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

The UK government have been content to see fall so far, but the euro is seen as too strong now, and ECB was far too slow to react to slowdown. They even raised rates as recently as last summer (total madness) imagine the UK economy now if we were in the euro. Thinking about it you don't have to imagine it, just look at Spain.

Re: protectionism, this is worth a read

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/4412497/In-Davos-protectionism-is-a-dirty-word.html

Surely these guys have learnt from the mistakes of the last depression, oh silly me of course not.

Barrack has his first big test coming up, for all our sakes lets hope he can convince capitol hill to see the bigger picture!!

Banks on their way down as predicted...gold easing today, wait another couple of days for a good entry after the last rally, once euro rates come down there's only quantative easing ie weak currencies ie strong gold.

DOW
will 7900 now be breached?
from what i have read, this seems to be very likely, and if so, the next strong support is some 700/800 lower

Think there is very strong support going back years at 7450 - also where we bounced very strongly back in November...

pefectly happy to take a profit at that level!

Once we get there (FTSE/DOW lows) it should tell us if there's really money waiting on the sidelines to be invested. My guess. There isn't!

Strawbs.

and how will we know the lows have been hit? ..... unlikely to be a large sign there telling us so!

As always a personal choice as to when you think the lows have been hit. Personally I'm prepared to wait until around 2500 on the FTSE before I consider bargain hunting. I might not buy there though. Depends how the charts and the wider economic climate looks.

Strawbs.

i wait with some amusement to see when you will actually decide the bottom has been reached and will put money in the market ..... but more likely it will be, "Oh! Looks as though I missed it. Think I'll wait for the market to drop again"

Possibly a bit over cautious, Strawbs.
There are some good companies on the move upwards & paying a divi (Brit Aerospace, Chemring, Autonomy to name but a few) where money can be made just buying & selling shares without spread betting or trading CFDs.

far too dangerous for friend strawbs .... that would mean putting money on the table

Bulls and bears can make money in this market, the rallies are steady and the sell-offs dramatic but there are lots of bull and bear traps ! If Strawbs is a long term buy and holder it probably is worth waiting for that final capitulation though if you were holding yen the ftse would be around 2000 now taking into account a halving in sterling

That's OK. I'm happy you're all making money.

Strawbs.

Cheers mate, but we would be even happier if you were joining the party!

The Dow currently looks dire but it has diverged away from s&p,ftse, dax etc. last time it was at this level s@p was 20 points higher for example

strawbs is a long term non-buyer or -seller or -trader!

falco ... which is largely why the pundits, for what they are worth, reckon Dow could tumble afresh

We seem to be drifting either side of the 8000 level on the DOW, which makes the prediction of 'sideways trading in 2009' correct so far. No sign of that massive drop to 2500 on the FTSE predicted by others (presumably that means a drop to 5000 on the DOW?). Early days though.

if 7900 gets broken with any impetus then it could get nasty again ... if it holds, then no panic

http://www.livecharts.co.uk/Members/display_stock_pivots.php
I find this quite useful for entries and exits and find the overnight gap trades profitable, mainly shorting after a big post ftse 430 dow rally at the close.Also find dax/ftse pairs trades work well though not necessarily closing them out at the same time means I don't need to worry about setting s/l's