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

Looking at the charts I think it's getting pretty close to "make or break" time for the bears and the bulls. I suspect there's plenty of money sitting on the sidelines at the moment wondering if this rally can be trusted (mine included). A good move up through resistance, and a hold above it, will probably bring new money in on the long side. I dare say a number of bears will give up their positions too, which might also help a rally higher. If the resistance holds, then perhaps we could see the reverse, with profit taking and new short positions driving the market down again.

It will be interesting to see who wins the battle.... Hopefully the markets will have a conclusive answer by the time I get back in August.....

In my (perhaps getting a little more bullish) opinion. ;-)

Strawbs.

DOW at a new high for 2009, let us hope it continues or at least holds this position.

Where are you going then Strawbs? Somewhere useful I hope. South America you could check to see how GOO are getting on, Falklands to see how DES & RKH are progressing, Middle East there are lots of Co's which need a bit of 'on the ground' research or if China, then a quick trip to SOLA would be much appreciated. Endless list, but not wishing to spoil your trip...............;o)

so far, it definitely has not been "sell in may and go away until st leger day" ..... along with most others, it has been a profitable 2/3 months but surely to goodness we cannot keeping going onwards and upwards ..... with that fear very much in mind, i have prudently and steadily been banking some decent profits ..... i have also very much kept a weather eye open, partly to dive in and out of some trading opportunites - RIO is a good but scary stock for this - and also to duck very fast (i hope) should we hit some stormy weather

One of the issues re. trading a potential correction is that, it could obviously go higher (1000 s@p nice round number)but if it drops it will drop v. fast (bots)and possibly without a major crisis. The ftse won't be the most dramatic faller though with it's big defensive compliment. I would be looking to short DAX, emerging markets, e.g. Russian and those that have risen the most dramatically commodities oil/copper and buying yen and vix .The steepness of the rise suggests a lot of short covering as well as better than expected news though partly re. cutting back.There has been quite a bit of distortion via light volume, unusual accounting practises and stimulus programmes and misleading data

Purely from a charting perspective, Simon Griffin of Shares Mag reckons 'a move above 10000 can be expected' on the DOW. Usual caveats, but 10500 could easily be achieved which is the big retracement from the big fall of Oct '07 at 10351, assuming it breaches the 9086 & 9457 levels. He advocates buy DOW.

bears on the run where to next FTSE 5000 DOW 11500?

considering the strong run we have had, Dow finished quite reasonably down about 77 after more than double that ..... however, Nymex was down about $3 ...... unless anything horrid over w/e, London should have a reasonable start on Monday

Ironic that Japan Germany and France have announced they are coming out of recession and the markets tank!(or perhaps not, bull trap) Copper/oil have taken a hiding though. Will they buy this drop up seems to be the question, has sentiment turned, is this the resumption of the bear market or merely a pull back, no doubt wall street will decide? If the bots start selling instead of buying...

on 17th August i opened a modest long in FTSE at 4636, and despite today's rollercoaster, it is again substantially in the money.

my charting guru (not PTH this time), suggests a stop at 4450 and a target of 5190 ..... not sure that i shall hold that long, but thought you other guys n gals might like a view

I'm not sure i'd have the cahonies to go long on the FTSE right now cynic ,not after the strong run and it being August ,i keep thinking we're going to take a step back ,,i'm probably going to be wrong though..
I'll watch carefully..

fyi, note that Dow is currently +80 ...... my FTSE long is based solely on chart logic, if there is such a thing ...... you can also take a position at 2.00 a point via IG.

try cojones - rognons blancs in french and said to be surprisingly tasty

I don't speak french so i won't be ordering those they could be dogs bollocks for all i know . I tend to have very mixed results (thats english for losing by the way)when i trade indicies.

I don't know how we're talking food here but should anybody be in the southwest and rhone regions in France then try the "truite aux amandes" ( fresh trout, river fish with almonds) really good most of the time....anyway footsie is doing incredibly well....what a bull run...I will need a weekend break from this...once again : what a rise !.

very 70s! you'll be suggesting truite au bleu soon ..... meanwhile am more than pleased about the modest FTSE long i opened the other day ...... shall let it run with trailing stop

Did a BG. run in and out today....very nice.

this is all beginning to look fearfully frothy ...... however, like most here i guess, i keep looking at my portfolio and find myself paralysed by greed! ..... that is to say, i feel quite strongly that i should reduce exposure, but in virtually all cases, there is persuasion that there is still more upside - e.g. PXS and even CRA

with oilies, whether minnows or proper, there remains the persistent feeling that a bonanza is imminent - e.g. GKP - or a t/o a growing possibility - e.g. TLW and PMO

for sure a luxury problem at the moment, but i don't want to find myself wringing my hands in a week or two

How about just a big slowdown ?? ,i have been thinking that we are in for a third big dip ,we had Oct /Mar and i was predicting another in aug a third dip with a higher low ,however i still have my money in as i don't want to miss out.

It seems that every day more news comes from the US that things are stablising so maybe i'm wrong and i'm not going to go against the market.
Maybe we will slowdown and get the few down days instead of a big crash.

that's called greed! .... don't forget that the markets are always looking forward 6+ months, so an awful lot of ghope and good news is already inbuilt

I agree ,that's why i'm expecting a big slowdown at some point ,maybe not a huge crash ,+ i'm not trading day to day,, i have what i would call recovery stocks that i intend to hold in to next year ,however if it starts to go pearshaped i will bail out ,very hard to call though...