 law to impose the 25 per cent tariff on national security grounds.

Jeez!.....no wonder there are so many lawyers in the US. They just can't resist!

Reducing reliance on other countries for military hardware seems reasonable.

DAX
taking a real pasting yet again, but not sue if there is any reason other than "chart malaise"

Dow ticking up through earnings.

Apart from Mr T and his Twitter account just what can go wrong :)

People can keep reading it and reacting in their obsessive, hysterical manner.

DOW going well into earnings.

Next week on a seminar about trading indices. 1st time

Last hour blast off

Last hour blast off