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

confess i am amazed that indication are for Dow to open +300, albeit that there was (wilful?) disinformation about GE's earnings just before Dow closed last night ..... today's GDP figures showed shrinkage of 0.3%, albeit that the pundits has been forecasting -0.5%, and new unemployment is fractionally worse at 479k against a forecast of 475k

looks as though Dow is now waking up to reality and is now barely unchanged and indeed is threatening to break down through 9000

Lots of people taking the rare opportunity of locking in profits, maybe. Last week no one wanted to hold any position open over the weekend, so would expect the same this week.

Monday 3rd November clear blue sky!

another topsy-turvy day in NY has drawn to a close, with almost a mirror image of yesterday ...... i wonder if, likewise, F/E will now slump instead of rocketing

There's a raft of data coming out for them, Mr C - and it's BOJ day.

was in and out of Dow short a few times yesterday, all modestly profitable, for which great thanks .....opened another short o'night on Dow with limit, which was hit ..... still have shorts running on WPP and CSR which may leave to run for some time yet (all relative!)

Japan down 4% Australia up cable down, bit of mixed picture and it's Friday!

4350 or thereabout seems to be resistance so I'll try and short from there

Off thread but it's worth looking at link below, very funny and I'm sure we have all been there.

Taken from a posing on a RBS bb......

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rWY3qGfe6gc/SKPsAMRaFGI/AAAAAAAAA7U/TaxKNJmUJ-Q/s1600-h/Picture+9.png

well i refrained from taking any new positions this week. just a defensive week for me being stopped out of most of my short positions at small profit/small loss/ breakeven.i just dont want to get caught on the wrong side of the market.
maybe were going to see that end of year quarterly bull run? i did get caught though.
caught between braving it out or running. it was a choice between what i considered 'safe' and good technical resistance stops and 'money management' stops.the latter was the one i opted for.live to fight another day.
the trend is still down so i'm not buying anything until it turns up,(even if it means i miss buying at or near the bottom)
although i'm still looking to go short again. patience is now required. just my opinion.
regards to all
jkd

Yes, a week not to fall in love with the downside. Lots of scary stuff in the pipeline though no doubt! 40% Ftse derived from dollar earnings according to FT so strengthening is positive for pharms, miners and bad for retailers as the products they buy in become more expensive.

wish i was always this good at reading Dow ...... had a good week at this, so am bound to come a cropper soon!

Lucky chap. DOW down 486 & if you rode the chart down all that way, then you can take a break for a day or two!

just part of the way, so am happy enough ..... thought it was quite an easy call

would also expect a bounce on FTSE from current 4400 either with or just ahead of the BoE rate cut

Cut is 1.5%!!!

Closed all your shorts?

0.5% probably wouldn't be passed on by the banks. I guess they're thinking a big cut like this will at least mean some of it gets passed on. Suppose it could also be viewed as a panic measure though.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

You must be dusting off your savings account books & getting ready for a plunge back in to the equities market soon Strawbs?

no .... am quite certain that WPP has much further to fall in the coming months ..... not quite so sure about CSR, but shall stay put there for the mo