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

FSA say they are not going to ban short selling of UK stocks, guess where we are going next!

don't know which day(s) are more ridiculous

interesting to note that dow could not hold above key 11160, having been as high as 11250 shortly before the close

Richard, I'm not sure that level holds relevance any longer, on the Weekly chart the index has closed below 11160 three times and is currently below (obviously) on the Monthly chart.

Just seen on the BBC that the French, Germans and italians are going to try to stop shorting. It came over as all shorting, not just on banks.If that is true it will be interesting.

you prob right peter, especially in such volatile markets .... i guess you're more interested in the 11,000 level anyway

Short-selling ban turns up heat on UK banks


A 15-day ban on short selling or the holding of short positions came into force on Friday, with France, Italy, Spain and Belgium participating in a crackdown by the European market regulator.

tempted to short the Dow....but will wait a wee while,
he said alliterating beautifully.

We are now +500 away from this weeks low.

Short here again.

Closed +19. Feeling a bit clueless this afternoon.

I did go short @ 11271 and closed rather too early +35

Are we there yet.

21 million in RBS auction.

General consensus seems to be that there is still more bad economic news to come, particularly in the eurozone (though I see The Daily Mail apologised for it's spurious report on SocGen being in trouble).

what does the Daily Mail know about whether Soc Gen is in trouble or not, Soc Gen was always known as the "gung ho" bank, draw your own conclusions.

H&S on the daily.

Beware of a trap!

the ECB appears to be putting its money where its mouth is!

Most of my screen red (SBT one exception) but looks like it may stay that way this afternoon with the DOW looking bleak.