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

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.

Strawbs so you will continue to short.

I don't have any method of shorting as such (no CFD or SB account), but may put some money into a short ETF if I think we could head back to the previous lows. Depends on how the charts shape up really. The ETF's don't seem very efficient in terms of shorting, so may just wait to go long again if the lows are taken out. Depends how confident I feel about leaving money invested (in a short ETF).

Strawbs.

i've tightened all my stops up on my longs today. will scale out on way down, if it goes down that is. it could do anything. either way i dont mind now.
regards
jkd

The question is : is there another disaster coming ? banks updating....might provide a little more optimism....I think that a gentle footsie rise is coming with pullbacks along the way.....nothing like last year's drops !....I mean we are in the 4000's, that is a long way down....we shall see !.

Unless there is a whole raft of bad news to come from a major sector, my guess is that the trend is now up & the traditional May downturn is not going to happen this year. Quite a while ago I read an article which suggested that 2009 would be a year where markets bumped along the bottom & with the exception of certain recovery sectors, I would suspect that is going to be correct. Unemployment is going to be the major concern, imo, & how that is going to affect recovery.

while the trend is undoubtedly upwards, do bear in mind that there can and will still be some truly horrid days or even weeks without that trend being broken

good day to you rf
my own view is that this is still a bear market rally.you could well be right and in trying to see a bigger picture i dont see any reason why we cant have a say 6/9 month bull in the mean time and within the bear.that might run along the lines of your above suggestion. maybe we will both be right? only time will tell. in the mean time i am being very cautious, although it hasnt stopped me going long on occasions.as always i reserve the right to change my views and opinions on this.lol
regards and good luck
jkd