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

Thank you Cynic - I need some good news, having just been to a friend's house who tells me that the 'inside story' is that things are actually a lot worse than the government would have us believe. Well, of course that is the case, as gvts never like to tell the full story unless it's good news...

if friend sleeps with GB to know these things, then must be a bloke! ..... in honesty, i don't think anyone actually knows the full ramifications or even how much of a (global) recession is likely ..... all i do know from first hand experience, and as i have posted before, the chemical and shipping industries in which i am involved are usually the first to get hiot in bad times ..... at the moment at least, that is just not happening ..... indeed, i hear that the port of Jebel Ali (UAE) which also serves as a major hub for Saudi exports, has a two week delay in turning stuff around due to congestion.

Funny you should say that Richard, I have some rather up to date first hand knowledge of JA and can say with some certainty there are significant delays in turning around shipping.

surprised you weren't enjoying the fleshpots of Aden (sorry - Yemen now) rather than UAE!

just accidentally closed my dow position prematurely, albeit for a small profit ..... shall keep watching with a view to re-entry - substiute voyeurism!

Yemen? You must be joking - nothing quite like Ramadan to quieten things down a bit. At a rough guess there are in excess of 60 ships at anchor off JA today, probably closer to 100. The closure of Port Rashid is certainly have an impact on UAE imports/exports and container traffic.

why is Rashid closed, though it is not one our clients ever seem to use?

Port Rashid's closure is part of the Maritime City redevolpment plan, it's being filled in as we type at something like 1 million cubic metres of sand a day. A small part of it will remain open for Cruise ship visits and possibly some for container ships (although allowance for containers was not part of the original plan). All part of turning Dubai into an Island - just like Venice :)

will it sink like venice, especially if they keep upsetting the tidal patterns in that region? ...... do they intend to create a second deepwater port or even expand JA?

wow! Dow suddenly -350

capitualtion is close I feel.

emergency rate cut?

What, you mean the senate will capitulate and sign? :-)

Strawbs.

I understood the idea was to expand JA, but they've limited their options somewhat by building one of those stupid Palms right next to the port. Who on earth would want to have that view everyday?

the ships' captains!

Think the biggest ever daily loss on the FTSE was about 250pts but perhaps somebody will correct me.

black monday and tuesday 1987:

FTSE 100 fell by a then-record 249.6 points, or 10.8 per cent, wiping 50bn from the value of the UKs largest companies.

The rout continued the following day, as the index lost a further 12.2 per cent, still its biggest ever one-day percentage points slide.

thanks doc

have you got a tonic for my shares ..

yes but drunk it all myself today!

i am totally shell-shocked ..... how could those dumb-arse redneck US reps chuck out this bailout bill, albeit that it was a bitter pill to swallow and may even have had some flaws ...... i cannot even bear to think what this is going to do to world economics

cynic , the fed is flooding the market with cash - its not over yet