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

Probably right. From Bloomberg:
"Alcoa reporting missed analysts forecats & valuations are looking a bit stretched, said Chris Hall, who helps manage about $3.7 billion at Argo Investments in Adelaide, Australia. No ones disputing theres going to be a recovery, but its the question of magnitude thats got people a little bit cautious. Investors are waiting for evidence earnings are sustainable beyond the benefits of stimulus measures.

The decline in U.S. futures indicated the Dow Jones Industrial Average may retreat after yesterday closing above 11,000 for the first time since September 2008."

Well that settles it then, if that is what Boomberg are predicting that will probably be the best buy signal you are going to get this week! It's when they advise buying I get worried :o))

I did do a bit more research & found that CNN tended to agree with them, so based on the premise that two wrongs make a right, everyone should therefore be long FTSE & DOW, CC? ;o)

Exactly Harry, If you are so inclined you can make money trading both up and down of course, but I for one wouldn't go short or long and get on a plane for a week hoping with fingers crossed I'd called it right on my return. :o)

new high on dow yesterday (13th)

and now trading higher still

As long as we're still getting higher highs and higher lows, the trend is up. Simply no point in trying to catch a precise top or bottom - can be darned expensive. If the market wants to fall, it will tell you by taking out a recent low. Until such time, keep your powder dry.

dow heading for 12000,edit lol

I hope not!

skinny, are you short the Dow then?
12K looks like the ideal place for the Dow to head. Then it can crash down around us!

cynic are you still short the DJIA?

TT - when I posted Balerboy had mis typed it as 1200 ! But I am short UKX (just) and sold most of my BARC this afternoon - so probably new highs to come all round :-)

TEA TIME FUN

Stock market correction

halifax - yes i am but delighted if proven to have made wrong choice as am long with everything elsewhere - it was/is just good insurance

Over the 11100 now ,could be pushing towards 12000 ,could be turning down tomorrow , dangerous game shorting the Dow, i don't see how you can call it..

From the TELEGRAPH.................

Bernanke expects 'moderate' US recovery

Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, warned that the US economy will recover at a "moderate" pace and that significant time will be needed to claw back jobs lost in the recession.

In cautious remarks on Wednesday that belied Wall Street's gathering optimism, Bernanke warned that the US economy continues to face strong headwinds as it attempts to pull out of the worst recession in a generation.

"If the pace of recovery is moderate, as I expect, a significant amount of time will be required to restore the 8.5 million jobs that were lost during the past two years," he told lawmakers.

Bernanke expects moderate US recovery

Camelot - 12 Apr 2010 06:46 - 5016 of 5043 edit this post
"Time has surely come to consider shorting Dow"

why ? ; why now ?

you could have said that at anytime in the last year.

picking tops is a mugs game

picking bottoms gives you smelly fingers

to repeat for the umpteenth ..... no market can continue indefinitely in a straight line in either direction ...... there are a number of chart indicators that imply that a correction on dow is now well o'due

cynic, absolutely no disrespect - but what are these indicators you mention?

cynic ,BUT WHEN ??? thats my point ,you will be right at some point but if you shorted it this week you have already been stopped out ,,it's like playing roulette ..

klal ..... read and/or do your own f'ing research!

jimmy ..... no i am not stopped out, though i have set my own personal pain threshold; as for being like roulette, it's no different than going long or short of a stock