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

Not at the moment.


Italian unity fails to stem market fears over eurozone
Louise Armitstead, 21:04, Tuesday 15 November 2011

Political co-operation in Rome failed to prevent Italian borrowing costs being pushed into the "bail-out zone" for the second time in a week, prompting warnings Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) is "heading for an almighty crash".

The UK unemployment total rose by 129,000 in the three months to September to 2.62 million

I take it Merv the Swerv's speech @10:30 has caused the fall in the last 10 minutes.

No worries skinny only another 3 and a half hours of pain before those crazy yanks join us :O)

Growth revised downwards to 1%

Italy's new PM Mario Monti says he has formed a new government and will himself be in charge of the economy

Mario Monti has unveiled a new, technocratic cabinet meant to steer Italy through its debt crisis after the fall of the Berlusconi government.

The prime minister-designate, a former EU competition commissioner, drew up his cabinet list after days of intense negotiations and consultations.

Mr Monti has sought to reassure markets that Italy will make sacrifices to overcome its debt crisis.

This is turning into a really choppy day, can't recall seeing so many candle wicks on the Indices or FX charts for a while - making life tres difficult :-(

Bloody "Crazy Yanks" going the wrong way at a rate of knots - off to the pub quiz and copious Youngs bitter :-)

Sorry Skinny. No such thing as Youngs anymore.
They sold their brewing interests to Wells some weeks ago.
Another ex-brewer heading for the Hotel and Food route.

Yes - John Young would turn in his grave.

Bye bye 5400?

Market overview: Spain or Italy could even default in days, Citi says

11:42, Thursday 17 November 2011

.

Initial jobless claims dip 5,000 to 388,000 in latest week. Building permits rose 11% but new home construction fell 0.3% in October.

hence the relatively decent bounce on both sides of the pond

11700 here we come, jeez what a shit week.

dow tumbling fast - now down 115 at 11780 ....... 11500 is the key number to watch for

We all knew this was coming surely. Not blowing my own trumpet i have said for weeks this would happen. I am not at all surprised. Just wonder where the good news
to lift the FTSE in the next few months (or longer) is going to come from?

Would suggest it's sat on a fairly key level right now Richard. 11700 represents the bottom of this sideways channel and the top of the previous channel before breaking out on the 20th Oct. If it falls through here we could be going back to 10600.

Fitch: Italy 'already in recession'
Telegraph staff and agencies, 18:04, Thursday 17 November 2011

Italy is probably already in recession, ratings agency Fitch said on Thursday, adding that it would cut the country's credit rating further if Europe third largest economy was shut out of the debt markets

The big trouble is that these med countries have got too big for their boots.....please don't get me wrong...I love Spain, Italy and such....but they have overspent to ridiculous levels..Portugal has built a magnificent series of motorways and one aross the sea near Lisbon but, how do you pay for such incredible projects ; only by borrowing vast amounts of capital that nobody around those parts can afford and I fear that they employ a vast army of bureaucrats with inflated salaries...same goes for Spain criss-crossed now with motorways and the others....now ten years of hardship lays ahead to pay for these things ...