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

As stated above - Out of the range.

DOW toying with 11,900.

Thus far post 7228 proving to be on the money. Now will the DOW retrace back to old resistance at 11700 (or thereabouts)? I sort of hope it does as it should prove to be a good level to go long, assuming it doesn't drop through.

have banked some profits on ftse, aapl and goog, purely because a correction now feels overdue

Markets can remain irrationally overbought for irrationally long periods Richard!

true indeed, but as we have seen of late, they can also collapse in an untidy heap without warning and much logic too ..... some profits banked can never harm

And right to do so Ricardo.

though i have back into ftse this morning a whopping(!!) 20 points below my closing level last night

US Consumer confidence 39.8 v 46.4

Good to hear that,

With such a low confidence companies are making so much money.

WOwww what is going to happen if their confidence goes up.

Another days wait!

EU officials to look at fund plan details

Sources have told RTNews that tomorrow's planned meeting of EU finance ministers has been postponed until after the summit meeting in Brussels tomorrow night.

is there a big dispute there?
or they want to finalize everything before the meeting!

NO problem I think, the world will survive without cash injection.

The BBC take on it. Eurozone rescue plan hits new hitch

There has been another major hiccup in the eurozone's plans to announce a final rescue deal in Brussels to try to end the turmoil in the euro area.

The Polish presidency of the EU has confirmed to the BBC that key meetings have been postponed.

You can see where their priorities lie :-)

The full emergency summit and dinner involving the 17 eurozone nations afterwards will still go ahead as planned.

IBM Buyback Helps Steady Stocks

Thats been enough to stabilize the S&P and Dow, helping spark a bounce in EUR/USD.

They work much better than most CEOs, who just milk us.

they cannot even be with their wife for the first child, we shouldn't complain.

ahoj - if you are talking to me - I was referring to the fact that at least the dinner goes ahead as planned! :-)

Hope it chokes them! Unbelievable.

sorry skinny, i didn't mean that.

DOW low of the day 11740, quite close to my predicted retracement level of 11700 (ish). Wonder if that was it?

U.S. consumer confidence tumbles, home prices stagnate