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

retail gives me the heeby-jeebies and i avoid or go short ASC (which just costs me money!)

as does this poxy system that has started to double and triple post again!

I think it might be your mouse, cynic. Try altering the click rate in 'Control Panel'.

I think I am right in saying that the utilities are going to see some action next year as investors seek income as inflation takes hold. Not a very exciting sector, but divi yield attractive.

only happens from time to time

Bit like sex then..........3 times a bit excessive though!!!

not for you .... you're still a whippersnapper!

Dow having a very nasty time - currently down 146 - but no real fret unless 10750 is broken

Silently kicking myself in frustration, long dow from 11072 and closed shortly thereafter. Seem to be suffering from closing far too early at the moment. Entry positions on most of my SB trades have been excellent but not maximising profits. Getting pissed off with it. Even more annoying as I've been watching the DOW very, very closely for weeks now and I seem to have developed some rules for entry, which thus far have proven pretty good (even if i do say so myself!).

i made a couple of shekels a few days ago when Dow was doing silly things, but i'm not sure if i am brave enough to go long again, even though Dow is now -180 at about 11000 ..... things are not feeling comfortable, notwithstanding last night's good rally off the bottom

It seems the macro environment is looking shaky rather than the home front. Eire, Portugal, Spain, China & Korea all weighing heavily on sentiment. But, as you have said before, it (market) can't continue going up forever.

I hope things calm down in Korea....what does worry me is that China will do something without warning......I expect them to take out the ruling class in North Korea ......or to invade without warning...might not happen tomorrow...but in a few months time......and frankly the North Koreans only have themselves to blame.....

Well, that's your card marked, rf! I am sure Kim Jong-il will be contemplating his next move after reading that! ;o)

Oh well...back to defending the Falklands then I suppose !......

The SM looks horrid to me and if that is a reflection of the economy or North/South Korea political situation, then god help us.

Am just sitting trying to figure out what effect the new 20% VAT will have on my portfolio next year. Assuming most people will try & get all their invoices through before the change, the outlook for retail and most public consumer products (including housing) is not looking good, imo, particularly after the Christmas rush. I wonder if holiday bookings are ahead of the game? Hire companies, car sales, white goods etc all seem risky sectors to be in. Even if some of the companies decide to absorb the increase, that will still impact on their profit margin.
Shares mag and others still seem to think that there is mileage in commodities and mining, but maybe now is the time to be looking at the other emerging markets which have not been hit by the recession (BRICS). The home market looks to be in the doldrums for a while yet.

that is why i just cannot get my head round the stellar rise in ASC ..... looks totally nuts to me, but don't try to fight the trend - just stay out

Not sure if any of you guys use CirtIndex for Spread bets - I do - and the integrity of the system leaves something to be desired.

Last night (about 11pm ) they had a system problem - which put all stock values to 0. In my account - this triggered a margin call as suddenly I owed 50k - so they closed my FTSE position (It was only 8) but it was in profit.

It took a phone call to rectify - which they did - no problem - but I wonder how many people would have got stopped out and just accepted it >>

This is not the first time this has happened

Just thought I would mention it as I no longer have faith in the integrity of their system.

IG had a problem this am. There was no value on some of my stocks for most of the morning. Been rectified now.

strange ..... i had no problem, but perhaps the platform for CFDs is slightly different

London has hit a new 30-month high on a partial recovery on Wall Street overnight and strong performance in Asia this morning.

Banks are leading the way, with good gains for Barclays, RBS and Lloyds this morning. Reports, since played down, that Business secretary Vince Cable could walk away from the coalition may have spurred some interest as the bonus season approaches.

Womenswear clothing retailer Alexon has issued the first weather-related profit warning. The snow has hurt sales during the crucial run-up to Christmas. It estimates the weather could knock 1.5m off profits for the year ending 29 January 2011. Other potential weather casualties are also under pressure. Retailer Dunelm is worst performer on the FTSE 350, but bingo club operator Rank, Dixons and Supergroup are all lower.

In other company news, AstraZeneca is to stop all development work on its fledgling respiratory drug motavizumab, resulting in a $445m impairment charge this quarter. Astra had already flagged up this possibility and has been considering the future of motavizumab since August.

BG Group's chief financial officer Ashley Almanza is leaving the oil company at the end of March next year, and will be replaced by ex-Vale finance boss Fabio de Oliveira Barbosa.

Credit card and ID theft specialist CPP is on track this year as growth elsewhere continues to offset a difficult market in southern Europe.

Zotefoams is lower even though it remains on course for a 20% lift in sales this year after fourth quarter revenues rose 7% driven by a surge at the high peformance end of its business. Profit before tax and exceptional items for 2010 will be in line with market expectations, the foam maker added.