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

Dow has made 3 new highs today and currently working on a 4th, the trend is winning. Ftse as usual is aimlessly following like a lost puppy! Something has to give but I aint calling it..

DOW +103, Cynic. Not sure when you started your short, but trust you haven't had to sell the family silver???

silver went ages ago.... down to the brass now..:)

not that bad, but shall consider whether or not to cut losses ..... can't win every time

Cynic, don't mean to butt in but DOW is not really showing any signs of weakness (on the daily chart) - no swing lows have been taken out. This market ain't ready for big shorts yet. It's stair-stepping ever higher. I hate it when it does this...but in the end, the market goes where it wants to.

Hmmmmm...on a closer look, I notice the DOW has completed an AB-CD pattern terminating at the current high. Could be interesting tomorrow.

cynic
looks like klal is suggesting you might be right to be short, just suggesting that is.but then i dont do elliott wave so i could be completely misinterpreting him.
i trust and know you will make up your own mind and not be influenced by he or me or anyone else.
good luck.
regards
jkd

As i said before that's why trading Indices is pure gambling ...

jkd, I don't do Elliott Wave either - too complicated for my simple mind. The ABCD pattern I was referring to is more of a measured move thing.

cynic, I hope you've set an affordable stop on your short. If there's one thing I've learnt in these years, it is the value of a sensible stop level.

no great damage being done, though it's annoying ..... i still hold that Dow is badly o'bought, but you can't actually beat a trend, so if things look to be continuing strong, i'll cut ...... fortunately, after many years, i have learnt much better discipline in cutting losses - and also banking profits

Lot of stops taken out at 1150, Bulls now want 1200...
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ten-reasons-why-this-is-not-a-bull-market-2010-03-24

???? what index is that?

Standard and Poor 500, it's quite a popular way of trading the big corporates in a country called the United States of America!

Well, it's the Sooty (Darling) and Sweep (Brown) show today...another crap budget..more plans on "how to bring the country down on it's knees".... ? ....It'll be good to get rid of them !...bah.bah....everybody...bye...bye...

Assuming they go (Brown & Co) is there much point in this budget???

No...but they will hang on to the end...

The nightmare scenario is that the massive client state NuLabour have created will vote the lot in yet again. Gives me the shivers!

wake up guys; where have you been? .... hung parliament is strong odds-on .... the only question is what the gap between Cons/Lab seats will be, as in many ways that will determine the flavour and of the next gov't and the restrictions put on it

I cannot put up with these muppets in power for another 5 years or so...gnnnnnagghh...

little choice i fear, though i think their lack of an overall majority will shackle them pretty firmly, and i would be surprised if a hung parliament can last 5 years

Has this happened in the UK before?

In the first of the two elections in 1974 there was no outright majority.

Labour won 301 seats compared with the Conservative Party's 297.

Harold Wilson formed a minority government, but it did not last for long, with another election in October 1974 giving Harold Wilson a slim majority of only three seats.

There was also a hung parliament following the 1929 general election, with Ramsey MacDonald's Labour Party winning 287 seats to Stanley Baldwin's Conservatives' 260 and David Lloyd George's Liberals' 59.

Occasionally, parliaments have also become hung parliaments in the middle of a session as a result of by-elections, as happened to John Major's Conservative government in 1996.

But that still means there have only been a handful of hung parliaments in the UK.