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 has finished at 10952 down 4.3%, and FTSE futures is down to 5114 this is looking grim for the morning. Lets see what the far east does after there bank holiday and take our positions.

Good luck.........

I doubt anyone knows the impact of Lehman yet. It's only the first day. As things start to unwind (dominos start to fall), things will become clearer. Even if the U.S. government believe there's no systemic risk, it must be putting a lot of strain on a weakened financial system.

In my opinion....

Strawbs.

Well that was one of the biggest last hour drops ever,total panic overnight as well nikkei down 600 points though they were on holiday Sunday night. oil near 90 dollars talk of US rate cut .25/.50. Only thing going up is portfolio insurance vix... Some good companies will bragains at the moment though you need balls of steel a real buffett day

i would not be surprised to see a modest if temporary bounce in NY today ...... hope Fed does not cut rates as surely that sends out real panic signals

I think the Fed will want to keep hold of what little ammo it has left.....just in case the drama turns into a real crisis. Rate cuts don't appear to have had a great deal of impact, apart from short term market relief. As you say, it could also send the wrong signal.

In my opinion.

Strawbs

Are you long dow cynic? It could turn out to be a double bottom or the start of the big dipper? I am long ftse and lloyds from open with everything crossed

no ..... had a small profit in Dow short o'night which i have closed ..... have left FTSE short running for the mo, just as a bit of insurance

Good luck with your positions, I'm currently sidelined on FTSE and have a buy order in place for lloy a little lower. Compared to other banks lloy are holding up well today, only down 1.6% against other banks which are down between 5 to 8%.

Bradford and Bingley are the surprise today, especially after the ratings downgrade. The market is holding up better than expected, although probably because people are expecting a 50 point rate cut from the Fed and expecting the 75 billion loan facility from Goldmans to be in place for AIG. Likely carnage if neither of these materialise

Just a question which is not directly related to FSTE/DOW, but involves Lehman's:
"LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers shut down its carbon emissions trading desk after the bank filed for bankruptcy protection, a source close to the company told Reuters on Monday. Everything's stopped, blocked ...
Lehman's membership on the IntercontinentalExchange, which includes access to the European Climate Exchange, the world's largest emissions trading exchange, was suspended, an ICE spokesman said.
This effectively disallows Lehman from closing any open positions on its trading books."
What now happens to Lehman's stock/positions as CLE has dropped 40% over the last few days leaving Lehmans with an ever increasing leveraged position?

no idea, but markets and general atmosphere are absolutely terrifying ...... Dow indicators showed +36 at one point this morning but now -105

I think Hbos might be in trouble. Rio at 40 for those who like white knuckle rides

interesting as every time it bounces back it gets hammered back down. Almost took the trade at 162 but not sure it hasn't got further to go if AIG goes to the wall

Fence sitting feels so good these days -):

nah, always the time to buy when it feels like the earth is going to implode... lol

Doesn't seem that terrifying to me. But then I've got my eyes closed.

Don't like roller coasters..... :-)

Strawbs.

yup i am intending to buy HBOS later today was the goldman results and the AIG position comes clearer. I would rather loose the first 5% or so of the upside than back a lame duck

Personally I'd avoid the banks. If the hedge funds were responsible for Lehmans collapse, don't be surprised if they look out for another target. The (long) risk/reward doesn't seem anywhere good enough to me.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

first bit of news, which could certainly be much worse ......

Goldman Sachs breezes past earnings estimates but falls short of revenue forecast. More soon.

next bit not bad either, though no postive reaction in NY ......

Consumer prices drop 0.1% month to month in August. Annual rate eases to 5.4%. More soon.