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

oil and gold dropped to key support levels, quite a day for dollar and commodities

all sorts of contrary things happening, perhaps best summed up by Dow which was earlier down about 100 and has just moved back into positive territory

just shows you what I know, I looked at indices first thing and concluded that today would be a ranging day and I could spend the day away from screens. If I had traded as planned it would have been very profitable.

Hopefully we may have a clearer picture next week, with BOE interest rates, Bank interims and Fed announcement all out of the way.

that's if you managed your timing and everything else correctly!

Indeed timing is all important, would have made 30 points, but would have to admit it would have been very lucky, long from 5369 for 30, just before market turned.

so in reflection it was best not to trade today for me.

sure hope Dow has not got too far ahead of itself prior to Fed's statement ...... a couple of hours will reveal

DOW up over 300 points, no FED interest rate change, I imagine most people are long the FTSE on wed?
BUT many big companies go ex-divi tomorrow, which makes things a bit tricky.
Certainly worth taking profits, imo, before the next bad news hits the headlines.

Strength of the dollar relative to inflation and falling oil prices is where my eyes will be to determine if the rally will continue. Good movement on the Yen today, was hoping it would start to gather momentum but no such luck. 3 bets in play all short so good profit made, expect to hold these into 2009 so long as we don't go through too long a period of no movement. The financing costs associated with rolling bets build up quickly, due to no exact time frame futures are no good for this type of play. Surprised gold has stayed up considering the decline in Brent, it didn't rally like brent and now I suppose will look to restore the historic 9:1 ratio.

Sometimes I have the feeling that the markets want to rally, and look for excuses too, falling oil prices have helped and the fed no change dicision may have been a factor in this rally. But underlying economics remain very weak, so I can't see it lasting too long, with the RBS interims due Friday, this could influence the mood.

Hi cynic just to bang on about Vix again, I discovered it in the indices section of ig index cfd platform and found you can even trade it!

far too scary for me ..... sounds like trading Binaries

time to watch the Dow carefully .... despite the nasty news from Freddie, the Dow has now inched into positive territory ...... however, there is likely to be (quite stern?) resistance around 11650 ..... i would expect this level to be challenged at least once this evening but would be moderately surprised to see it broken with any impetus, even though sentiment looks to have taken a definite turn for the better

i look to have called the first part of the forecast correctly, Dow having been up to about 11640 3 times ....... now time to watch and wait

Wait for what? DOW currently +40.

wait to see whether it holds above 11640/11650 ..... and it just about has ...... tomorrow could be interesting as opposing forces struggle against each other, but overall an encouraging end to the day

Not much on the economic front tomorrow. Interim results from Barclays about the only major influence on the FTSE, so could be a reasonable day, as you say.

B of E rate decision is pretty big I'd thought.

Certainly will be if they raise rates .. market will hate.

Ah yes. Missed that one! However, no change expected, much like the FED's decision.

As predicted, no U.K. interest rate change.
DOW looking bleak however. Currently -70.

US jobless claims poor.

rose 7000 to 6 yr high