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

dow suddenly down about 35 having been +140 at one point very early in proceedings ...... ftse therefore indicating -70 or so, and bp could be in for another pasting by the looks of it too

Rio doing very nicely at the mo.,.

Cynic, your post #5514 is such a complicated issue that even the FT journalists couldn't really understand it today. There were a number of comments from brokers & none of them could agree on the effects. Obviously the miners were the obvious short term beneficiaries, but they then said that the Y/$ coupling was already priced in, so we are none the wiser! Maybe Warren B. will have something accurate to say soon on the topic!

Its being reported an appreciating Yuan could be bullish for European exporters, particularly car manufacturers.

Budget day. Seems like investors are getting nervous. My Stockwatch list is all in the red!

20% VAT from 4th jan '11. I feel a big spending spree coming on in advance of the New Year!

i have just opened a modest ftse long (with stop), on the basis that at least a DCB is due on monday

StockMarketWire.com
"MIDDAY REPORT: Headline shares were sharply lower in midday trade, with heavyweight mining stocks leading the rout on the prospect of shrinking growth in China, with banks continuing to suffer on European sovereign debt concerns.

NEW YORK
US stock futures suggest heavy opening losses, as investors fret over global economic growth. "

A very fickle market atm, with no logic to which stocks being hit.

baby and bathwater ..... markets looking very bearish, and a fair bit of forced selling may now be in evidence as margins have to be paid by 15:00

the very brave may want a little dabble at dow at 9850

Is your 'Guru' predicting a bleak summer period? I can't see that there is much good news on the horizon (on the macro front).

i confess he performs better in rising markets, but his last comment re dow was to have a stop loss at 9700 or a little lower ..... 9850 per above, was a long entry point for dow siome time back

I think we all perform better when it's rising cynic, the market that is, ha! ha! What a terrible day, more to come I fear.
2517

Certainly looks as if there's more to come. There seems to be a fairly flexible area of potential support for the Dow between c. 9600 - 9800. Wouldn't want it to breach the lower end with any conviction......

The S&P 500 closed below the key support level of 1040 tonight. The level has been widely watched so it seems quite a high probability we are going lower. Possible targets mentioned here http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/quint-tatro-s2526p-s2526p-500-support/6/30/2010/id/29002?camp=syndication&from=yahoo

Worth keeping an eye on the futures - S&P 500 futures FTSE futures

horrid day likely
critical levels on both dow and ftse now uncomfortably close

Almost panic in the market. Coming to a vital point I feel.

In ftse terms : this must be the second dip....

RBS note on today's non-fram payroll figures:
"After a series of weak data globally, theres an awful lot hanging on todays payroll report. As with last month, the focus will be on private sector job creation. The consensus is for a 110k rise in private jobs, with RBS economists looking for +160k (-130k for the whole economy, following +431k in May). With the whisper number likely to be closer to around +50k, a consensus hit would play positive for risk. Sentiment will be more sensitive to a better number than a weaker number."

Also some press speculation of a large hedgefund unwinding:
"Been told large hedge fund is unwinding. Look out for fluctuations in oil, gas and pharma.
Jump may have caused the unwind: lots of natgas players being caught by the widowmaker spread. These guys have been losing money all year. Their portfolio also has a lot of illiquids. Might explain why natgas jumped yday BBG trying to say it was NY temperature, but Spot was lower on the day!
Euro rally also smacks of forced short covering, so maybe somebody did get blown up in there"

2010 low on the DOW chart. Looks like the non-farm payroll figures were disappointing:
"Investors reacted badly to a weaker than expected jobs report. Non-farm payrolls fell by 125,000 in June compared with 431,000 jobs created in May although that was boosted by temporary census jobs.

Private sector employers added 83,000 new staff, well below forecasts, though double the previous months 41,000, of which many were only temporary positions.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5%, the lowest rate since July last year and down from 9.7% in May.

Few were willing to take on new positions ahead of the long Independence Day weekend just a day after a slew of disappointing economic data out of the States."