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

had a look at volumes on a few stocks today, and they are very low indeed, so price movements are almost certainly distorted because of that ...... the interesting thing will be how US T'giving sales pan out .... as those start late tonight, there may well be some reaction by the time london opens in the morning

Lots of stocks being hit today, which I am hoping is the possible bad news being factored in to share prices if the interest rate cut later in the week is less than is hoped for. Assuming the cut is 1% (or more) then buying in the next 24 hours would hopefully see plenty of blue thurs & fri. Anyone see a flaw in my plan?

yes ..... the flaw is that the banks may just pocket the rate cut just as they have on the last 2 occasions

Yes - sentiment.

If last weeks rises were caused by low volume buying over thanks giving, then high volume selling this week could easily see a serious collapse in equity markets.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

Thanks for the input, but there are still good days & bad days & therefore trading opportunities. It's just becoming more difficult to predict the good days.

Impossible I would have thought!

But that is the nature of the beast we are trying to tame.

The big giveaway this morning imho was the big dollar rise overnight. Buying The dollar or yen is the equivalent to hiding under the desk at the moment and that big drop occurred pre-open when the dow rose up toward 8800 in a bullish way to confuse. The US was to all intents and purposes closed last week so the bears must really have come out of hibernation this morning, wonder if there will be a huge reversal in the last hour. I am very annoyed with self for not running a ftse and dow short from Friday night just taking 50 points a piece and leaving a rio long on the table!

Is there hope?
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/A-tsunami-of-hope-or-terror-LHRJP?OpenDocument&src=sph

Ford says it has told Congress it will be profitable in 2011. CEO Mulally says government bailout is 'critical backstop.' ..... do you believe it? ..... and if they fail to deliver, then what? ...... rap on the knuckles for telling porkies? ..... will Congress force them to sell the private jets and other baubles until they do indeed become properly profiable?

Obama, with 41 states facing budget pain, asks governors to help 'design' economic recovery plan vows swift action. ..... at least this sounds like something constructive

Automaker promises to sell corporate jet and cut CEO Alan Mulally's pay to $1 if it borrows from the government but offers few additional cost cutting plans. ..... now you can see why these guys are so valuable to their companies! ...... bet there's a load of non-productive management and other "jobs-worths" who could be dumped at great saving and no loss of productivity

When you have someone offering you a pot of gold to keep running, what incentive do you have? This is the whole "morale hazzard" problem with bailouts.

I suspect they'll get some money in the end though, and the "help me next" line will grow ever longer until the U.S. currency finally collapses.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

for sure automakers will be bailed out as 00s of 000s jobs at stake, but would like to see a forensic auditor go through these companies and weed out the rubbish

I suspect they have little room for manoeuvre because of union regulations and dealer contracts agreed in the past. Perhaps chapter 11 might be a good thing if they can reorganise and emerge in better shape afterwards. It would probably be bad for the markets, but might be a better solution. Congress might be brave I suppose, now the elections are out of the way. Be interesting to see which way they finally jump.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

Hopefully by the end of December most hedge funds will either be wiped out or will finish closing their positions to cover redemptions and then sanity/confidence will return to markets.

As it unveils recovery plan, Ford says its sales plummeted 31% in November over last year ...... so what action did the management take? ...... answers on a postage stamp ..... suggestions of what they should and could have done would take many pages

I think if we get another big down leg to complete the huge double top formation it'll be seen as a good base to rally from. Ultimately though, if the recession, slump, depression or whatever it turns out to be drags on through out next year, I can see the FTSE and DOW going much lower.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

Halifax it may be private equities' turn once the hedge funds have been trimmed!

Strawbs in the short term you may well prove right but sooner or later streetwise investors will realise the world economy is so much stronger than in was say in 1929.