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

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.

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i have found GOOG and AAPL very profitable trades during this time of turbulence .... never look for massive profits but bank at least some almost daily even if it means coming back in at a higher price

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirms he will stand down after a new budget law is approved
bloody good job and none too soon .... italy has been a shambles for years, but this pillock has made it a total laughing stock

What a laugh, tax evasion costs the Italian government an estimated 100 billion per year in revenues. If they crack down on this,its a start.

For anyone interested in FX, Cable pierced a resistance downtrend this evening (a trend established between August and October).

It's dropped back below by a few pips, but the chart set up, higher highs, lower lows, consolidation within an uptrend since Oct 26 and pushing through resistance (albeit briefly) would suggest the pair is about to push on. Initial target 1.66

Health warning: I struggle to get my TA right with FX so please DYOR etc etc.

Edit: I should also add that perhaps the wary will wait for 1.6150 to be breached with some impetus before taking a long position.

good to see that itie slime ball out at last - looking fwd to tomorrow!!

Greek talks to name interim leader continue

Greece's political leaders are locked in talks for a third day as they continue to hammer out details of a unity government.

Initial reports that a candidate for PM had been agreed failed to materialise, but sources in Athens have told the BBC a deal has now been reached.

Outgoing PM George Papandreou will now address the nation at 14:30 GMT before meeting the president at 15:00 GMT.

Italy at breaking point, Merkel calls for "new Europe"

Philip Pullella and Andreas Rinke, 16:02, Wednesday 9 November 2011

ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian borrowing costs reached breaking point on Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's insistence on elections instead of an interim government opened the way to prolonged instability and delays to economic reform.

Italian 10-year bond yields shot above the 7 percent level that is widely deemed unsustainable, reflecting investors' concerns that they may not get their money back and prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to issue a call to arms.

Italian bonds rise past 'unsustainable' 7pc barrier and there are fears the contagion is spreading to Spain and France, as the ECB reportedly buys Italy's debt and Germany is under pressure to act to save monetary union.

what a nasty day - rkh excepted - and not looking much better for tomorrow as dow slips away again (-252 @ 11916)

Hope no one took any notice of my FX comments, typically the exact opposite happened to what I expected. Having said that there was safety in waiting for confirmation of the break out.

All well Ricardo? You've been unusally quite for a while!