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

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?

sure glad i dumped a lot of stock over the last week or so, but still totally vile everywhere ...... even GOO is now well off the pace

re 465 thought the bears had finally broken the resolve of those defending the 200 ma but not over yet

dow just teasing below 200 dma while nasdaq amazingly keeps hanging onto 25 dma

wall street seemingly just shrugging its shoulders at "home builders' confidence" report (or lack of it!) ..... obvious just remaining horrid but not noticeably worse than expected

when to start buying is my dilemma, now, having called this drop so far so good, unloaded some 40% of holdings last two weeks whilst the going was good... personally think we're heading much lower yet, this week...

you just may be wrong, insofar as Dow cash indicator is currently +65 ....... a bounvce,m even if short-lived, must surely be on the cards imminently for, as i have said before, nothing falls or rises in a straight line.

there are also encouraging indicators for TAN, PFC and even SOLA .... will post accordingly on the relevant sites

Have dipped in this morning, re-purchase of HAWK, set limit orders for NPE, POG and TAN

feeling rather braver today, i think i shall but back into GOOG when USA opens ..... hellish expensive, but very low spread ..... had them about a week ago, but closed out at about $692 at a small profit ..... closed last night about $670

in case you were thinking the goldman results were good:

Ben Stein, the actor, game-show host and economist, accused Goldman economists of "selling fear" and then shorting mortgage-backed securities. That resulted in gains that offset write-downs in the third quarter.
Fortune's Allan Sloan suggested that Goldman was well-aware that it was selling doomed MBSs because it was shorting those same securities at the same time. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has called for Goldman alumnus and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to answer complaints made by Stein and Sloan.

Can you trust advice given by Goldman Sucks?