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

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

Interesting that oil is dropping like a stone and gold holding firm, must be political instability in Iran, Pakistan, Kenya and all points in between

bit of a hairy scary evening in USA, but Dow finally finished adequately above 12800 .... psychologically important and may augur well for the morrow

US recession is already here, warns Merrill
By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:41pm GMT 07/01/2008



The US has entered its first full-blown economic recession in 16 years, according to investment bank Merrill Lynch.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;jsessionid=O0MW51JSETJOBQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/money/2008/01/07/bcnuseco107.xml

Still very confused picture for ftse, with Banks and Housebuilders still tanking it must be oils and mining keeping this market up.

I heard on Bloomberg this morning that large Investment companies are in the process of switching large amounts of funds to the oil and mining sectors which will push the sector up further. as usual they are about 6 months behind.

Apologise for going off ftse thread, but is anyone brave enough to predict a good entry point for (bdev) Barrett. Down 85p to 368 since Thursdays after a broker reduced forecast EPS from 110p to 108p. It's down from over 12 one year ago, and forward pe now is 3.5 with yield over 8% covered over 3 times.

I wouldn't buy yet myself, but will keep a keen eye on it.

Careful with housebuilding, spit. Am watching Persimmon for a good entry point, but so far the trend is firmly down. There is the odd bounce, but I would not recommend the sector at the moment.

I was looking for an entry point as well and I got into TW.@ <195p but then read that Omer Bhatti has predicted a FTSE100 housebuilder to go bust in 2008, I believe Persimmon & TW. are the only 2 in the FTSE, although BDEV may have been. I sold out of TW. @ 208p>. Even with my contrarian hat on I feel a bit nervous now re the sector, no doubt there is/will be bargains, but maybe not quite yet. Spitfire if the herd is heading for mining & oils maybe time to leave soon.
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Interesting comments, as you Harrycat I'm just waiting for entry point for Barratts, but will wait for things to settle first. And with the oils & mining I have a feeling that the herd are investing heavily, so be ready to take profits in near future. The only contrarian company I will investing in this month will be cattles CTT.

Nice to see ftse making steady gains with no nasty surprises, first time this has happened for a few weeks.

Just a shame I had no position.

I hold CTT & have traded in & out for a few years, but have a look at the 5 year graph 'cos that stock is cyclical. Very good divi & a certain amount of capital growth if you time it right.

Whoops US consumer credit nearly double the anticipated 8 billion according to forex thread!

Here we go again, another dow drop, oh it's great : investing !

Ah well, I presume the shorters will be out in force tomorrow morning.
Another reminder for the equity holders to keep locking in profit at the moment.
The U.S. sneezes & we all catch a cold!

all looking very scary evben though indoications as i write are for Dow to recover 70 ..... whether or not that holds is a good Q

One of the largest US independent SIVs, Victoria, has been downgraded by S&P to practically junk status,onlys a few months ago it was triple A. Barc & RBS with fingers in the US pie down this am, not taking advantage of high yields until more is known about the us side of these uk banks.

Boy am I glad I did not write that, cynic.
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