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

To play the markets : you buy when everybody takes to the hills.....we know the economies are in a recession....but barring more banking troubles should recover unless Iran or North Korea...I still think that there should be an end of year increase with a stabilisation in the new year for a few months....all shall be revealed in the months ahead.

9400 is 50 day moving average according to investor's chronicle so a point of support. Nikkei seems the most oversold of the indices that I can see though yen has not helped

The doom merchants are at it again, or maybe just over zealous journalists trying to earn a crust! :
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Reverse mortgages may be the next subprime crisis, according to the National Consumer Law Center.

Some of the same U.S. lenders that helped drive the real estate boom with loans to home buyers who couldnt afford the payments are now targeting seniors, the center said. Brokers, who are given financial incentives to sell the loans, may be making misleading claims to potential customers, according to a report titled "Subprime Revisited, that was released today by the Boston-based NCLC.

This market is designed to serve seniors, so when we find abuses cropping up and migrating from the subprime market to the senior market, that sounds an especially loud warning bell, said Rick Jurgens, an advocate at the National Consumer Law Center, who contributed to the report.

Reverse mortgages enable people aged 62 and over who are looking for extra cash to use the equity in their homes and receive lump-sum payments, periodic checks, a line of credit, or a combination of the three. Lenders are repaid from the sale of the home when the borrowers die or move. "

" Reverse mortgages enable people aged 62 and over who are looking for extra cash.......Lenders are repaid from the sale of the home when the borrowers die or move."

As someone who periodically looks at this facility (we have no offspring and aim to go to our graves the hour after we spent our last oncer) I am fascinated by the size of the lifebelt margin the providers require.

I cannot imagine any of the lenders I have looked at getting within a mile of negative equity.

Yet another case of morbid journalism.

TP

Without wishing to tap into a confidential source, Cynic, what is your GANN Guru's stance on the 9095 target (DOW) now that we are heading back to the 10000 level again? Does he see this as just a blip up, or another push to new highs?

i'll have to check tomorrow .... stuff's at the office

i only get a weekly update from "guru", but on Dow he said

"currently 9600 ..... stay short with a target of 9095 ..... lower the stop-loss so as to trigger on any rise above 9850"

Dow certainly hit 9830 last night, and just possibly spiked above that

Cheers. Brave call to go short, imo, but I quite often find it difficult to see the 'bigger picture', so he's probably right.

High last night was 9836.52!

US banks reporting season starts next week, should stir up the market.

If they are still using the Enron school of accounting, they should blast through expectations

Yes, according to the w/e FT the quarterly update on earnings performance in the U.S. is probably set to drive the U.S. indices higher, though with the usual volatile days.
"For the next few weeks U.S. companies earnings are bouyed by the weak dollar and they will probably deliver the hoped for positive 'surprise' which will keep stocks rolling along'.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and General Electric will all report later this week.
Will be interesting to see how many of the big boys bring in results better than anticipated.

Intel rings up $9.4 billion in sales in the third quarter, easily beating analysts' profit and earnings expectations.

would hope this "after hours" result will wake up the markets tomorrow

FTSE has now shot through 5220, so assuming it all holds, target becomes 5768 - so i am advised!

Awesome, thanks. Presumably the DOW short is being reviewed?

from memory, the key was 10050 or something like that .... anyway, it hasn't yet been hit or broken ..... Dow and FTSE do not necessarily march hand in hand

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adjusted this week to "buy on a break above 9950" .... as Dow looks to have been comfortably above that for most of this session, that point has presumably been reached ..... i am certainly happy with the way my FTSE long has performed

early doors, but FTSE still holding above 5220 (5235) and Dow above 9950 (10002)

it's a bit like being charlie in the chocolate factory at the moment ..... we are all totally spoiled for choice as to what to buy next ..... both gold and oil remain strong, the likes of PCI come in with a strong rns o'night etc etc, house prices rose 2.8% in october and of course Apple's numbers knocked the forecasts for 6

Many stocks turned red in the last hour or so (although some gone ex-divi). DOW futures currently -48.
Presumably we are expecting some bad figures from some of the big boys in the U.S.?

EDIT : Just seen this:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "Stocks were headed for a lower open Wednesday as investors awaited quarterly financial results from Morgan Stanley and Boeing."