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

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.?

slightly but only just off topic .....
i travel quite frequently to dubai on biz, and i have been saying for a very long time that the hotel + leisure industry there cannot continue to milk their clients for long before they desert in droves .....
and so it is proving to be, and quite rightly so
the jumeirah stretch, where all the tourist hotels are located, is farcically expensive ..... the catering standards are second-rate, but you'll pay about 50.00 a head, and that is without wine (minimum 45 a bottle for some rubbish) or beer (7.00 a bottle).

whatever they may like to pretend, you will now rattle in the hotels, as was already the case at the end of last year ..... indeed, i saw a report that even the much-hyped atlantis is now slashing its rates.

in contrast, if you know where you are going in "old city", you can eat very well, albeit quite simply for 10.00 a head without wine/beer (many/most places are unlicenced).