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

Thought you'd be out golfing Cynic - would help to clear your head :)

hi Toya ..... may be meeting up with my anaesthetist pal later ..... depoends how the Caesar he is doing this morning works out!

peter ..... not sure what i see at the moment .... markets are clearly very undecided themselves what to make of it all, though the dictum of not trying to piss againast the wind holds true

Are things so bad that you feel driven to see the anaesthetist?? - Hope not!

knew you would like that!

Indeed - and thanks for making me laugh on my birthday! :)

aaaahhhh! ain't that sweet? ...... still young enough to remember when you were born

Most of the indices seem to be going sideways while the bulls and bears take a breather. It could well trend this way for a few more weeks yet, at least until the next fed meeting. I think there's more chance of a break down than a break up though. As for TAN I've put in a speculative limit order in at 84. It also appears to be trending sideways matching a support/resistance band from late April early May. It took nearly a month for the bulls to overcome the bears last time and I think it'll do the same in reverse. An interesting exercise in TA if nothing else....

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

if Fed does not announce a rate cut at the next meeting, there will be much blood .... even if it does, then market may still fall on basis that the cut is already anticipated

Better expect the unexpected then.....

Or like me just play the markets on paper. LOL!

It doesn't make you any richer.....but hopefully it improves your analysis for when things are a little calmer.

Strawbs.

US Durable Goods report has not upset the market, so that's one important bit of data out of the way.

Next on the list is House Sales at 15:00 UK time ..... those are bound to be awful, so would not expect any impact there ..... for info, annual rate of 5m homes forecast

Finally is Fed's Beige Book (economic conditions), whatever that may be ...... don't know timing of that, but would guess at 19:15 UK time

held my breath and left my Dow+FTSE longs running ...... glad to get it right today having cocked up yesterday ..... still all running but with moderate stops in place

in theory, having seen Dow tease below 12800, but intrinsically holding that, the next major resistance is at 14400 (say 14250), but there is no chance of thundering straight to that level, if at all.

Good - so you're breathing again then?

he decided it was more fun hacking up a few bodies than bits of turf!

Best keeping out of his way under those circumstances, and risk your chances with the DOW instead.

glad i did today as it happens .... not sure that i would not have closed before i left ..... been an ace day in that respect, though was pretty uncomfortable (mid) morning

Good - made up for yesterday then :)

indeed ..... have actually topped up again (bought back) on IEC and PMO

I've spent too much time on the phone today - but have done some sensible things here too: topped up on BRR and bought some PMO - just couldn't bear to see those takeover rumours confirmed while I was out of it! Generally a good day for the start of my 'new year'.

my holding in BRR is barely more than 50% of norm, which i suspect is sufficient as i can't see too much good happening to them for another year or more ...... am i wrong? ..... would be more than happy to see or even expect sooner

My current holding in BRR is such that I can easily work it out - a 1p rise = 1,000 profit. Converse is true of course, but then I don't need to be in a hurry to sell!