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

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!

don't know the size of your portfolio, but that sounds quite a hefty investment % in an uproven company with very limited liquidity

I know, and it is a hefty % - but if you watch some of these smaller companies very carefully, it is possible to make a good profit in that way. It's worked on this one already, and in the light of what I have read and observed about BRR I reckon a 1p move upwards this year (could even be this week), from where we are now, is not unlikely; could be more. I wouldn't necessarily be looking to sell it all in one chunk - you're right, liquidity could be a prob if I were. I can sit tight if needs be.

100k even in BRR is not too horrendous though NMS is only 15,000.
don't forget that of course 1p = 1000 in both directions!

I already said as much re converse scenario. NMS on line is about that, but sometimes more. Failing that, there's always the phone to reach for to place an order.

I could be spending a bit of time at the computer over the next few days!

Good grief, I'm knackered! Must work up the energy to do some 'work' :S

Sounds like you've had a good day, while the rest of us have been enjoying ourselves at our screens and can now go out to play!

Well you should most certainly have a good play on your birthday, have a good one, don't drink too much now ;)

I won't be driving, so I won't be striving to stay too sober!

Dow reaction is perhaps similar to a man that has stepped on a land mine blowing both legs off and after taking a vial of morphine finds the whole situation hysterical!