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

Just realised it's Labour day in the U.S. this w/e, so even more reason to see a rough trading session on friday.

Bloomberg - "Companies in the U.S. added more jobs than forecast in August, easing concern the economy was falling back into recession.

Private payrolls that exclude government agencies climbed 67,000, after a revised 107,000 increase in July that was more than initially estimated, Labor Department figures in Washington showed today. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a gain of 40,000. Overall employment fell 54,000 for a second month and the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent as more people entered the labor force."

"Triple-witching" day is the third Friday of the month that ends each quarter. It marks the simultaneous expiration, at the close, of stock options, index options and index futures" and that is today!

US Jobless numbers are said to be horrid - not up on CNN yet - so be prepared for some interesting happenings in the markets in general

cynic - market seems to barely take notice these days other than a blip

i think a correction is now o'due

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that but with every bad report or detail being shrugged off it might not happen until you think it won't!

very true :-)))

Bizarre day on the DOW. Started off approx -66, up to flat & back down to -87 atm.
Seems the jobless figures were not too bad, though not much consolation for the extra 12000 people out of a job.

r
welcome to our board.
i dont mind if what you post is right or wrong. what you have posted so far seems so sensible. do keep posting.
regards
jkd

and wall street looks to roof it again as latest durable goods figures are obviously very good .... not on CNN yet

cynic durable goods down 1.3%, but dow moved up a little on buy equities tip from a hedge fund pundit on CNBC.

The government reported that orders for durable goods fell 1.3%. A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a decrease of 1.4% in durable goods for August.

There is also a report on new home sales, due out at 10 a.m. ET. The report comes a day after existing home sales came in slightly above expectations.

==========

IG Wall Street cash showing +110, but all will be revealed in the next couple of hours

The rise in durables ex-transportation (which surged +2.0%) and the July upward revision were the important bits of the data.

Your possible correction coming Cynic? Last time the FTSE100 double topped like this on the chart the fall was a progressive 300 point dip. Also, historically sept/Oct has been a traditionally difficult time on the markets. Certainly a red day today!

Gold has just broken through $1300 an ounce....after being 12 dollars down...now plus eight....I reckon another surge for the producers perhaps....and oil is also up after being down....could be blue tomorrow....

Have been listening to the guys on CNN this evening and although they are delighted that the DOW is up almost 200 points, partly on the good news from the Japanese banks, but they are anxious that the rise is on very low volumes & may be the last spurt before a correction. Sentiment seems bullish & Warren Buffet seems very happy with the way Ben B & his cronies have dealt with the crisis. Long term looking good, but very short term looking fragile.

From EK today:
"Finally, I am being cheerfully castrated whilst not under an anaesthetic by my shorts of gold, FTSE and EURUSD. But I am brave and have no intention of yielding."
That's fine for him, but anyone following his example would now be close to skint!

RF shitting him self i think....

around 19:00 i thought dow was going to dump - it was then down 50/60 - and am pleasantly surprised to see recovery to effective b/e