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

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!

so that rate cut was a big damp squib, with the markets pretty much ignoring it and even weakening a bit more .... mind you, with the banks being so damned greedy, it makes not an iota of difference to Joe Bloggs when the banks either won't lend at all or demand usurious rates which have no bearing at all on base rate

Wal-Mart reports that February same-store sales were up 5.1% - far surpassing analysts' estimates.

surprisingly, Dow indicators are still down 120 .... very curious

Number of people filing first-time unemployment benefits fell 31,000 last week to 639,000, U.S. says. Continuing claims also fell.

and still NY indicators keep tumbling .... how perverse

Maybe just the unemployment figures dragging down the DOW. Sentiment rather than actual stats being the driving force.

Anyone remember what UK time non farm numbers are out tomorrow?..1.30 rings a bell.

USA
1:30pm US Non-Farm Employment Change
1:30pm US Unemployment Rate
1:30pm US Average Hourly Earnings m/m
4:15pm US FOMC Member Dudley Speaks
8:00pm US Consumer Credit m/m

Thanks H.

Is that crucial in the grand scheme of things?

Used to be, but noticed not so lately as bad news probably already priced in these days... personally I always like to get the figures out of the way though -):

This seems to be what finally sent the DOW reeling:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "General Motors Corp. said in a government filing Thursday that its accounting firm has found there is "substantial doubt" about the automaker's ability to survive.

The embattled automaker made the disclosure in a 480-page filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

The filing's grim tone is not a surprise. GM has sustained large and continuing losses that have now reached $82 billion over the last four years. It had previously said it needed additional federal loans, coupled with improved sales, to remain in business.

GM said in a separate statement that it is confident it will be able to turn around the business if it gets the federal help it is seeking and when consumer demand for autos returns."

Well went long ftse just after the us close.

In at 3503 stop now at 3497 will see what happens low risk trade plenty of upside potential imo