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

13665 long gone

don't entirely disagree and have just closed my position completely with a very nice profit .....

what made you decide to go long? ...... did you just feel fall overdone or is there more "logic" than that?

Sorry, cynic did not mean I had go long, more that 13665 was surpassed a long time ago, looks like it is trying to rally now as it tends to change direction in the last hour though may be a false charge

equally sorry .... di not read your post properly.

as it happens, i have got greedy and taken a small(ish) long on Dow at 13585 on basis that there is likely to be at least a modest bounce overnight .... assume you know indices effectively do not close.

Interesting to see what happens to the Hang Seng which is at astronomic levels. Where do you think the FTSE will open at? Lower than current futures of 6541 ? Currently looks like the Dow has stalled at the lights.

FTSE is indicated to open at 6540/6545 but my guess is that it will open quite a bit lower than that even if Dow has (indicates) a bounce overnight

i also wonder whether we shall see $ bounce sharply as some short positions are unwound .... certainly hope so!

Not really involved with forex as yet though keeping an eye on it as certainly a good idea to get in on a longterm trend. If or when UK housing /credit falls apart at the seams the pound will surely go into reverse. I find that gold really shifts overnight now you mention overnight positions

i think gold is prob due for a correction too ..... i think it has raced ahead too far too fast, though i haven't seen the gold souk in dubai so busy for a very long time

called right so far and (small) Dow long now showing modest profit with indicator showing Dow opening +55/60 on last night's close ..... if figures are not deemed disastrous, then could be a very sharp bounce, though whether it can be sustained is another matter entirely

herebelow from www.cnnfn.com

Jobs growth picks up
Strong gain in payrolls is more than double what was expected in October; unemployment remains steady at 4.7%.
November 2 2007: 8:34 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers added more workers to payrolls in October, according to the government's closely watched jobs report that showed the labor market significantly stronger than Wall Street expectations.

There was a net gain of 166,000 jobs in the month, according to the Labor Department report released Friday, up from the revised 96,000 increase in September. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast an 80,000 increase in the period.

The unemployment rate stayed at 4.7 percent. That matched both economists' forecast as well as the rate posted in September.

ftse will in all probability will bounce come monday, so have gone long.

Time will tell ?????

if we are entering a bear phase, and i have not (quite) said that we are, then the mindset has to change insofar as whereas in a bull market, bad news is pretty much ignored, in a bear market, it is good news that is ignored.

I will bear that in mind

sorry about that bear faced pun, quite unbearable really

so what's bruin that you are so afflicted this evening? ..... clearly you need to practice yogi to clear the brain!

good day on gold has helped my mood.

better than the average bear booboo

in a more serious mode, Monday looks to be heading for another horror with news that Citigroup is in a real mess ...... i am currently long both FTSE and Dow but shall be closing those PDQ and quite probably reversing same.

and i did, though taking the initial loss (on the long positions) wasn't fun ..... very very slowly learning some discipline

stopped my long on fri evening, opened again this am, bargains out there first thing among the miners, but ftse needs monitoring closely. Am hoping the bad news has been factored in for now and other good deals will lift today for a while at least...

was too tired to wait for F/E to open or may have (been able to) closed before i did ..... personally, i don\'t like the feel of the markets at all, and am trying to gather up enough discipline to start moving my portfolio much more into cash or similar