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

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

Long dow from close
From Market ticker Nice - straight down 300 DOW points.

Oh by the way, someone was running a rumor on the floor of the pit right in front of the speech that Geithner was going to announce the abolition of The Fed during his speech. I'm sure that helped incite the panic and make sure that the selloff was nuclear-powered.

Will there be an investigation, subpoenas and indictments over that obviously-fraudulent rumor intended to capitalize on Geithner's speech which was traded to great profit by those who knew about it in advance?

And yes they did folks - here's the /ES 1 minute chart which shows a clear counter-trend spike as people set up into the speech - or was it the rumor they set up into?

Opened a short in BAY...

today's theres been breaking news that BA is now open to vast legal claims from passengers stranded by cancelled flights following an EU court ruling.

M Lynch have added it to there conviction list earlier this week but reckon everythings in the price and the above claims could have a downer.

Dow heading for the pits

FTSE seems to be extremely resilient these days, cant understand why seeing as we are in deeper do do than the US... building pennant at mo on 5min, could be 40/50 points downside imminent!

et voila...

I agree. Nice to see FTSE doing its own thing without being overly influenced by the DOW movements. DOW looking a touch worrying though!

DOW futures looking a bit bleak at -143, which takes it down to 7636 level.
Remains to be seen if it takes the FTSE down with it.

I agree HarryCat, with the DOW testing November lows within one range of 7453 this could be vey significant for global sentiment.

Stayed up most of the night cyners my niece staying with me as its half term.

Did a stock screen on all UK gold companys and it mind blowing. Totaly mind blowing.

Over 100 list and trying to transport it to you in a private message via this board, problem is the life link which is cocking the transfer up.

Will have a word with 'our kid' hes a PC nut and try to get it to you and anyone who wants a copy.

regards me.