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

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 ...

They will have a black mark against your passport now rf . lol

That's the trouble nowadays.....you can't speak your mind...."this country is a good one for that..if you do...trouble comes your way....it's what you call freedom of speech but if you do ; we will cause you trouble"...games and circuses and layers of bullshit....

Fully agree.

Looks like a 5th consecutive negative finish!

Markets crashing and not a single post on this thread!

It's been lower recently. No cause for panic yet, imo.

very scary if you ask me, though a hefty bounce is not out quite of the question ..... ftse crashed through its important support of 5300 and dow is struggling badly to get back above the key 11500

All manner of support levels breached today on both sides of the pond. The most recent correction (as it turned out out) came at the end of a long bull run. We haven't really stabilised after that correction and we're off down again.

I think 10600 is certainly on the cards now and 10000 not out of the question.

I will gladly be proven wrong.

Oh and whilst a hefty bounce is always a possibiity, the yanks have shown no sign whatsoever of wishing to buy heavily into this market. I did wonder on Thursday night if the fabled plunge protection team had swung into action as the DOW put on about 80 pts in the last few seconds before the close.

Currently 130 pts above the low, hope it continues, there is still a 40 pt gap to fill at 11750.

DOW back to 11500, already 40 pts down after the close. Not looking too clever for tomorrow.

Might be worth a dabble on AAPL - US agency says Apple did not violate HTC patents

FOMC minutes at 1900.

AAPL up 2% atm - I did nothing.

11500 looks busted on the DOW

5200 will surely go on the FTSE tomorrow?

Yes its not looking too clever!

i've lost enough on the markets this year and have cashed in everything, not least because i see only doom and gloom for the immediate forseeable

It may well transpire that is the best trade of the year!