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

See Harry's post above.

Hopefully it is not too serious as they own Selftrade!!

Have to say with the way the market is, I've been expecting something horrible pretty soon.

Jobless figures not so good, even though Obama seemed to imply the contrary:
"June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Employers in the U.S. hired fewer workers in May than forecast and Americans dropped out of the labor force, showing a lack of confidence in the recovery that may lead to slower economic growth.

Payrolls rose by 431,000 last month, including a 411,000 jump in government hiring of temporary workers for the 2010 census, Labor Department figures in Washington showed today. Economists projected a 536,000 gain, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Private payrolls rose a less-than-forecast 41,000. The jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent."

Hungary ?

Hungarys currency fell to a one-year low against the euro on Friday after a senior official warned for the second time in two days about the weakness of its economy and public finances.

The forint fell about 2 per cent after Peter Szijjarto, a spokesman for prime minister Viktor Orban, was quoted by news agencies as saying Hungarys economy was in a grave situation and that a default was a possibility.

A quick call to the French president will do the trick.....

Bloody starving :-)

Didn't Hungary withdraw from the Eurovision song contest as they would have been unable to afford hosting it the following year if they had won?

Let's all move to Brazil!

Great plan Maggie! (Just in time for the F1 please). Who's paying?

bad for randy old goats ..... brings on premature strokes, even if not ejaculation

be thankful it's w/e tomorrow! ..... typical over-reaction, but with markets this nervous, it's to be expected ..... 9850 needs to hold, which is about 100 points lower still .... possible or even probable tumble for even the likes of RKH on monday as forced sales hit

long Dow @ 9,909 over the w/end

was stopped out -11, but back in @ 9895 and out by limit @ 9961.
Just bought again @ 9844 and out almost immediately @ 9861 now long again @ 9838

I think you were briefly in the money first thing, splat, but very tricky to call the DOW atm. Seems a lot of screen gazing for minimal return. Loads of data out from the U.S. on friday so would expect some bad news then.

agreed Harry, but happy to hold on for now and have increased a little @ 9800. Stops in place

out some Dow @ 9877.

and more @ 9881

How are you getting on with your DOW long, Splat? All over the place. Was + then almost zero, now +130!

and has "lost" 40 of that o'night ..... mildly positive start for london but not sure it will hold

covered the rest +60 before the market open yesterday and reopened at 9799 before our close. That is also now covered +100. A separate UKX long from 5,000 also covered yesterday evening +41. No index positions open atm Harry.