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

Italy's prime minister has dismissed rumours that he was about to step down as interest rates on government debt jumped.

Silvio Berlusconi, who faces a crucial vote on Tuesday, said the reports were "unfounded".

His interior minister said the PM now lacked the majority to pass urgent economic reforms demanded by the EU.

Fear that the eurozone crisis could engulf Italy persists, with Italian 10-year bonds rising to a euro-era high.

Italy agreed a limited package of budget reforms last week.

Facebook denial

But the Italian cabinet failed to agree to issue a decree implementing the changes. Mr Berlusconi now faces what is being seen as a confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday.

NXT new 12 moth high (again) today - amazing.

NEW YORK (Frankfurt: A0DKRK - news) , Nov 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed in choppy trading after being lower on Monday as Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) 's debt problems dominated investors' concerns, with the focus heavily on Italy's political turmoil.

None of which seems to be worrying the US this evening!

The DOW has put on 160 pts since the low of the day and isn't showing much sign of slowing down.

Italy overtook Greece as the prime threat to the stability of the euro zone on Monday as governments sought to placate frantic bond markets and halt accelerating financial contagion.


Italy is struggling to reduce its enormous 1.9trn euro debt
While Italy's funding costs are approaching the sort of level other euro zone countries reached when they needed to be bailed out, there may not be enough money to bail Italy out. This would take the currency bloc's crisis to a new level
Italian government bond yields rose, with the 10-year up 23 basis points to 6.61. Analysts say yields above 7 percent would make funding costs questionable.

Getting very fed up with this Euro nonsense, just wish the lot of them who are in danger of going bust would go bust. Bailing out the PIGS with more borrowed money doesn't make much sense to me, but then it doesn't have to.

What's the worst that can happen?

Italian debt levels exceed the total borrowing of Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece combined.

No surprise there DC, governments have been living in cloud cuckoo land for years, including of course our very own Labour govt who along with the rest of them have screwed the lot of us :(

A very big worry ptholden.

More than half of Italy's debt is held domestically, mainly because the small family businesses that dominate the economy like to hold their pensions in the form of government bonds. Unlike Greece, where most sovereign debt must be sold to the foreign market, Italy sells much of its debt to its own private sector.

The ECB was undoubtely a buyer yesterday but held back from overwhelming action, risking a deadly metastasis of the crisis. Board member JosManuel Gonzez-Pamo issued a blunt warning that Italy can expect no white knight. "The ECB is not a lender of last resort. It does not have a magic wand."

Joachim Fels from Morgan Stanley (EUREX: DWDF.EX - news) said Europe's leaders may themselves have invited disaster by suggesting for the first time that a country -- Greece -- may be pushed out of EMU. This shatters the stated orthodoxy until now that the euro is inviolable and eternal.

"They may have set in motion a sequence of events which could potentially lead to runs on sovereigns and banks in peripheral countries that make everything we have seen so far in this crisis look benign," he said.


Since Italy is too big to fail and to save ?

The irony is that had the Germans allowed the ECB to intervene decisively in the sovereign debt crisis by guaranteeing the eurozone countries' bonds unconditionally, the crisis could have been contained in early 2010.

Thank you Germany. Perhaps they want to write a cheque.

IG have the FTSE opening up 60 pts tomorrow - everything is just fine and dandy then!

Short term the FTSE may be fine, This cannot be swept under the mat. My guess if they go down, bye,bye the Euro.

Something for IG Index spreadbetters to be aware of, which I must admit had escaped my notice until today.

Their DFBs (Daily Funded Bets) attract dividend payments in the same way as if you had a position in a share that goes ex-divi.

Wall St cash (DOW) had an equivalent dividend adjustment of 13.90 tonight, so for every 1 short, costs 13.90 and every 1 long would net 13.90. Apparently today was relatively big in comparison to other days.

IG do not seem to publish the dividend adjustment on their UK web page (but I'm told they do on the Australian version) which is crap in my opinion. I gather the adjusment is available on sites such as Bloomberg, I'll post the link if I can find it.

Futures already have this adjusment priced in, but then from memory the spread is double the size of the cash DFB.

Moral of the story, know the dividend adjustment if you're intending to 'roll over' your short.

It is wikipedia but - euro economies by size

Italian crisis: Silvio Berlusconi faces calls to resign

Mr Berlusconi has lost his majority in parliament, with 308 voting for him on a budget vote seen as a test of his support. One abstained, and 320 others - the entire opposition - did not vote.

First he denies it, now he vows it. Italian crisis: Silvio Berlusconi vows to resign

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will resign after key economic reforms have been approved, the country's president says.

Is that why the DOW went from negative to positive?

That's just "those crazy yanks" !

It is mad though - FTSE currently 5625 - 5628.

.