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

i have just closed my FTSE albeit at an annoying loss ...... however, i absolutely agree with you, and may well reopen a position once the dust has settled, but only if i am around to monitor


PS .... went to Caprice (London) ..... it was OK, but don't bother ..... food adequate, service patchy and certainly not in the same league as Locanda Locatelli, which is exactly the same price.

I wouldn't guarantee a deal is done. Not the one the mkts want anyway. Any fudged deal will be a disaster for the mkts. I really hope I'm wrong but I've always had a bad feeling about this. Forget recession, we're getting pretty close to a depression.

All IMO

all will be revealed in due course, but it is hard to believe that even US politicians can be quite so dumb as to scupper something quite so critical that had already been broadcast as a done deal, paperwork excepted

You could well be proved correct dd. I suppose I don't like the idea of all that depression as it's too depressing for me, so I look for what I hope may lift the spirits...

for a properly balanced report go to cnnfn.com and read the article "Bailout talks in disarray" ...... it's too long to paste on here, but i shall print out for myself and re-read several times

Cheers. Talking of spirits Toya, I find whisky does the job for me.

Numbs the share pain anyway.

If the markets implode, it'll probably focus minds over the weekend.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

I'll get another bottle in then ...

Thanks Cynic.

I've swallowed my loss (not too big luckily) and have gone short on the ftse for now - should soon recoup my loss. It looks as though it could be heading to 5100 or 5058 or 5000 or lower... before perking up again - possibly only briefly, if/when a deal is done in the US.

I also feel the redundancies announced by HSBC will prove a negative influence on the markets today.

I'm in profit overall this week on the ftse (and so one should be!).

Just seen that whisky is on offer - thanks dd! But champagne is preferable

it rather looks as though my comment a day or two ago about the deal being struck at midnight on friday may be quite close to the mark ...... meanwhile, the markets seem to be comparatively calm and have recovered off their opening lows ..... probable general concensus that a deal will be done - as of course it will be ..... as DD commented, let's just hope that it is a sensible deal and not just a weak fudge

I'm not sure it will be finalised by fri night as they seem to agree that a deal has to be made but cannot agree on who foots the bill:
"The plan circulated by Cantor calls for a mortgage-backed security insurance fund, rather than taxpayer-funded purchases of those securities. The plan calls on the Treasury to design a system to charge premiums to mortgage-backed security holders to finance this insurance, according to a fact sheet.
Republicans also seek to ``remove regulatory and tax barriers that are currently blocking private capital formation.'' It also suggests that regulators call on financial institutions to suspend dividends, along with other steps to address liquidity problems.
Cantor said the House Republican proposal ``does not leave the American taxpayers with the bag and makes sure that Wall Street pays for this recovery.''
My guess is that they will be burning the midnight oil over the weekend as there is politcal face at stake here as well as reputations.

political farce more than face methinks

If they're not happy, and forced to sign something quickly, I dare say it'll be watered down. In a way I'm not surprised it's proving difficult to get concensus. One man has asked to be trusted with $700 billion of taxpayers money, with immunity from prosecution and oversight, to plough money into unspecifed debts. Big leap of faith for politicians, most of whom probably don't like G.W.B. They're bound to want to put in loads of caveats etc.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

it looks to be Bush's own party who are being obstructive ...... now why would that be? ..... surely not running scared of losing their seats in November, so making as much noise as possible, like the proverbial empty vessels, to try to show their electorate that they are doing "a grand job" - hahaha!

I know. Most of Bush's own party don't like him because of what he's done while president. They were asked to take a leap of faith going into Iraq, and look how that's turned out. I suspect there's plenty of old scores to settle before he leaves office.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

market is also recovering suggesting general agreement on a proper deal being done

Wouldn't be surprised to see it break down again later. Volatile times. Plus, does anyone want to risk a position over the weekend? If the announcement comes after markets close, there must be a distinct danger of a big gap up or down come Monday.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

Talking of something else....just as worrying for President Bush is the storm out in the Atlantic "Kyle"....looks like a monster in the making....way off the South American coast at the moment....but which way is that going ?....in 10 to 14 days time that could be a major problem !...oil to shoot up at that time....we shall see !.

that's a minor prob for the moment