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

Thanks Cynic and Global Nomad

why are you now at the office this morning?
confess i am still finishing my coffe at home before strolling to the (pretend) work place!

I'm avoiding the office Cynic - nice trip planned to Oxford today!

did not realise that was today ..... was going to ask you ...... good luck!

All over the place this morning (DOW). Was -77, then -40, then -70 & now -14.
Your SOLA short might be a bit short lived Cynic.
Hedge funds pulling out of commodities are tipped to give this sector a bit of a boost over the next month, otherwise sentiment still in favour of inflation & recession.

don't ask for long life, or at least not for my investments ..... a bit of instant gratification will suffice at my age!

following is clearly why NY is looking chirpier, though i am surprised it is felt to be that exciting .....

Japanese financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ unveils plan to acquire a 10%-20% stake in Morgan Stanley. More soon.

Strange that asian stocks were all up today between 1.5 - 4% on what they considered to be good news in the U.S., yet european stocks are all flat.
As you say, DOW looking very much happier at the open now.

but falling away a bit again - as i expected it to do ..... am happy to leave my modest Dow short running

Good call. Currently -56. Might be news influenced today then.
EDIT now -106 (14.45 hrs)

Just an opinion, but worth a mention:
"The bottom of the bear market has probably been left behind but it could take until mid-2009 before a bull market takes off, Morgan Stanley says in a European equity strategy note.
'There is a good chance that the low point of this bear market has been reached,' the Wall Street bank says. 'This is not the start of the next bull market, and earnings weakness will be the driving factor again at some point in the next few quarters.'
'The fundamental outlook for some critical elements remains troublesome,' it says, citing an earnings recession, banks' balance sheet repair and falling U.S. house prices.
'The next bull market can only start one, maybe two quarters before these aspects bottom out, which we believe will be at the end of 2009.'
'Now we are in the 'bumping-along-the-bottom-phase' during which fundamentals do not improve but new lows are not made,' Morgan Stanley says.

Reuters Messaging rm://peter.starck.reuters.com@reuters.net

do you believe the above Harry?
anyway, meanwhile, Dow is hovering around the 11275 support .... which way next?

doubled up at 11255 ..... smart move? .... we shall see

I think they are working on the 5 year cycle, peak to peak.
Anyway, they are an Investmant Bank. Surely they can't get it wrong??? ;o)

current indication is that shorting Dow again was def a smart move

DOW now down 203 points.
Well done Cynic. I suspect you have made enough money today to buy another case of Chateau something or other!

(a) i already have too much fine wine and (b) seriously fine wine - i.e. 1st growths - cost very serious money nowadays!

Wall Street now down 300+
London, having fallen about 100 during hours, is currently indicating only a modest further 35 point fall for the morrow, which may prove to be a touch optimistic.

at least i have some useful profits from my Dow shorting ..... as forecast!

I hope you're not being one of those evil short selling Spivs Cynic. ;-)

Strawbs.

As I said on Friday (post 2704):

"Many I fear will pile in today, perhaps misguided in the belief that financials are now safe with short sellers gone. The problems remain though. If the falls are more about a lack of buyers, than a mass of short sellers, we could be about to see a final exhaustion of the bulls, before that big drop I've been expecting."

Tomorrow will be interesting.

(Still) In my opinion...

Strawbs.

only short of Dow, which i have now closed at a very tasty profit for the evening ... have actually opened a long with a reasonable stop in place, just in case all continues to tumble

looked to short SOLA, but not possible in either staright stock or ADRs, as has been the case for 2/3 weeks now