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

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.

Sold loads of stuff during the year and as of late EOG, TRP, HOIL and a few others....but still have positions in many....so taken a few risks today buying in using profits from above sales.

The selling isn't ridiculous at all.

Japan is a net exporter of currency. You've now got all of the insurers who are going to have to turn their money into JPY to pay out their claims. This kills the carry trade which is, in turn, linked to equity markets.

If you go back to the Kobe (spelling???) earthquake in 1995, the JPY hit its all time high in the aftermath of the earthquake.

The only thing you've got to watch out for is the BOJ who don't want the Yen to rise and who aren't afraid to get on the offer and sell it down. This could easily cause unexpected spikes. Kampo (arm of Japanese post office) are a known seller.

On the plus side, Japan are going to need a lot of heavy duty construction equipment in the weeks and months ahead. The likes of Caterpillar should benefit.

Agree to being put through the wringer, and profits (some) taken over recent months look to have been positively astute, (lucky more like). However it is times like these where you need to have nerves of steel, because it is possible to make decent profits from the volatility. Good luck all
2517

Hilary, I think I am right in saying though, that the general insurers (Aviva, Pru, etc) are not directly affected. It is the re-insurance market which is exposed, such as Catlin, Novae, Omega etc who are all part of the LLoyds Ins set up?

Doesn't matter what their names are, Harry, they still need to buy Yen.