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

sorry meant - stick it to the imf!!!!

good to see the uk is now regarded as a safe haven and effectively being paid to look after money :-))) (germany also!)

US unemployment claims 399k v consensus 373k previous 375k

Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment 74 v consensus 71.2 previous 69.9

Looks like S&P will be downgrading some Eurozone countries imminently - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/13/uk-eurozone-sp-idUKTRE80C11V20120113

Cheers Jon - I wondered what was going on!

No probs :) Looks grim today but can hardly be unexpected.

Apparently France and Austria have just been downgraded by one notch each (to AA+).

Plenty of shares uncrossed well above the last trades.

Very true Skinny especially BARC, LLOY and RBS,...........I'm pleased to say :>))))
Have a good weekend.

There goes that double click again!

.

france / austria - about time been waiting for a few weeks for that now - kicked off a while back s&p

fitch what do they know lol

PARIS—Fitch Ratings doesn't see France as a country in crisis and won't downgrade it from triple-A so long as its debt isn't pushed up sharply by shocks related to the euro-zone debt crisis, the head of global sovereign ratings at the firm said Thursday.

"France is not a crisis country," David Riley said at a conference in Paris, one of several Fitch is conducting this week in European cities.

France's rating is in sharp focus at present, after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services put the country—along with the bulk of the euro zone—on review for a downgrade on Dec 5. The ratings agency said at the time that it would make a decision as soon as possible after a European Union December summit in Brussels and said it could lower France's rating by as much as two notches, a warning that has left investors on tenterhooks for weeks now. Moody's Investors Service is expected to announce soon the results of its monitoring of the stable outlook on France's triple-A rating.

Mr. Riley said France will keep its triple-A rating—Fitch recently lowered the country's outlook to negative—if its debt stabilizes around 90% of gross domestic product and then begins declining in the time around 2013 to 2014. That is the rating agency's baseline scenario.

However, France wouldn't be in line with triple-A status if its liabilities to the euro-zone bailout are all called on, there is low growth and the government has to provide some support to the financial sector.

Fitch will wait to see the economic data this year and the policies of the next government that emerges from elections in the Spring, Mr. Riley said. And for the moment, it doesn't expect the government to intervene to prop up French banks.

"We don't expect the government to need to provide direct or capital support to banks, but if there is an intensification of the crisis there are exposures that do pose a source of risk," Mr. Riley said.

The analyst also repeated his call for the European Central Bank to step up its involvement in resolving the crisis, especially as Italy has been caught in the market's spotlights.

"Italy also needs a credible financial firewall and ultimately that requires a much more active, explicit action from the ECB," he said. "We believe ECB can expand operations without threatening its inflation target."

I went to a squash game, which probably didn't do my heart any good, came home to find the following in my e-mail inbox, which just about stopped my heart!!!

"NEW YORK

US stocks showed heavy losses in late morning trade, investors fretting over report of potential credit downgrades of several Eurozone countries by Standard & Poor"s. This offset better-than-expected consumer sentiment data.

Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 900 points at 12,381, the S&P500 dipped 9 points at 1,286 and Nasdaq lost 17 points at 2,707."

900 points!!!!!! You have got to be kidding?!!!

hc yep dont know where they got the 900 from - maybe whoever wrote that should go to spec savers! as should the captain of this iti cruise ship lol!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16558910 gunnels under - i knew a captain of a ship once - he was captain of the 'eads!!! LOL

iti cruise ship amusingly is in fact following the iti economy - on the rocks and sinking, on its side first though then....... down to davy jones locker!!

however i did not read the link to the iti ship first - wish i did - this is not funny at all

3 have died ignore post 7742 please - this is serious didnt realise people had passed away - that is tragic

Whilst tragic, it was inevitable. Ironically, the fact the sinking was probably caused by hitting rocks meant proximity to the coast and rescue services. Sooner or later there will be a cruise ship disaster which will result in the death of hundreds.

anyway, dow finished down <50, so it'll be interesting to see how london reacts on monday ..... i could argue "very little" after the knee-jerk first-off, as this s&p news was scarcely unexpected

German ZEW Economic Sentiment (Survey of about 350 German institutional investors and analysts which asks respondents to rate the relative 6-month economic outlook for Germany;)

-21.6 v consensus -49.7 previous -53.8.

DOW futures currently +96, so they don't seem too bothered about the EU zone downgrades.

i do hope osborne does not throw yet more billions in to that dratted eu fund which itself has been downgraded a notch by s&p!