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

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...

but very much fear it will not hold
prob is that no one understands the ramifications or even the true status or even importance of this eurozone shambles ..... more importantly,can it and will it be avoided without bringing european economies to their knees, with the implications therein

that said, at least this potential horror is well-telegraphed, so if the politicos do not mange to avert it, then they should be strung up - they probably should be anyway!

most likely outcome is that the "naughty boys" will be made to sweat big time, but will ultimately be bailed out at a price - as was dubai by abu dhabi

and the markets in the meantime? ..... who knows, but lumpy and uncomfortable for sure

as rather expected ..... FTSE got off to a reasonable start but has now drifted as breath held for NY opening ..... as previously posted, not a time to be throwing money at the markets

It's possible the miners might have a reasonable week as many of the big boys reporting either interim or final results.

Not sure I agree with that Harry.

The SM is very slowly collapsing like a pack of cards. I feel this has been on the cards for the past 2 mnths as the bounce went from the market then.

glad i didn't back dow with cash as i rather felt it would finish up - did it, hell!

DOW down 103. Another bad day on the FTSE then tues?
Wed sees interims from BLT & thurs interims from RIO, BT & Diageo. Finals from Rolls Royce & Smith & Nephew.
Am hoping these figures are going to support the FTSE, even though the European Sovereign debt seems to be the fly in the ointment.

European Sovereign debt seems to be the over-riding factor at the moment, even over-shadowing some good figures from US companys today.

the PIGS will assuredly get rescued, though i'ld guess they will be left in the sweat-box for a few weeks yet

on the home (uk) front, my contacts in the advertising and fashion worlds tell me that recruitment is starting up again ....... this is a noticeable improvement from the last 12/18 months when there were no jobs on offer at all, so read into that what you will