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

now now...no secret hand shakes here please...

clearly the market is (after all) less than enthusiastic about NC's change of course.

in honesty, if one may apply it loosely to a politician, i suspect NC would indeed have done a deal with DC, but quite possibly is less than certain about carrying his redneck party members with him.

of course, whether or not NC finally cuddles up to GB is also still far from certain, and even if he does, there is still no certainty at all that the tiddlers will obligingly tag along behind to give that coalition an overall majority.

certainly if NC is not careful, he could easily lose a lot of the public support that he picked up during the election campaign, as people in general just want this dreadful financial and economic mess sorted out, with PR or similar, though perhaps being desirable (case unproven) being a long way down the pecking order.

good call earlier this afternoon by the old fart! - see election thread
took out modest ftse long and thank you very much; that can go towards paying for the holiday

stock market is not all that sensitive to election

but Cable is doing well and is proving a better trade

if i could turn such a profit daily, i would be a very happy bunny

Everyone long FTSE tomorrow I assume following DC/NC imminent deal?

wake up harry .... dc already confirmed as pm, so it stands to reason that deal with nc and his cronies is effectively a fait accompli

almost as an aside, currency markets clearly like what they see

i am pretty convinced the markets in europe and elsewhere will also like what they hear about this coalition ..... apart from the fact that uncertainty is now removed, that parliament is now to be a fixed 4 year term - always subject to a vote of no confidence of course - means that this coalition should last at least 2 years (ever the cynic!) and with luck, the full distance, even though it will assuredly be lumpy at times

my money and mouth and married to a positive reaction in london, though not with large sums

Market not impressed so far which is a surprise.

well it's making me money even on ftse position!

market picking up now....lot of blue on my watch list..

everything may have boiled over a little, but i wish i could make this sort of profit every day - sure as hell wouldn't be working!!
even banked the profit on my ftse long, so that at least was "real"

unless you are day trading, you should be good up to a back test of the support line

stands at about 5470 at the moment

Camelot - do you mean resistance line?

its not clear yet whether it will provide resistance

but it was previously a support line (July/Feb) which was broken only with that big drop
a few days ago

hmmm!
interesting viewpoints. putting aside the actual price level, i can see both points of view based upon the wording of C's reply. lots of if this then thats possibilities.i am in the s camp however.
as always just my opinion and please always dyor.
regards
jkd
edit, just so as not to be misunderstood,i am talking about the "terminology". both are right in what they say. they simply say it differently. which is why i am in the s camp.

pundits predicting a further 1000pt fall in the FTSE...... SELL IN MAY SPRINGS TO MIND?

is this the pundits who get it right?

cynic somebody has to make a prediction their guess is as good as the next guy's. Prediction oil down to $65 soon, pump price unchanged!

i don't think their prediction is very realistic
ftse may well fall, but 1000 points would be way over the top and imply a worldwide economic implosion - and that is not going to happen; racing certainty, not prediction!

unless $ skyrockets, $65.00 is also not going to be seen, except maybe as a very short blip for some unknown reason ..... not quite as confident about that as above, but still heavy odds on that it WON'T happen