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

Keaydian ................

We all have a day like that sometimes ..........

Cheer up ............. move on ............. you will come up trumps .........

Regards
Amar

Thanks Amar.

Can't make up my mind as to the likelihood of a friday afternoon selloff, or not. DOW futures currently -48 & some UK stocks getting trimmed back this morning. Have sold quite a few profitable stocks over the last day & now looking to get back in after a lurch down, which doesn't seem to be happening yet!
Are you short DOW yet Cynic, or anyone, or too risky?

H, don't forget it's Non-Farm Payroll numbers day in the US today, usually has an affect... but please don't ask me which way -):

good morning Harry ...... i opened a Dow short very late yesterday evening; contemplated holding it o'night but took the prudent course and modest profit 20 minutes later.

my gut feeling is that the markets will be down tonight as the heady rises and poilticos hot air are all digested

Nikkei and HK were ones to short last night, did the former in a small way with a limit which went well unlike the night before when it proved highly destructive! Everything looking bullish so far today with dollar weakening,oil rising.Sure this is a temporary rally rather than the real thing and they have a habit of going well beyond all expectations .Quite a bit of resistance at 8250 on Dow from chart if it gets that far or 860 s@p. Shall put sell orders in there

Thanks all. Having got back from walking the dog, DOW futures are now showing -4 points, so as I have said before, looking at futures figures too early isn't always much of a guide.
Maybe it will be the non-farm payroll & the jobless figures which will turn the market. Failing that, Bernanke is addressing the nation later in the day! Lets hope the feelgood factor persists.

663k 3 less than expected,what now?

think they were actually much as expected, and certainly Dow is now indicating +81 ...... i'm off to my excellent fishmonger and shall consider further on my return ..... common sense prob says do nowt, and my gut feel is still that NY (and maybe London) will finish red

Talking of fish I gather that part of the reason that there are so many Somali pirates is that illegal foreign fishing companies harvest heir crop in their waters whilst other unscrupulous ships dump poisonous cargoes into the sea there, hope your monger sources locally!

not sure when there would ever have been an abundance of fish in Persian (sic!) Gulf that would have fed the current much-enlarged population ...... in any case, the Somali coast has been the happy hunting ground for pirates for several centuries, as a single boat = a multitude of netsful of fish!

anyway, hake from Cornwall I believe, oysters from Mersea and decent unsoaked scallops from somewhere off UK

I see the recession has passed you by, Cynic!!! ;o)
What's the matter with cod & chips with mushy peas?

too damn expensive!

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said programs to unfreeze credit markets are working."
Sentiment certainly seems to be changing for the better. Hopefully time to start looking for growth/early cyclical stocks ready for the good times.

Dax short from this morning(seemed the most over valued) doing ok, would like to try holding it for dow 5600 but that would require far too much discipline!

a pretty strong finish in NY sees Dow remaining comfortably above the 7900 support .... london may well open quite perky

Falco .... i think your short on the basis that Dow is still waiting to crash is a brave call

"a pretty strong finish in NY"

Half a percent down ???

TP

yes, indeed a pretty strong finish as Dow was down >3x that earlier in the session, but rallied well

I converted my dax short into a dax/ftse pairs trade when dow at 7870 as they have diverged considerably though they could diverge more!I don't think the bottom is in and I think 5500 will be on cards though timing it is the key!

I trust all you shorters are profiting nicely from the DOW decline?

Bloomberg - "Its a bear-market rally because we have not yet turned the economy around, Soros said in an interview with Bloomberg Television, referring to the rebound in stocks since March 9. This isnt a financial crisis like all the other financial crises that we have experienced in our lifetime.

The first quarter will be a reality check for investors, and they will be focusing on guidance, said Charles Dautresme, a strategist at Axa Investment Managers, which oversees $651 billion in Paris. Well decline from this bear-market rally, but have established a floor on March 9 and thats positive.