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

Stocks Tumble Worldwide After Obama Speech

Stocks fell worldwide for a second day and the yield on Germanys two-year note declined to a record after President Barack Obama detailed his $447 billion plan to boost hiring in the U.S. Photographer: Paul Taggart/Bloomberg
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U.S. President Barack Obama makes a speech to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg


Stocks fell for a second day and German two-year yields declined to a record amid escalating concern about Greeces debt crisis and speculation Congress wont pass President Barack Obamas $447 billion plan to boost the economy. European bank credit risk surged to an all-time high.

The MSCI All-Country World Index retreated 1.7 percent at 9:30 a.m. in New York and the Standard & Poors 500 Index slipped 1 percent. The yield on the German two-year note yield slid to less than 0.4 percent for the first time. The dollar strengthened against all of its 16 major peers tracked by Bloomberg. Oil fell 2.6 percent.

I think the acceleration in falls is down to this - Stark to leave over ECB bond buying

rather like Cameron, Obama inherited something of a poisoned chalice ..... unlike Cameron, Obama has to defeat a vituperative Republican house before he can enact anything ....... what chance would Obama have had in implementing the seriously tough programme of much needed cuts etc that Cameron has (quite correctly) put through?

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anyway, for me, a really good week on the markets, with decent gains even today, though much of that laid at TLW's door

cameron unfortunately inherited a bucket of shite from labour - as the out going labour team said to the chancellor: 'good luck - the cupboard is bare'! that about sums labour up and now another idiot labour mp is fighting for the rights of the so called tavellers in essex - those up standing citizens who pay jack into the system, scrounge on benefits, cause mayhem even though they own homes back home in ireland - no wonder ireland were glad to see the back of them - thanks to labour england has become a dumping ground - england is a small country and does not have the infrastructure or cash to cater for me people especially scroungers from other countries! i also realise some genuine useful people arrive but i would say they are the minority!! rant over

me should have been more in previous post!

ftse indicating -75 or more for the morning ..... euro being bashed too, unsurprisingly

Interesting article covering Halfords and Vodafone. This is money.

Looks like a sell into any rally day. Dollar Index DXY, worth tracking along with Dow and UKX charts for scalping :O)

Societe Generale off its lows now only -9.69% !

Looks like Greece has had it. Maybe the Arabs will buy it.

G8 pledges $38bn to Arab states as IMF recognises Libya

Finance ministers from the G8 group of industrialised countries have pledged nearly $40bn (25bn) to several Arab countries to help with reconstruction and moves towards democracy.

The money will go to Egypt and Tunisia, which overthrew their autocratic leaders, as well as Morocco and Jordan.

In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recognised Libya's post-Gaddafi leadership.

DOW looking grim again!
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were poised to take a hit Monday, following a sell-off in global markets sparked by fresh eurozone debt worries.
Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were all more than 1% lower ahead of the opening bell. Stock futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Investors were struggling with a new wave of anxiety over the possibility that Greece will default on its debts.
Adding to overseas jitters, France's top banks prepared themselves for a possible credit downgrade from ratings agency Moody's, according to Reuters. Traders expect the downgrade announcement to be issued at any moment as the 90-day window for the review comes to a close. The credit ratings agency issued the review on June 15."

DOW on offer @10,835 with cmc (not the low).

Moody's cuts SocGen and CreditAgricole, BNPP still on review

10,957 on offer ETX Capital DOW futures

Sarkozy 'will do everything' to save Greece

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon will "do everything to save Greece," amid a spiralling eurozone crisis, French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse has said.

Even invasion & occupation? Can't see anything else working.

Doubt he would sell them his Mrs. Skinny

UBS trader arrested by London police over rogue deal

Police in London have arrested a 31-year-old man in connection with allegations of unauthorised trading which has cost Swiss banking group UBS an estimated $2bn (1.3bn).

He was detained in the early hours of Thursday and remains in custody.

He should ask Fred the shread where to stash the money.