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

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!

Obama has stated they face ''Armageddon'' if the Budget is not sorted. Plan c will sort it. Otherwise no doubt China will move in. Hope you had a good break cynic.

it's a lovely area and also the villa; many thanks and wish i was still there

I bet you do, returning to this sh--. dc

Dow covered +110 and UKX +30 :)

CNNMoney: (A mixed bag)
"Companies: Quarterly reports from the banking sector will take center stage Tuesday morning.

Before the opening bell, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) reported a net loss of $8.8 billion, or 90 cents per diluted share, in line with analyst expectations.

The bank was not expected to report a profit after agreeing to pay an $8.5 billion settlement to investors burned by fraudulent mortgage securities.

Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) posted second-quarter earnings of $1.1 billion profit, or $1.85 a share, missing analysts' forecasts. The investment firm reported net revenue of $7.28 billion.

Citing strong demand, Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500) reported earnings per share of $1.20 on revenue of $12.7 billion, beating analyst expectations. Shares of the soft-drink maker were up more than 1% in premarket trading.

Investors will also hear from Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500) before the market open.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is scheduled to report its earnings after the closing bell. The iPod, iPad and Mac computer maker is forecast to have earned $5.85 a share. Also out after the close on Tuesday are results from Yahoo! (YHOO, Fortune 500)."

The banks all coming off now.