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

RF An extract from money morning
Then yesterday, state-owned conglomerate Dubai World, which is responsible for about $60bn of that $80bn in debt, turned around to its lenders and said: You know that money you gave us? Well, we need a bit more time to pay it back. Despite Dubais clear problems, the news came as a shock, to say the least. The cost of insuring against governments defaulting on their debt jumped, not just in the Emirates, but across the Gulf, reports Bloomberg.

And it couldn't have come at a worse time

So whats happened? The Government of Dubai has asked Dubai Worlds creditors to agree to a six-month standstill on the conglomerate's debts until at least 30 May 2010, while the company is restructured. Thats worrying enough. But what also concerned investors is that the Government of Dubai had also just raised a further $5bn from Abu Dhabi.

Now, according to FT Alphaville, traders had expected this money to be used to repay $3.5bn in bonds issued by Dubai Worlds property unit, Nakheel (the company which built the artificial palm tree resort much beloved by footballers). This $3.5bn loan falls due on 14 December. But now it wont be repaid until at least the end of May.

And just to add the icing on the cake, Dubai has now shut down for Eid, until early December, which could mean further details will be a while in coming.

As RBS analyst Okan Akin told City AM: The timing could not have been worse. After all, its not as though Nakheel investors have been given a lot of notice here. If youd been planning on that money being paid back soon, you might be a little annoyed, to say the least - particularly as Dubai has been swearing for months that it would meet its obligations without any problems. The Emirates ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum publicly pledged his support for the group and its obligations earlier this month, notes the FTs Lex column. Investors, perhaps foolishly, took him at his word.
2517

Thanks 2517 GEORGE.....well the investors in that property group will have to foot the bill...at least we are not talking trillions here...a snip at only a few billion (for the moment).....markets perhaps overreacting on the downside here...

Markets also looking at all other companies, particularly banks, which have a financial stake in Dubai, as maybe they are looking at loan defaults.

It's the wider implications that a government backed loan default has.
a further extract
this case may show that lenders cant depend on the notion that governments will always make sure that apparently state-backed companies will repay their debts. And that would make an awful lot of other Dubai-backed debt look far riskier than investors have been accounting for.
2517

Frankly as a bank you must be nuts investing in anything like those massive construction projects out there......those luxurious properties depend on loads of wealthy people .....and we are experiencing bad times...no, not the thing for banks to invest in !.

i hear, on pretty good though unproven authority that The Palms is already sinking and that the sewerage systems have ruptured, with the result that there is now a plague of rats ..... sounds merely apocryphal, but i am told it is truly so

good job Dow closed today - and tomorrow too i would guess

Still....one bad big egg in the middle east should not send shivers like it has.....very strong rebound to come now with bargains being snapped up ?.

Not sure you are right rf. One very unexpected, wealthy, oil rich bad egg can shake confidence in all the other eggs. The bad egg in question being the Dubai Sovereign wealth fund. Repercussions going to ripple out for a while, imo, & Dubai World creditors are also going to be short of cash.
DOW closed today so "A good day to release bad news" !!!!! Incredible that the LSE was also out of action for almost half the day. I feel a conspiracy theory coming on! ;o)

absolute carnage yet again .... i'm sure there's a lot of quick money to be made in either direction, but it would be a brave - nay, foolhardy - chap to take the plunge

About the palm beach sinking...I remember that the Osaka airport (Japan) sunk for ages before stabilising.....hope that it stops for the people concerned.

Plunge I've been taking and at the moment I've forgotten how to swim

This is ridiculous market panick at the moment...good time to pick up stocks at knock down prices...one or two crazy sp's out there....

I wouldn't call this a panic RF it is only 3.5% ish, there are some cheap looking prices but imo I think they will get cheaper yet.
2517

Bit of a rebound going on....TLW up a touch...(proper bell weather that)...I thinks that's the term used...but check out one or 2 Aim stocks...if you have a bit of spare capital...this might be a great time...

FTSE now only -18 after -90, but caution and/or fast fingers and feet required ..... the major question is Dubai going to default or just pay later than forecast? ..... my guess is the former, as the (arab) world cannot afford otherwise, not least because there is a major financial scandal ($22bn springs to mind) involving 2 of the major saudi families already in progress.

all a bit hairy-scary and deciding to hang on and sit tight (indeed i put a bit of money back in) instead of biting the bullet and cutting, for once looks to have been the right decision .... i hope next week continues to support that view

a short day on Wall Street saw an adequate performance ..... just before opening it was being called -200 and finished -154 ..... early next week will give an indication as to how unnerved the markets are following the dubai shambles ..... my guess is that there will be a realisation that dubai will not (be allowed to) default .... that does not necessarily mean that financials will be a good bet (personally, i hold none and cannot enthuse about them anyway), but the rest of the market may well continue ticking up

though Uncle AD has put on a front of playing hard-ball with naughty nephew Dubai, there is still no doubt at all in my mind that this shambles will not be allowed to become a full-blown disaster ..... i would be more than a little surprised if the markets, perhaps after an initial wobble, did not concur with that view

One problem seems to be that the value of the property investments in Dubai World have recently gone down by 30%. That could mean a good buying opportunity or a mad rush for the exits by many other owners. I favour the latter.
Am tempted to take any profit I have this side of Xmas, given that volumes will fall over the next 4 weeks, & be ready for the New Year with my meagre credit balance.
RBS & HSBC seem to have the biggest exposure to Dubai of the banks, so am thankful that I only have LLOY!!! More luck than judgement methinks. Was sorely tempted by HSBC but never by RBS.
With Africa Nations & World Cup footy next year may be interesting to have a stake in the the gambling, sportswear or booze stocks.?