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

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

markets getting very twitchy, though nothing firm ...... apparently some greek right-wing party is throwing a hissy

Athens clashes in Greece over Greece Eurozone austerity deal

Protesters have clashed with police in the Greek capital Athens, amid anger over fresh austerity measures approved under pressure from Eurozone ministers.

Demonstrators threw rocks and petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas. The clashes came after trade unions began a 48-hour strike.

Parliament is expected to vote on a package of cuts and reforms on Sunday.

Eurozone ministers say MPs must approve it before Greece receives 130bn euros ($170bn; £110bn) in bailout funds.

CAD Trade Balance 2.7B v consensus 0.7B previous 1.1B


USD Trade Balance -48.8B v consensus -48.1B previous -47.8B

pretty nice meltdown today, still too high, euro/dol back where it should be, hope market will realize that greece will never get bailout, instead of that money will go to support italy.

you do talk such rubbish! ..... it is (almost) a racing certainty that despite all the rattling by various opposition parties in greece, that this latest austerity package will indeed be approved on sunday, or at least before the genuine deadline ..... if it isn't, then all sorts of horrid things start to happen, but for sure the pot will not be up for grabs for italy

once again, in short, greece will default not get money, the money instead will cover stroger italy with LTRO covering collateral .

cynic it appears portugal is likely to receive some extra financial assistance from germany.