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 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!

Will CDS Tackle the European Financial System?
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The European sovereign debt crisis has been festering for nearly three years, and some observers wonder whether the credit default swaps (CDS) that have been written on the government of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain represent another source of risk for the world's financial institutions.

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Stock index futures signal strong gains......

A credit default swap is a financial instrument in which the buyer of the instrument makes a series of payments, called "the spread," to the seller for a specified period of time, which is known as the maturity of the instrument. In return, the seller will make compensation to the buyer in specified amount, called the notional amount, if there is a "credit event" (i.e., a default).

Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain have been at the forefront of the European sovereign debt crisis that has been festering for nearly three years.

Wells Fargo economists say the notional value of the CDS contracts that have been written on government bonds of those five countries totals an eye-popping €500 billion though net CDS exposure is much more manageable at €40 billion.

However, CDS exposure, whether measured on a net or even on a gross basis, is small compared to the outstanding government debt of five countries that totals €3.3 trillion.

"In our view, observers should not focus on CDS in isolation. Rather, their attention should be riveted to the solvency of those European governments. After all, a "credit event," which would trigger the CDS contracts, would not occur unless a European government defaulted," economist Jay Bryson wrote in a note to clients.

Observers should be especially concerned about the potential risk to the European financial system posed by the €2 trillion worth of outstanding Italian government debt. A restructuring of Italian government debt, should it occur, would cause European banks to take capital charges that would total hundreds of billions of euros.

In September 2008, American International Group Inc (AIG) was brought down by the CDS it had written against collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that were backed by sub-prime mortgages. However, ultimately it was the inability of subprime borrowers to service their mortgages, not the CDS contracts per se, that doomed AIG.

In that regard, there is some uncertainty regarding the applicability of the CDS contracts to a debt restructuring. In the case of Greek government debt, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has announced that the restructuring proposed in October may not qualify as a "credit event" if it is "voluntary." In the event of a "voluntary" restructuring, CDS contracts would not be triggered. However, negotiations about the restructuring of Greek government debt are ongoing, and no final determination has yet been made regarding a "credit event."

"The bottom line is that we do not lie awake at night worrying about the implications for the European financial system of CDS written on European sovereign debt. The nightmare of potential debt restructuring, especially for Italy, is bad enough to prevent a restful night's sleep," added Bryson

UK unemployment increases to 2.685m

UK unemployment rose by 118,000 in the three months to November to 2.685 million, official figures show.

The unemployment rate also rose to 8.4% from 8.3%, the highest rate since January 1996.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in December rose by 1,200 to 1.6 million.

That was lower than expected and came from a lower base than had been thought. November's claimant count was revised down to a rise of 200.

The number of young people without a job rose to 1.043 million in the three months to November, taking the unemployment rate in the 16-24 year-old age group to 22.3%.

The number of people in employment rose slightly in the three months to November to 29.119 million.

This Government couldn't care less about unemployment figures as they "hope" that if their declared next General election date is in 2015. Then the numbers will be coming down.. so it's just the usual political positioning in these preseeding years.

ZEW/Credit Suisse Economic Expectations -50.1 previous -72

PPI m/m -0.1% v consensus 0.1% previous 0.3%

Core PPI m/m 0.3% v consensus 0.1% previous 0.1%

TIC (Net Foreign Purchases of Long-Term Securities;) 59.8B v consensus 27.3B previous 4.8B.

greece going default, recession.. market is not pricing that yet and is tired too so shorted ftse 5700

Are we in a recession yet?

been in recession for years in reality, never out of it - because basically effectively everyone has been living on borrowed monies for ages which masked the reality, analyst have known this for years as have governments - now the credit lines are closing reality is finally hitting home - no avoiding it - i was wondering how long it would take for that to happen longer than i expected but hey ho

even china with its trillions stashed away will be affected in time

have a good evening all

shorting ftse at 5700 is quite brave as if there is a break above 5709 you may get quickly singed