The market seems to be selling-off on the back of limited bad news imo, apart from the dollar that is.

If you can hold your nerve and apart from any short term requirements to offload poor performing stocks, I have a couple!!, my advice would be sit tight. This does not have the feel of the tech(mining!) bubble at all. Difference being there are a lot of good fundamentals, unlike in 2000 when there were a lot of over rated nothing companies.

concur harry even though we can all hope that Friday is totally uneventful

If nothing else the drop should serve as a warning.......when it goes, it goes quick. Not that anybody cares while they're making money. Assuming things don't drop again, I suppose it'll all be forgotten by the end of next week......

Strawbs.

Strawbs you are becoming cynical!!! Accurate but cynical.:o)

The fundamentals are still strong. I believe the US Fed will cut interest rates soon to counter any slowdown if needed. The sell-off in the market is irrational. This is just a much needed correction and it has created a good opportunity to buy. We expect the market to go higher after this correction. I'm still bullish and expect the market to rally towards year-end as interest rates will be cut soon. For investors who missed the previous entry points, this is the best time now to participate in this much anticipated bull market. Time to get in before it is too late.

Markets aren't rational, nor do they really look at fundementals, just reasons to support there phsycology. The reason. People. People look to make money, and above all fear losing it. When greed exceeds fear, markets rise, when fear exceeds greed markets fall. Nothing really changed fundamentally on Tuesday, but something might've changed phsycologically.

ISM data out later in the US. Given the sudden swing on the FTSE and Dow futures, some aren't prepared to take the risk of a downside shock.

But hey. What do I know. In my "cynical" opinion........do your own research....

Strawbs

Dow Jones faced a flurry of lawsuits last night after the business information provider admitted that a computer glitch had misled investors about the value of its benchmark stock index and potentially exacerbated some institutions losses by millions of dollars.

The company, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, acknowledged that it miscalculated the Dow Jones industrial average index for 70 minutes on Tuesday. It added confusion to a market already reeling, helping US stocks to their biggest fall in four years. At 1.50pm in New York the Dow Jones computer system became overwhelmed by the heavy share trading triggered by plunging stock markets in China and growing economic uncertainty in America.

The data backlog meant that for the following 70 minutes the 400 live Dow Jones indices fell by less than they should have done before plunging disproportionately at 3pm, when the backup system was activated and the backlog was cleared.

The apparent 178-point plunge in the Dow Jones in less than a minute as the index caught up implied that US stocks were in far worse health than was the case and intensified panic among many already jittery traders.

Lawyers will say that many costly investment decisions were made during the 70 minutes when the Dow Jones was miscalculated in the aftermath of the plunge that occurred after the system caught up. Many derivative and index-linked mutual fund investments that are based on Dow Joness own index calculations as opposed to those conducted separately, based on individual stock prices will have suffered investment losses from the computer glitch, lawyers will argue.

Peter Brown, a partner at Thelen Ried Brown Raysman & Steiner in New York and a specialist in disputes arising from technology glitches, said: A credible plaintiff will have to show that they suffered a loss from an investment which was directly key to the Dow Jones industrial average.

Calming comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and a wave of upbeat company results from European heavyweights are signs of good recovery. Fundamentals are still strong.

How do you calm a fund manager with billions invested in the markets and an ever increasing margin call as they fall? These moves aren't the little guys. It's the big ones.

In my opinion......

Strawbs.

True.

All leveraged and financed by cheap lending.

It might as well be May...Glad I'm out of it. Although I was naughty earlier and went short the FTSE :)

smart chap!

Old day-trading habits die hard...

hope you have now closed it!
nearly made the fatal blunder of shorting either FTSE or Dow about 30 mins ago when i finally got to the office ....... that would have been expensive!
markets could go anywhere, though general feeling is still well south

Markets responded well to US manufacturing data out at 3pm. Closed my FTSE short well before US markets opened - left plenty on the table, but made just over 100 points.

My own opinion is that there is more downside, but there will be volatile movements both ways, which could catch those out trying to get in at the bottom.

Steve

so very difficult to call correctly at the moment ...... long or short are both correct but only if your timing is right! ....... if not, book a place in the soup kitchen queue

Cash Is king at the moment, to many variables.

you are right, and though i sold today my SCHE, prematurely as it happens, and part of my TAN holding, I am reluctant to dump more

just for a little sport between ourselves ......

as i write, Dow stands at 12225 (-34) after a low of 12056 and a pre-opening high of 12303

where will it close tonight (21.00)?

i will guess at 12200

I will go for 12,208

No idear really but have a guess at 12190.