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

Big bounce on the FTSE on monday, followed by profit taking......Hopefully!

Well Dow just hit 10400 imagine if they hadn.t passed it would have hit minus figures

Evidently a case of buy on the rumour sell on the fact which I didn't do...

Dow stands this morning (Saturday) at 10333, reflecting a fall of about 500 points from its high yesterday evening prior to the vote ...... all very strange, with the index now below where it was after the bill was thrown out on Monday!

My guess, and I hope it is not just wishful thinking, is that the fall primarily reflects profit taking and just a general clearout while peeps and analysts assess the implications of last week's momentous roller-coaster ...... that being so, a sharp bounce on Monday might be expected .... indeed, chart followers would say that it is badly needed as 10400 is seen as an important support.

Of course the passage of the bill does not remotely cure all ills ..... in fact, it probably solves few directly, but it should provide some stability, which is exactly what the financial markets need to allow confidence to slowly return, and with it, the freeing up of inter-bank lending.

Meanwhile, if it were not so serious it would be farcical, I hear that Iceland's 3 big banks have debts of 9x that country's GDP!

Soon the DOW will drop below the 'magic' 10,000

then the S will really htf

Seems like a lot of respected people think otherwise though Antony Bolton, Warren Buffett Simon Thompson to name 3 all seem to expect an October election bounce. I would have thought it would have to be seen that this rescue package wasn't working before such a big drop and another US cut not out of the question. May be even the ECB as well! Could be a sub 10,000 false break out. 3 trillion dollars waiting in the sidelines looking for an entry according to market ticker

certainly a drop below 10,000 is not out of the question, but beyond question is that no one but no one has any idea how the markets are even going to react over the next week, let alone over even a slightly longer period.

for sure there are still some nasties to come out of the closet - the latest being the collapse of the Hypo Bank rescue in Germany and the lurking problems in Iceland - but i would hazard a guess that the worst will be over by the end of the year, and some slight shoots of recovery appearing by early Q2 2009, and that is really not that far away

Bailout: Will it work? .......... Experts differ on whether the $700 billion bailout plan will prompt banks to lend and help the economy. But even if it does, it will take time.

the above is the headline on an article on cnnfn.com .... it's worth reading for a balanced view

Elliot wave boys also calling the bottom but not the absolute bottom

Well, I have read up on Elliot, Gann & Fourier to try & figure out what may happen & I am totally confused, but I suppose the big boys have got some fancy software which makes it all a lot easier!
The consensus seems to be that markets will be generally flat during 2009, so for those people still holding equities, now is not the time to cash in imo, as this is probably close to the bottom.

it is interesting to note that not one pundit has said that the bailout was a waste of time and money .... the only differential is its perceived effect and the time it will take to filter through

Except that a number of sources have said that $7bn won't be enough. I have seen final figures in trillions quoted, so...... who knows?

try $700bn! ...... maybe not, but as i said ..... and also the banks are stuffed full of cash but are reluctant to lend .... anyway, all we can do is sit and wait and watch

looks as though 10,000 may indeed be imminent .... total bloodbath looking on the cards this morning

you're telling me.

Good time to buy!?

Lots of equities too terrified to come out of the auction

down 5% at start,


who dares doesn't know what they are doing

Fair old gap down on Rio £4!

what a truly terrifying start to the day ..... confess i predicted that totally and utterly wrong ...... that said, HBOS recovering a bit and at current level may be worth buying ..... glad i sold 2/3 of my original holding by close of biz friday, and at least that is still showing a very healthy profit

enrc down 20%. now in auction