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

but there is still no volumeat these highs , even my asc got no volume conviction in highs... seems like market is waiting for some big news... can be europe can be iran..

Trouble is the greek solution may drag on until the last minute......13th ....15th feb? Was hoping for news today, but not yet forthcoming.

Bernanke: U.S. Labor Market ‘Long Way’ From Normal

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke repeated that the job market is still far from healthy after signs of economic improvement over the past year, and he called on
lawmakers to reduce the long-term budget deficit.

“We still have a long way to go before the labor market can be said to be operating normally,” Bernanke said in testimony prepared for the Senate Budget Committee that is identical to remarks he gave on Feb. 2 to the House Budget panel. “Particularly troubling is the unusually high level of long-term unemployment.”

The jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 8.3 percent in January, a government report showed on Feb. 3. Bernanke’s testimony today indicated that his views on the health of the labor market haven’t changed, even though he didn’t refer to the January data. The economy added 243,000 jobs last month, according to the report, exceeding the most optimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

Benny boy stating the bleeding obvious yet again

..World stocks jump on Greek bailout hopes

Reuters – 13 minutes ago




NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro hit an eight-week high against the dollar on Tuesday, helping lift stocks and commodities on signs a Greek bailout agreement was near, but the rally lost steam after a key meeting was postponed until Wednesday.

The euro rallied after Greece appeared to be close to terms on a 130-billion-euro bailout. A government official said Athens was drafting a list of painful reforms needed to clinch a new financial package, moving Athens a step closer to a deal that is needed to avoid a chaotic debt default.

But a meeting was postponed until Wednesday because Greek political leaders yet to get a draft of the bailout agreement, a party official said.

The euro jumped at one point more than 1 percent to a session high of $1.3269, hitting its highest level since December 12, but later pared gains to 0.8 percent.

Greek political leaders had balked at the austerity plan required to receive the rescue funds and strikers protesting against more austerity tussled with police outside parliament.

"The market is expecting a Greek deal, so there's greater optimism overall," said Greg Moore, currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto.

"But it's certainly up in the air at this point," he said. "All these are very fluid headlines and that highlights the high level of uncertainty at the moment

Greeks delayed for another day. More sideways trading!

Are we there yet? Highest (12,903.63) since 2008.

It doesn't seem comfortable through 12,900. I'm short (with a fairly tight stop) at 12,893.

beautiful number to start , splat, hundreds points to come?... btw pretty falling and unusual usa start... eur/dol falling too..things finally start to breaking down?...

Covered for now + 61 as it bounces. Will look to re enter later...

you may care to take note of post 7848

for myself, perhaps a little prematurely, i have my banked profits on ftse, aapl and goog

Manufacturing, Industrial production and trade balance all ahead of consensus.

http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php?do=geteventinfo&day=2012-2-9&c=2

BREAKING NEWS: Number of UK homes repossessed in 2011 was 36,200, the lowest annual total since 2007, mortgage lenders say

euroibor down 1.07%

GBP Asset Purchase Facility 325B v consensus 325B previous 275B

GBP Official Bank Rate 0.50 % v consensus 0.50% previous 0.50%

USD Unemployment Claims 358K v consensus 369K previous 367K

Greece political leaders reach a deal on cuts aimed at securing a new bailout package

Greece leaders agree austerity package

then what?

How 'magic' made Greek debt disappear before it joined the euro