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

There is a considerable list of companies on the LSE going ex-divi today, so looks like trading may be flat. All a bit dull & very low volumes.

FTSE and DOW both moving ahead where to next 5800 and 11000?

can't see employment figures yet on CNN, but as cash Dow has stayed steady, they're surely no worse than expected

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as it happens just 2,000 worse than forecast
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 462,000 in latest week, Labor Department says.

this won't hurt - ex USA
Retail sales show surprising strength in February, rising 0.3% in a government report.

How slow it all is atm! By the look of it (& crowds on telly) everyone except me has disappeared off to Cheltenham!

we might see a few medium/long term highs and a few medium/long term lows over this next week or so. we might not. just my opinion and as always please dyor.
regards
jkd

pay attention ...... potential serious resistance and thus level for sell-off effectively reached on Dow ...... target was 10780; currently 10765

Somethings afoot cynic, Cap Spreads have just closed the Dow and the Ftse on spread bet site. I wouldn't be shocked to see Dow rally from now till close. :o)

Panic over Ftse back open with a five point spread instead of 1, staying well clear till the morn!

Cancel that its an age thing summertime hours in US forgot :o)

Just as a matter of interest, does the USA run the same tax year as the UK? That would make for an interesting sell-off with investors locking in profits/losses for the current tax year. (Presumably also options expiry?)

no .... usa tax year = calendar year

Yup sell off by the end of December and accounting has to be in by 15th April..

i repeat post 4930 with good reason

pay attention ...... potential serious resistance and thus level for sell-off effectively reached on Dow ...... target was 10780; currently 10765

And then again Cynic, if by some miracle the Dow does not sell off, up-trend intact, trend is your friend blah, blah blah next target for Dow could be 11216! Personally not going to test it either way, staying well clear for the moment:o)

i am perfectly happy to have shorted, albeit that i agree about trend/friend

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and certainly looking a fairly smart move at the moment

and probably still not too late to short Dow

I can't decide if the current correction is just a combination of quadruple witching, end of U.K. tax year, pre-election tension & year end reporting, or something else entirely. A number of market watchers (journalists mainly!) seem to think that many weak bulls are taking profit now & waiting for a clear market direction after the election.
Short FTSE, imo, though not so sure DOW.

indices are for trading ...... Dow is o'bought and o'due a (potentially heavy) correction ...... as for FTSE, leave alone for now

I agree with you on that one Harry, I keep hitting myself over the head with a golf club, for what it's worth and trade what I see not what I wan't to see, and if confused stay out.