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.

Timing is everything . Anyone trading for a bounce today needs a good exit strategy. Is the best time to run for cover pre US open (depends on futures) or uk close? Or simply go for a 10% rise Any other theories for those not on the sidelines

insofar as nothing is safe, a long or even a short on one of the indices with 20/25 point stops is about the best ...... did that this morning and ultimately got stopped out with a tiny profit, but rather that than leave everything open and get caned

In my opinion the safest place is definetly on the sidelines. I'm only guessing, but I imagine these sudden swings make it difficult to make any money (or at least hold on to it).

Strawbs.

the markets are again looking very weak

If you look at next weeks calender there Is potential for further news that could make things volatile or at least introduce more uncertainty.

and boo hoo that i sold my SCHE ...... up 12 by yesterday and a further 20 today

No point In beating ourselves up over these things C, as we know it could quite easily have been the other way!

exactly so, but it is a truism that the ones you sell go up and vice versa ..... lol ..... of course, not really true at all but it feels that way sometimes

Don't know that share, but if there's more wobbles next week, you might be able to buy them back again (if you want to).

Strawbs.

have a look at them (SCHE) Strawbs ..... there is a thread ...... am tempted to think that perhaps the Qataris are building a stake perhaps with a view to t/o, though the quantities being bought are quite small

I'll add it to the watch list. I'm not really tempted to buy anything at the moment though. I must admit I did watch TAN rising for a while yesterday, then the next time I looked it had dropped like a stone (but so had the FTSE). I suspect the MM's will take prices up while they get a steady stream of buyers, but then drop them quickly if any selling pressure comes in. I suppose they're probably nervous too.

In my opinion.....

Strawbs.

quite right ..... wrong time to buy, but certainly an interesting one to watch ..... as incidentally is VML which surprises by its strength in adversity ...... i sold half my TAN but intend to hold the other bit for a while yet, but then i was fortunate enough to get in at about 65

NASDAQ (and therefore Dow) heading for a rough ride this afternoon ..... Dell's figures were crappy it seems

I was a lazy buyer at 57. Lazy because I just followed the IC tip at the end of December, rather than do any real research.

Strawbs.

some very strange goings on ...... we knew Dell had stinky figures 2/3 hours ago; now suddenly in last 10 mins gold has dropped $11.00 and US$ strengthened to about 1.9425 against ...... with regards to this latter, our forex broker said he knew no reason at all so we (the company) are going to bank some profits (selling $ income forward)

cynic - Dell figure swere after the bell last night BTW. ;-0

oh .... thanks Al ..... did not register them until Dow indicator suddenly dropped 40 points about 11.30 .... thought that was the cause

Doesn't need much cause at the mo!! LOL

have just opened a small short on Dow, so shall be very happy to see sharp fall, so long as it recovers by close!

Looks like a good bet. I don't suppose many will be buying ahead of the weekend, especially with the Asian markets opening first on Monday and all the nervousness in the markets.

Strawbs.