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

I expect we will have reached the bottom when people have "stopped" asking the question "have we reached the bottom" -):

Closed out bit more of the long dax/short ftse pairstrade they were below parity last week,patience is required and an ability not to meddle which I find difficult!

f
join the club, the meddling club that is, even the sage owns up to it. i am still learning though and getting better, at non meddling that is.
i have also been most patient.
i have tightened up all of my stop losses on my shorts with ftse at this level, just to lock in profits before they evaporate. is that meddling? guess it is. anyway i havnt just closed out for no reason so still in with a chance of more profits. they may not get hit and prices might yet just keep a tumblng. they may not of course. technicals to me say further falls still to come, money management says take care, take profits when available. a rally will happen.
not too soon and yet not too late. how to know? tight stops is my answer.
i just dont want to give back all of my short profits to the market, ive done it too many times by holding on too long, both short and long.took me a long time to learn the lessons.
good luck to you and all
regards
jkd
ps it still doesn't deter me from still selling short when i see an opportunity.

just gone long at 3481 flyer but would kick myself if i didnt tight stop just a question of how far it may overun, or not at all and keep going lower we will see.
no regrets come what may
regards
jkd

spot on m8 ... 3476 was said to be the key number as i thjink i posted a few days ago .... having missed that, i may have a small dabble later

just sold half holding at 3532. free ride from here.
regards
jkd
regards

f
i now find myself in a nice comfortable long ftse position. ref our dicussions above i am in danger of meddling with it. i have decided that i will not do so. i will now let things run their course with my stop loss at cost. no meddling. thanks for your comments and the reminder about it,
regards
jkd
ps i reserve the right to change my mind lol.

jkd I'm long ftse as well. Quite impressed wti rise at nymex close, good for ftse oil heavies{inventories tomorrow which will be richly anticipated esp. gasoline). We're very oversold now technically and could get a bear squeeze. I think these markets are different to ever before in that the access to shorting is greater than it has ever been . There was news on Bloomberg that banks have been shorting their own and other financial stocks!Lots of hedging therefore and naked hedge funds so when they take profits ...

whoops might have got sucked into a fool's rally!

f
maybe,im thinking along the same lines.lets wait and see. im still sitting pat,
but i can afford to, as im in for free, AND a profit already banked.
good luck to you.
regards
jkd

Well nikkei produced the goods again, though that after close sell off on Dow thought I had pushed my luck too far.Must have been the Gordon Brown effect!

An opinion from Jon Piper of UK Analyst. It depends how you read the FTSE waves:
"Dear UK-Analyst reader,

Everywhere I look people are telling me that the low is close, it will all be over soon and prosperity will be coming back once again. I am always uncomfortable when there are too many people calling for the same thing but I guess there are two major differences. First I do not think the low is in yet and I believe the downside has one more shock left in it before the low really is in. Second I do not think prosperity will be back, but simply that we will see a multi-month rally that will in turn fail. So I still expect the majority to be confounded as I usual. If we do see such a rally it may be a final chance to liquidate assets.

In London FTSE this afternoon was at 3607 up 94 points. The rally has continued and this still counts as wave 4 of FIVE."

we will see a multi-month rally that will in turn fail .... what a good politician's statement!

just possibly a sustainable resurgence in the price of crude is starting ..... i haven't taken a position, as it's just a gut feeling

Opec production cut coming soon expect a rise to $55/60.

Looks that way halifax.

by the way where abouts do you live in halifax?????????

or is your username derived from the lord or the airplane?.

Gibbet street mate, brings back happy memories.

Cyners, where have you been all day, miffed off with the site being down?.

Cant blame you it always happens on a up day instead of the poxy down days we have had of late.

Must remind myself to set up a back up site.

Money am used to be the best easily by a long chalk, but its getting to the point where you start to question charts, quotes , volumes etc, and that to me is gambling.

i was playing golf followed by lunch .... was back in the office about 3, but had quite a lot to catch up on.


OIL
whether the price rises beccause of opec's cuts or because the cycle is beginning to change or the perception that the economies are close to bottoming out, is irrelevant, but the result the same

I can't afford not to have exposure to oil,because when the hyper inflation kicks in ...

you won't see serious inflation threat for at least a couple of years .... however, you will assuredly see oil consumption and/or crude price increases a long time before that .... more certain than for gold!