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

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).

Conversely, it looks as though the hotels in South Africa are all fully booked for the duration of the World Cup, at extortionate rates. Rental accomodation is now going at equally daft rates. No doubt the big hotel chains are pretty savvy when it comes to a captive market.

no surprises there then .... however, dubai has no world cup or similar and has just been greedy, greedy, greedy for year after year, and at long last it's coming home to roost - shame innit

i confess i also have little sympathy for the foreigners who allowed themselves to be mugged by buying into the so-called "can't fail" dubai property boom ..... twas always built on sand!

Will be interesting to see if the fallout affects the F1 GP in Bahrain or Abu Dhabi next year. If it's too expensive to go, then another sport may be trimmed back. Abu Dhabi seems to be the richest of the UAE, so on paper, all should be o.k.???
Of course Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has interests near me at Newmarket, so the Godolphin string of horses may not be returning in 2010. Knock on effect unkown atm.

oxymoron or what????? .... just released ex USA

Private-sector jobs declined 169,000 in November - 8th consecutive month of improvement, says payroll processor ADP.

with difficulty have followed my own oft-stated advice and banked some profits just before the close

As there seems to be no consensus of opinion as to whether we should all be bulls or bears, (FT blog, brokers even reckon the banks are too toppy atm) I am doing the same with any stocks which show more than 10% profit. Have sold some PCI, AFR, SBT & HLO recently. Just hope they will dip enough to get back in below my sell price! 'A bird in the hand......& all that'! The utilities meter reader came round the other day, so I am sure there is going to be a nasty surprise in the New Year mail.

this guff from US won't hurt .....

Number of people filing first-time unemployment claims fell last week to 457,000, U.S. says, the lowest level since September 2008.

Cynic...how about having a pop at the ftse competition next month....it's a bit of fun....and I never see your entry.....

never even looked at that thread, so no idea what's involved

more seriously ....
Dow finished weak (-86) with means a weak opening in london tomorrow ahead of US job numbers ..... i think these get announced about 13:30 UK time

gold is also weaker, but still at $1210, which isn't too shabby

Cynic - all numbers etc here!

thanks m8 ...... thought 13:30 was the usual time ..... fingers crossed that they aren't horrid

US employment numbers must be good ..... Dow indication now +95

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anything better than 105,000 more jobs lost was reckoned to be ace, so ....

Unemployment rate falls to 10%, U.S. says. Employers shed 11,000 jobs in November, smallest decline since recession began.

Just noticed the FTSE blipped up in sympathy. I doubt even the most skilled trader could have predicted that!

Cynic,
Have you closed your DGO short?

I think the bid DGO worth more than the 455 bid and will move higher even if it fails.

no .... i'm happy to let it run for the time being

GOLD
dumped $35.00 this afternoon to $1172.00 no doubt influenced by US employment numbers.
gold bulls will say this is just some healthy(???) profit-taking before moving back over $1200 again

Went short of a basket full of mid cap gold miners after Harrycat had alerted me on the AQP thread of the strenghtening dollar. (well in profit already)

Cheers Harry, dont always see eye to eye with you but Ive got a lot of respect for you.

I owe you one.

cheers GF.

wish i bloody had!

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that said, gold has now recovered $10.00 from its lows
everything's all over the shop, as Dow was suddenly -41 at one point for no good reason at all, and is now +15 again as i write

wonder where it will close