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

OIL and connected issues
it is plain for all to see that crude is now heading back to levels where most regions will deem it worthwhile to re-commence development and similar work ..... and you can count Saudi into that equation too, for Aramco, who control these things in The Kingdom, shut up shop 4/6 months ago.

our business has a peripheral though relevant interest in these aspects, and market intelligence is that, though recovery is still pretty fragile, it is assuredly happening across quite a broad spectrum.

to my mind, that makes the likes of Lamprell an even more likely t/o target, and i dare say Kentz and others fall into a similar category.

Petrofac will be an undoubted beneficiary, as well as a probable predator.

Both LAM & KENZ pulled back by at least 10% recently, but the charts not looking particularly interesting. Maybe summer malaise setting in, but with next div in Oct for LAM, I can't see much immediate upside for either of them, unless M&A rumours start.

KENZ was too iliquid for me, but have actually visited LAM and it's a very professional set-up ..... divi is uninteresting ..... it's renewed oilfield activity that will spark sp (t/o rumours being just a bonus), and my own perception is that this is already beginning to happen (gently)

Could be a rocky afternoon on the FTSE as important U.S. data out today:
1:15pm GMT US ADP Non-Farm Employment Change, 3:30pm GMT US Crude Oil Inventories , US Total Vehicle Sales.

Or as Liam Gallagher would say "U*king topsy tervy"

What's the verdict then?

3.30 GMT is 4.30 BST, so some info not yet in!
Job stats not good. but not as bad as anticipated:(DOW currently up 86 at 8533)
" July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Companies in the U.S. cut more jobs than forecast in June, according to a private report today, showing the labor market will be slow to improve even as other parts of the economy indicate the recession is abating.

The 473,000 drop in the ADP Employer Services gauge followed a revised reduction of 485,000 workers in May that was smaller than previously estimated.

Job losses may mount as the bankruptcies of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC ripple through manufacturing. Increased firings threaten to further restrain consumer spending at a time when the worlds largest economy is showing signs of stabilizing. "

Lookk like all went reasonably well in the U.S. today:
" July 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks climbed, extending gains from the best quarter for the Standard & Poors 500 Index since 1998, as improving measures of manufacturing and home sales added to evidence that the worst of the recession is over. Crude oil fell, while gold gained the most in a week.

All 10 industries in the S&P 500 advanced as the Institute for Supply Managements factory index shrank at the slowest pace in 10 months and pending home resales increased for a fourth month."

both ftse and dow now flirting with 200 dma. dow @ 8155sh. with a daily low to date of 8158sh the 233 dma is at 8275sh so interesting to see what happens, i'm still nett long in my trading portfolio but am still holding my ftse short hedge from 4360sh.
may start adjusting ( meddling ) shortly but in mean time am in good shape and happy to just watch and wait, dyor . i'm still long term bearish.
regards
jkd

both dow (8138) and ftse (4152) are close to or have already touched potential support levels

thanks cynic
i dont have level 2, thats why i use the sh .and add dyor, which you clearly do.
regards
jkd

Cynic, any chance of putting small DOW & FTSE charts in the header please?
Lazy I know, but will save me a couple more clicks every day!

for a good selection of simple charts, just go to page 1 ..... it was the easiest way of entering them.

the more sophisticated stuff is usually "GANN theory" and supplied by a pal of mine

Ah, thanks. All I've got to do is remember that now! Charts on page 1....Charts on page 1.....

Please be aware, there will be a site outage this evening between 6pm to possibly as late as 8pm for maintenance.

makes a change for outage being intentional - lol!

after hours last night, INTEL not only came in with far better figures than expected, but also a pretty bullish prognostication.
as a result, and almost as an aside, their shares shot up 7%

Bit of Intel analysis on Market Ticker cynic

I would expect a number of companies to have pretty positive earnings. If you think about it, everyone stopped spending because of the economic backdrop. If they haven't lost their job, house, car etc. the demand is still there, and perhaps some renewed (but fragile) confidence. As Goldman demonstrated, if you're the last man standing you can make a mint. Reduced competition may well help other company results too. This is normally why you have some kind of bounce after the economy tanks. The million dollar question though....is it just a bounce?

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

Nice to see a bit of blue for a change !.