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

Good choices cynic, don't mean to start a thread here but couldn't resist adding Afren to the fray, only risk is it's in Nigeria but has very strong connections to government. About to start pumping 10,000 bopd for the first time, expects to increase to 40,000 by next year. See Thread..

have just looked and AFR does indeed have a very good chart pattern etc, but it is not a stock i have ver follolwed at all ..... fyi, all the ones i mention i currently hold (including VIY - lol!)

cynic cast an eye over WALP-it looks very promising to me. good interims in march should put this on the radar! I hope...

WALP seemingly not recognised - please check

Cynic,not been ignoring you,after my last post been out all day.Family had priority use of PC this evening!An interesting selection of stock picks to do further research & monitor.I see that you still have a weak spot for TAN.

TAN ... yes i do .... i think it is a very good company that makes real money and with excellent prospects .... i suspect current weakness may be partly due to weak $ and also overbought several months back

WALP is on plus markets and is not recognised on here but is on selftrade and a thread on the other side!

obviously a mini-mini-minnow and therefore effectively untradable by anyone

only while it's performance goes unnoticed---that's what I hope anyway! If I'd kept some of my mini minnows I'd be rich by now---datacash, hamworthy etc. on the other hand I'm still sitting on seo and look where that got me!

holding SEO should have got you certified!

Dow looks as though it will test 12800 again

phwoah! that cleared the sinuses a bit ...... at least Dow seems to have calmed down for the mo, tho no sign of recovery

Up and Down, Up and Down, there's less movement on the big dippers (alton towers)etc.

took some profits this afternoon lest everything is truly pear-shaped on monday

nasdaq and spx on support from june 2006

By the way, where is Goldfinger and the French Connection ?, their commentary and remarks were always interesting.

All eyes on the DOW which closed on 12,800. DOW Theory downtrend confirmation level.IF DOW does close below, suggests a primary bear market is confirmed.

back from hols without easy access to computer, but just in time for what could be an interesting week. Good luck to fellow investors, and hope you are all cash rich, for some bargain hunting.

This may be of interest to FTSE traders. David Schwartz writing in the Weekend Financial Times Money section Trader Column.For those who dont know David is hot on stock index stats and says there is "a high liklihood of a loss from January 5-13.. Since 1990 the FTSE rose just once during this period versus a whopping 17 declines" the exception was 1997 when the ftse was down until the last day of the period.Doesnt look like the Dow will offer much support just now!! Happy trading,P

certainly all looking very bleak with Wall Street heading quite sharply south after a weak effort at a rally first thing