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

have bailed out of lots today, more to reduce exposure than anything else ...... may even reduce further in the coming days as would much rather miss a sustained rally than fret in a plummeting market

Don't blame you. Looking a bit bleak with miners & banks down.
Looks like retailers are going to have rough Xmas too, with low numbers of shoppers. I can see 'below expectation' reports coming from them in the New Year.
Did you bail out of BML also, cynic?

no ..... haven\'t looked at that one for the last few days ..... only have a modest stake there as it is so illiquid, but may (did not say does) have a bright long term future

interesting yesterday to see ftse take the lead moving 200 point\'s down, with the dow seemingly desperately trying to stay positive at the end of play. I only have holdings left in two companies now, and really am expecting a large correction soon.

I have the feeling there are plenty of investors waiting with cash to take advantage, I wonder how this may support any fall.

Dow is now looking very soggy indeed ..... shall at least sleep more comfortably having taken quite a lot of money off the table

Spitfire, in one, i dont trust the market one bit and have reduced from 10 holdings over the last two weeks down to 4 and awaiting a bigger drop...

i am certainly pondering shorting again, though whether individual stocks like SOLA or indices, have yet to decide

it seems we are all agreed, a correction is on the cards, the only nagging doubt I have is that in the past all correction or bear markets, haven't been anticipated and have come as a surprise.

just had another look at my charts on page 1 ...... very difficult to draw any conclusions not least because it is so uncertain as to whether or nor hoped-for support levels will indeed supply same

however, for the purpose of the exercise, let us suppose they will ......

FTSE ..... look for bounce from 6350 which is pretty much where it is likely to open on Monday ...... suspect it will dip quite sharply below that in early trades, so hope for a quick rebound, though that will be quite heavily dependent on where Dow is indicating.

FTSE 250 ...... cannot determine anything from the chart, but certainly looks more likley to fall than to challenge probably resistance at +/-10550

DOW ...... hope for support at about 13325 or 13225 or at worst, 13000

S&P ...... may get support at about 727 but could easily fall to 715 ...... below that gets a bit nasty

NASDAQ ..... unless markets continue to run scared, quite a good chance of a bounce from last night's closing level

only one thing matters , the 200ma on the DOW

don't particularly agree, but that is at 13325

they,ve been defending it for 3 days now , don,t expect anybody to agee , just my opinion

it\'s as good as anyone\'s ...... there are just a number of theories as to what level should provide support, each as valid as the other and with its own adherents.

some strange intrusions above!

the 50 and 200 ma on ftse have almost converged with the index right in the middle, I think ftse would head south left to it's own devices but it's the dow which will lead the way.

wouldn't be surprised to see sideways or slight upwards movement to year end (Keeps the fund managers happy re-year end figures) Can't see any reason for indices not to head south in the new year.

Have decided not to trade indices upto new year, but will be ready after new year.

May go short on (deb) I know they have fallen a long way, but rumoured could be a profit warning to follow.

there's a few high street stocks that could be worth shorting

the other retailer I'm looking at for a possible short is KGF Kingfisher

Looking for new CEO, who may cut the div which is only covered 1.2 times, and full year profits are only forecast to be the same at 390m. Net debt = 1.4b.

for lack of anywhere else to post the following .....

Telegraph leader painted a pretty bleak outlook for the markets over the coming months ..... read it for yourselves as too long to post here, and if done too damn tiresome to read!

on the other hand, there was an interesting article on miners and consolidation within the sector ..... specifically mentioned were ORE, CEY and POG as potential targets

Dow already looking dire, so look vainly i fear for respite from the gloom

"Ahead for investors is a reading on home builders' confidence. The National Association of Home Builders releases its monthly index for December at 1 p.m. ET."

spoke too soon !

who did?