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

And how about that for press inaccuracy!!! It was ONE plane & it was Air Force 1. Another slow news day!

Defensives growing in popularity is the rally over?

a pullback was ineviatble after 7 straight weeks of gains in NY ..... "rally over" is a bit meaningless without further expansion - e.g. you think FTSE will now drop say 1000 points.

imo, the excuse of swine flu having a significant effect of world economic recovery, is pure hogwash! ......

indeed, though a pandemic may be on the cards, arguing that its effect could be as catastrophic as the Spanish flu in 1918 is ludicrous ...... at that time, much of the world was already physically worn out by the Great War, vaccinatory medicine was in its relative infancy and of course, general health was much lower, all of which made people far more susceptible to terminal illness

If you have a read through this you will find mention of many dying because of too strong an immune response, rather than too weak, as well as inappropriate treatment cough syrup and aspirin http://www.osteopathicphilosophy.com/influenza1.htm
Flu by Gina Kolata also worth reading
The virulent viral strains around today are a by-product of inappropriate and excessive anti-biotic administration that allow mutation of the viruses that potentially new meds can't keep up with.
It is far too soon to say whether the virus will reek havoc but it is worth noting that it killed more people in 1st.,2nd World Wars Vietnam wars combined and yet I don't recall seeing one Hollywood blockbuster about it!

reek havoc?????? ...... i know after a few days in the hot sun a cadaver is a bit pungent, but i don't think you meant that - lol!

swine flu is apparently an amalgam of several strains (inc avian flu) ..... the vaccine already in existence and significant stock in UK, covers most of these strains and, if administered timeously, will cure swine flu in nearly all cases.

and just for a bit of balance, i am 99% certain that i am correct in saying that the flu virus in particular is continuously mutating of its own accord and is little or nothing to so with antibiotic resistance.

I notice Wikepedia writes about the April 2009 outbreak as historical already. Agreed the current strain is a Heinz 57 but correct me if I'm wrong but some nations have a slightly less comprehensive availability of vaccines. My understanding is that there is a link between unnecessary/excessive anti-biotic prescription and new disease processes e.g. M.R.S.A. whether that applies to this particular strain, who knows?

you are right on both counts, though the flu virus has its own genetic agenda, so comparing it to the birth of MRSA is not a fair comparison

Excessive prescription of antibiotics is a factor in the appearance of new strains of bacteria (such as MRSA). The idea is that antibiotics may destroy the vast majority of bacteria but leave a few which have managed to mutate slightly to a form more resistant to the antibiotic. Since the form that was originally more prevalent has been destroyed, the new form has room to grow and eventually becomes more common.

Viruses such as the 'flu are not bacteria and are not treated or affected by antibiotics, and so the argument is balderdash, as is most of the stuff that you're ever going to read on a site dedicated to homeopathy. This is of course why viruses can be so deadly - antibiotics don't work and only a handful of anti-viral agents have been found.

Viruses (and bacteria) mutate of their own accord.

With regard to 1918 there were 3 phases to the virus apparently over 11 months the 2nd. of which was the most vicious.If you got the first one you probably had antibodies to the second.It is worth noting that some individuals have nasty reactions to the vaccines themselves especially if they are suspended in something neurotoxic such as formaldehyde as in past though I'm sure that Roche and Gsk won't have made that howler again!I gather the NHS has 30 million vaccines though there is the question of administering/distributing them.

we could always arrange a heist of the stocks if we get bored one afternoon.

quite right kayak .... i'm as thick as the eponymous pig! ..... only bacteria are attacked by antibiotics and NOT viruses

Fair comment re. viruses/bacteria and anti-biotics however I think you will find the site is dedicated to osteopathy as opposed to homeopathy. The rationale behind soft tissue/ manipulative treatment affecting the autonomic nervous system is quite an interesting arena and perhaps the 1918 pandemic provides much evidence for the efficacy of such treatment, not that mainstream medicine would have acknowledged it at the time, they outlawed chiropractic at the time to retain a monopoly on primary healthcare.

DOW futures looking very healthy at the moment (+143). Difficult to resist being sucked in to the feel good factor of the markets. Am still locking in profits when I can just in case it all goes wrong!

What do you mean H just in case -):

i have now closed my Dow long and shall seriously contemplate shorting same during the evening

as i posted on another thread, i think the markets are looking very frothy with heavy and indiscriminate buying of anything that moves - and tomorrow that might easily be sharply south

i hope you are right cynic. i might be able to bank a few profits on some of my long positions if my stops get hit and at the same time hopefully see my remaining shorts improve, this current rally has stopped a few of them out but some are still sitting there waiting to be hit.
a sharp pull back would suit me very nicely. lets see.
regards
jkd

Hong Kong closed overnight for those night owls

"Regulators are expected to finally deliver the results of the stress tests for the nation's 19 largest banks on Thursday."
Assuming the results are good, I assume the U.K. banks will surge on the back of that? Warren Buffet seems particularly upbeat about the U.S. banks on CNN.

I thought the major indices would've dropped back by now (sell in May, frothy prices, general poor economic climate etc.). Maybe the stress tests will be a "sell on the news" type event. They seem to be ignoring the bad news these days, so perhaps they'll run from the good instead (assuming it is) ..... :-)


Strawbs.

Strawbs still shorting by the sound of it, try going with the flow instead.

No. Long since March actually, based on the theory that in good years (bull market) people sell out in April/May to take advantage of CGT etc. so prices tend to fall, I figured people would be covering shorts for the same reason and hence prices might rise. Not my idea though. Saw an article about a "dash for trash" which suggested the possibility, so when my list of "trash" seemed to be rising I took the plunge. I've been selling out of all my holdings since late April though and now only have one left. Possibly too soon in a few cases but took some good profits anyway. Depending on where the market finally stops out, I'll be going short or long on the retracement. Still undecided but largely sceptical of the current rally.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.