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

Only blue I have are NG JLIF GRG & SSE.

on edit:- I must admit to a dabble in MHG which is up - a pure punt.

I wonder if Morrisons would have put on a better performance had the day been blue all round? Their results were pretty good. I had PMG as a winner today, otherwise grim as you say.

out Dow +48

18:40 - dow now down 228 and below 12000 at about 11985

19:50 - dow still clinging on (just) above the psychological 12000 mark at 12020

DOW futures currently -74, so think I will sit on my spare cash until late in the day or even until next week. Looks like the U.S. are more concerned about the Saudi's rather than Libya.

Have a look at Japan......they will not come out of recession now for years with the tidal wave....

in a somewhat ghoulish way, it will be interesting to see how badly the markets react tomorrow on the back of japan and gadaffi's tightening grip in libya

stay very alert ..... bahrain about to declare martial law with support from the saudis ..... news rec'd from my mate who works in saudi and who is quickly beetling back home (bahrain) from his office in saudi

for obvious reasons that info cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate, but would be surprised if it is not

1000 Saudi soldiers enter Bahrain . News flash

Surely the market is likely to see that as a positive? Stability is what the markets like.

what a nasty surprise to wake up to ..... ironically, the small Dow short i had running was stopped out last night at b/e, but thank goodness for L2 so no need to wait for brokers to answer the phone and place orders .... also, of course, one can choose one's own level and manipulate it at will

Your 5760 level gone Cynic. 11800 DOW still not yet breached, but futures currently -205, so likley it will happen today.

Been on a bit of a bargain hunting spree......even picked up a few KAH....AFR, XEL and sorts.....risky, but so rewarding when all this calms down....

there is and will be a massive amount of forced selling, but very difficult to determine where the bottom might be

That's why I'm buying now.....ridiculous this panic....

Too early, imo. More downside to come. Need to see where the DOW starts.

Picked up a few more bits and pieces.....crazy knockdown.....but there you go....

DOW futures now -278

along with a great many others, i have been badly mangled today, so it's back to rebuilding again ..... the one minor consolation is that, whereas 4/5 years ago i would quite possibly have been annihilated, i have been following my own advice by banking good profits throughout the year(s) - and derided by some for so doing - and thanks to L2, i was able to act and sell very quickly first thing ..... very big OUCH but it would have been much much worse had i not done so

This fall has been on the cards for a long time now.

Question is, when to get in, now or in a day or two.