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

Not looking good....bloody american markets...they go down so do we..they go up so do we...aaaggghhh....

These are the days I look to accumulate stock, I reckon we will have several more of them to come over the next 3 months or so.
2517

FTSE key number is 5100
having fallen sharply through that first thing this morning, it's trying hard to recover that ground
almost needless to say, the key will be NFP numbers in USA and how Dow reacts to same

not a bundle of laughs at the moment except for those with the prescience to go short - actual and not just saying so!

DOW futures only -9 atm, which is a little ray of hope.

Cynic,

I would like to report that I have been short for the last 2 days,

I can't.


I remained the same height.

It is a little painful.

stupid boy, pike!

4 or 5 Heavyweights report next week.
2517

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to say that 824,000 more jobs were lost than previously thought during the April 2008 to May 2009 period.


decline to comment!!!!

Cynic,
from Marketwatch:
"Despite what you may have read, the payroll revision isn't a secret. It was first reported in October, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the benchmark revision to the establishment survey would total an incredible negative 824,000 from April 2008 through March 2009. The actual revision will be announced on Friday. "

So the news isn't new but what will be market moving will be the divergence from that previously announced estimate. That aside the figures are still shocking in the current market!

volatility returning beware!

At least it makes it easier to make money even if the opposite is true!

DOW futures -35.
Can't make my mind up what to do. Probably nothing atm.

Harry, If in doubt do nowt.. can be a good maxim.

Ah, but what about 'Fortune favours the brave' ?

stan is spot on, but IG indicating cash Dow +35 at 10040

now looking very sick again
Dow -60
FTSE -95

U.S.seems to be more concerned with the European Sovereign debt fallout than the unexpectedly reasonable employment figures.

not an unreasonable view either
anyway, certainly not time to be throwing cash into the markets, though at leat they are stabilising.
i would certainly like to see FTSE closing above 5100

This seems to be the rationale behind today's rollercoaster ride:
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks erased big losses by the close Friday, with technology shares leading the advance, following a three-session rout that had taken the market to its lowest point since last fall.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 10 points, or 0.1%, according to early tallies, ending at 10.012. The Dow had fallen as low as 9,835 earlier.

The S&P 500 index (SPX) rose 3 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 16 points or 0.7%. All three major indexes had touched three-month lows before recovering.

Stocks fell sharply in the afternoon as worries about a growing debt crisis in Europe exacerbated uncertainty about the U.S. economic outlook. But the market changed direction as the dollar trimmed bigger gains and some of the selling pressure gave way.

"There may be some late-day buying coming in because the market has sold off pretty dramatically over the last few days," said Haag Sherman, managing director at Salient Partners.

Worries about the Euro zone caused investors to dump riskier assets and plough money into the U.S. dollar and government debt. The greenback rose to a more than 6-month high versus the euro and also gained against the yen. The dollar's strength then dragged on commodity prices, oil and gold stocks and companies and sectors that have been benefiting from a weaker dollar.

"A lot of the selling that we're seeing is technical, and it's all being driven by the dollar," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.

He said that because there's a flight to quality into the dollar, assets that have been benefiting from a weak dollar are getting hit.

"Most of the sectors getting hit the worst right now are those that are sensitive to a stronger dollar," he said.

However, he said that the trend was temporary and that once the panic washed out, buyers would move back into riskier assets."

At a guess : small recovery on monday...