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

Here come those crazy yanks - Bernanke speaks this evening.

Bernanke Details Evolution of Fed Policy

BOSTON -- Lessons learned during the financial crisis suggest the Federal Reserve will need to revise, but not abandon, how it approaches monetary policy in the future, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech Tuesday that refrained from commenting on the economic and interest-rate outlook.

In his remarks, the central bank chief, speaking at a conference held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, also said while the Fed now has a wider array of tools to pursue monetary policy and promote financial stability, there may well be times when the former power is employed against financial imbalances.

"My guess is that the current framework for monetary policy -- with innovations, no doubt, to further improve the ability of central banks to communicate with the public -- will remain the standard approach," for the Fed, Mr. Bernanke said in the text of a speech prepared for the event. He explained that the pursuit of price stability, even in the wake of the exotic actions taken by the Fed over the course of the financial crisis, has shown "demonstrated" benefits for stabilizing the economy.

cynic - Good call re apple, Dow on a flyer. Presume you will be taking profits prior to results (on apple)? If there as good as expected and you have a Dow long open it will be kerchiiinnng as well :O)

wall street suddenly roofing ..... some sort of eurozone deal apparently on the table

Germany & France agreed to hike fund...........

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-18/u-s-stocks-extend-gain-on-report-of-rescue-pact.html


France and Germany have reached agreement to boost the eurozone's rescue fund to 2tn (1.75tn) as part of a "comprehensive plan" to resolve the sovereign debt crisis, which this weekend's summit should endorse, EU diplomats said.

King Warns 'Time Is Running Out' For Economy - Sky News
The Governor of the Bank of England has warned that "time is running out" for the UK and global economy.Sir Mervyn King told bosses the "recovery in our trade position is at risk of stalling"

.

AAPL - ouch!!

Apple stuns Wall Street with rare miss, shares down over 6%

Skinny, any thoughts on ASHM? Pays 10.34p divi on 2nd Nov (current sp 320p) , but I know it has suffered recently.

Harry - not one I know much about, but I will look. One reservation (for me) is emerging market property investment - which I'm not too keen on atm.

sounds like a good one to avoid like the plague

Harry not one for me atm - for reasons stated above.

macd crossing over and rsi just moving away from oversold - although the latter, after a reasonable price fall is less indicative. Good luck with it if you buy. My next dividend purchase is likely to be HFD. For info - the cheapest I was offered on ISG yesterday was 184.5 (on lots between 2k and 10k) - I didn't buy - its currently down 8 (div 10p) but on 3850 traded.

Global stocks fall, euro dips as EU summit hopes fade

Caroline Valetkevitch, 20:46, Wednesday 19 October 2011

NEW YORK (Frankfurt: A0DKRK - news) (Reuters) - World stocks declined and the euro pared gains on Wednesday after optimism faded that European leaders will make substantial progress on the euro zone debt crisis this weekend.

A report from the Federal Reserve that the U.S. economic outlook dimmed in September also sapped sentiment, even though the Fed's survey of conditions across the country found that the economy continued to grow slightly in September.

Crazy World.

eBay reports 14% rise in profits

But in after-hours trading in New York, the company's shares fell 5% to $31.45.

Witching!

Bernard M has been very quiet lately! Presumably no oportunities to short anything?
Crazy Yanks up over 200 points atm!!!

Harry have a look at the william hill thread.

Yes, saw that thanks. Not much more I could say, so left it at that.