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

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."

Link to article on CNBC website

Rather a depressing view (but at least it means my FTSE short is currently in profit):

'The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday.

Those who dont remember history are doomed to repeat it there was a head and shoulders pattern that developed before the Depression in 1929, then with the recovery in 1930 we had another head and shoulders pattern that preceded a fall in the market, and in the current Dow situation we see an exact repeat of that environment, Guppy said.

The Dow retreated 457.33 points, or 4.5 percent last week, to close at 9,686 Friday. Guppy said a Dow fall below 9,800 confirmed the head and shoulders pattern.

The Shanghai Composite is seeing a very rapid collapse, falling below 2,500, which suggests the major fall in the Dow, he added.

The same head and shoulders pattern seen in the Dow can also being seen in the FTSE, he added.'

go crawl back under your toadstool you depressing little elf!

It's not so depressing if you're trading the indices though - as you well know.

Anyway, I guess the sun of the S of F is enough to dispel any market worries for you - best retreat under your sunshade with a glass of something bubbly.

Good thing I set my short to close if it fell below 4800, which it did during the night!

some work to do this morning and then a bit of food shopping ..... may go exploring thereafter - perhaps ile s/l sorgue

you make a wonderful wife and mother cyners.....

I suggest a Pastis & crudit at midday, followed by a quick siesta before the DOW opening. Americans should be itching to get going, futures currently +66.

At last some brighter news from the US - glad there's a glimmer of optimism after all!
Reuters:
'U.S. stocks advanced more than 1 percent on Wednesday as a bullish earnings forecast by institutional investor State Street Corp lifted bank shares and higher crude oil prices boosted the energy sector.'

Wonder how long this will last.

can you smell short knickers burning!!