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 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

believe me the fat lady is singing and when those prats in the Replublican party find their pensions and savings have gone and their house has dropped 50% in value they might think 'Perhaps that wasn't such a good idea'

one of the biggest problems all along was the fact that Paulson was a Wall St man and sticking up 2 fingers was always a possiblity

Like I said, expect the unexpected!

For those interested in some historical perspective I would recommend "The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith". If history is any guide, today's fall is just the start. Cash is king, and will be for sometime to come. Be careful out there.

In my opinion.....

Strawbs.

except one of the big failings in 1929 was the failure of central gov't to take decisive action .... thank goodness for Bernanke who at least has been the catalyst to ensure that action will be taken, though it should read was taken .... no doubt something will be hammered out at least within the next few days, but the loss of confidence in USA as a credible super-power is almost immeasurable .... the long term effects will be far-reaching indeed.

in my opinion of course!

As somebody said to me today, is this the start of the decline of the west as a financial powerhouse?

I have just logged on "unbelievable" I was sure it would be passed, what the hell are they playing at, maybe they like playing Russian Roulette with world economy.

Only one place to be this week sidelines...sidelines...sidelines...sidelines. Keep cash somewhere safe and re-think investments strategies.

As you say Cynic, Beranke has taken decisive action already, because he had researched the 1930s crash at length and understood the mistakes that were made then. Unlike the ECB who have not learnt any lessons and have been focusing on inflation still. Anyway I'm sure they will have to still have a bail out, there really is no alternative.

I'm a tad p****d off........

Cynic,

Don't think bailout versus no bailout. Think economic cause and effect, and investor sentiment. Any new bailout could be days away, and the US senate have just given the financial system a massive heart attack.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

didn't do too much for me either - lol ...and i don't just mean because the markets crashed .... i now hear congress will reconvene on thursday after major jewish holiday (well-named Yom Kippur!) ... expect fed rate cut and just possibly sufficient of the redneck congressmen beaten to a pulp to enable a plausible bailout to be encated

Wall Street Bailout = $700 Billion
Wall Street Crash = $1 Trillion
Politicians with Prinicpals = Priceless

Strawbs.

in this instance, is blind irresponsibility being mislabelled as principal?

They know they'll be back discussing a new bill if necessary. Markets were going to crash anyway, if not yesterday, at some point. The US and most of the western world owes far more than it can sensibly repay, realism was going to set in eventually. Irresponsible, principaled, it all depends on which side of the fence your sitting, and how history decides to judge. Congress have decided to open the box, and now we'll see what demons lie inside.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

P.S. My original comment was meant as a joke.....

Although the asian market was down, it would seem to be an orderly decline rather than the blood letting expected, so hopefully the FTSE will follow their example.
Randgold about the only stock heavily in the blue, which is to be expected.

Japan and HK were down barely 3% o rperhaps a bit less, though I can tell you that at 22:00 last night IG were predicting >6% and Dow was down a further 150 points after hours .... terrifying!

Anyway, Dow is now indicating +50 or thereabouts (a turnaround of 200) and FTSE is only down about 70, having indicated >200 at 22:00 last night ...... Obviously all is very fragile, but at least the jugular has not yet been cut

The world hasn't fallen in yet then. I think Japan could actually be a good place to put your money right now. The Japanese banks are ultra conservative (after the 1990's mess), and probably won't suffer in the same way Western banks have. Still, any slowdown in the West will affect Asian economies too.

In my opinion...

Strawbs.

Hmmm. Could be tricky selling the bail out plan now if the markets go back up again. The public will no doubt see it as another Wall Street sham. By the time the cracks start to appear though, the bailout plan will probably be too late.....

In my opinion.

Strawbs.