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

FTSE currently 5,446 - DOW 11,967

on edit.

Tomorrow's key announcements.

I wonder who is most likely to benefit. Transport schemes given 854m in government funding

The government has announced 854m in funding for 21 transport schemes across England.

It said 82.6m would be provided for a River Wear bridge in Sunderland and 76.2m for an extension of the Metropolitan Tube line to Watford.

Also included are improvements to buses in north Bristol and enhancements for the Nottingham ring road.

Many of the projects are dependent on local councils and other bodies providing extra funding.

The funding is in addition to 574m announced for 20 projects in the Autumn Statement in November.

Transport Secretary Justine Greening said the funding would "strengthen local economies".

i see the baboons in washington are playing stupid political games yet again

Where are they?

U.S. stocks slide for third day (2:46)

lol.,.

London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), Swiss National Bank (SNB); rate unchanged <0.25%

US Unemployment Claims 366k v consensus 389k previous 385k.

Just gone short DOW @11,950

Get out, I suggest. RUssia has 40% interest in Europe. We will see a big change in the equation, IMO.

Philly Fed Manufacturing Index 10.3 v consensus 5.1 previous 3.6

Is that good then?

Well apparently it is - unless it isn't!

-):

Yes it's good :) http://www.philadelphiafed.org/newsroom/press-releases/2011/121511.cfm

Out +40.

well done. you r brave though.

The more I try and understand these "figures" the more confused I seem to become.

Apparently the 30year German debt yields have hit an all time low today!

Looking at the graph here, German some short term bonds have a negative yield.. Seems nuts to me - http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/rates-bonds/government-bonds/germany/

Look at the DOW now! I think its time (for me) to ignore the figures and dust down the runes :-)