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

no, and unfortunately also closed out a goog long before i went out to dinner .... they've bolted after hours

I think you may have been lucky on google!

i would have been had i continued to hold!

I meant getting out - it closed -9.32 (-1.7%)!

after hours in usa (i had nasdaq stock) sp shot up by 10% following results!

Ok as long as you made a bit - my figs are Nasdaq btw - closed 528.94 -9.32 high 542 low 526.73. The only reason I mentioned them is because I used to trade them fairly often. I'm not sure where they are going from here on - development wise.

A tricky week predicted in the U.S.
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Wall Street will be awash in corporate news this week, as some the nation's largest and most influential companies report their quarterly results.

In total, more than a fifth of the S&P 500 and half of the 30-member Dow Jones industrial average will report their results this week, including General Electric (GE, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500), Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) just to name a half dozen.

Investors expect this week to be a pivotal moment for the market. U.S. stocks have struggled in the past three months in part because of growing concerns that the struggling U.S. economy may start impacting corporate profits. "

very dangerous times

DOW futures -91.

my chartist guru remains remarkably (i think) bullish about both ftse and dow ...... i confess i do not share his sanguinity, but nor am i brave enough to short other than ASC and RBS

Room on the fence for one more!

I'm taking quite a pounding on some of my big holdings AV, SL down 2.8% and 2.2& respectively. Best blue is CEY +2.2%.

I'm not even trading today, Cap Spreads have changed their charting package which is a complete joke! They have obviously never heard the expression 'if it isn't broke, why fix it' Pillocks!!!

delighted to hear it chris ..... i think it's a time to sit on one's hands or even to take money off the table

CC, it's a joke.

just long some Dow and FTSE, wish me luck ladies and gents!!

Brave man!

hmmm...stupid perhaps rather than brave, HC! Patience is the watchword (oh and some balls!) :-)

And margin ! :-)

momentum below 12000 and 5645 are said to be the respective levels to fear

meanwhile, insofar as that is not an oxymoron with an sp at +/-$600, i have opened a modest short on GOOG ......

however, i shall not be greedy, as though politicians are notoriously stupid, they cannot all be totally nuts, so it is certain that a US budget deal will be struck, and some sort of nonsense cobbled together for the PIGS!