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

Well done Splat.

Nice one splat.

cheers, but out a little prematurely! (as ever, and I'm only talking about trades!)

Oh I don't know - I think tonight is even more of a gamble than "normal" :-)

Gold currently around 1625, which leaves my short(s) just about flat! I think I'll leave the indicies tonight - I'm sure there is a pint of youngs with my name on it!

Thinking something extremely similar skinny. Enjoy mate!

the last hour could see either rocket or stick, but I'ld guess unlikely to be neutral

so all the angst and political rants which have pushed the world's financial markets into turmoil were just driven as usual by a bunch of scribbling scaremongering journos,grow up kids.

what's new H?

hali - it's not the journos but the self-seeking US politicos, though the result is much the same ..... in some ways, it's why our non-elected HoL provides a much better safeguard, though i accept that is far from perfect and open to manipulation

Just got stopped on a FTSE short +90 - which was nice.

Still doomed

..but someone is making huuuge money from this volatility , completly bonkers..

indeed - those with fast fingers and steel nerves and discipline .... and not me!

And all due to :"The Institute for Supply Managements factory index fell to 50.9 in July from 55.3 the prior month. Economists projected the gauge would drop to 54.5, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey," which I presume none of us even considered as a factor, or even knew about!!!
I thought it was now all about the vote for the debt ceiling........apparently not.

I've taken 104 points from the FTSE today - as much luck as anything else!

well done skinny.

The ISM data is quite important, although I don't think you can't take too much from one month. Here is more about it - http://www.ism.ws/ismreport/mfgrob.cfm

Figures above 50 = growth, figures below 50 = contraction.

Cheers splat!

heading for 7th down day on the trot in US ...... assuming this poxy budget deal is voted through tonight, does one then dare for a sharp rebound - and that it is held?

Trouble is, there is lots of other data hitting the presses this week which could affect the markets. (Lots of companies reporting, interest rate decision, ex-divi for some of the big hitters & U.S. non-farm employment figures).