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

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 :-)

Well I'm now long for my sins - stop at entry - hmmm!

US CPI figures @1:30 could make or break the day.

0.2% v consensus 0.1%

Consumer prices rose at a 3.4% annual rate in November, virtually unchanged from the prior month, the government says.

To save confusion - I should have been more specific - I was referring to the core CPI (which apparently is of higher importance) :-)

Today's numbers.

Options expiry today.

The most bullish of the four apparently, up 15 of the last 19!

Futures looking rather interesting - could this be the start of a Christmas rally!

Amazing. Trust you are making money on the DOW, skinny?

Dow Jones
12,101.99
+335.73
+2.85% Bodes well for Wednesday