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

dav good one sorry for delay just ate

Bankia shares suspended amid bailout request reports

Trading in shares in the Spanish lender Bankia has been suspended in Madrid.

The market regulator CNMV said it was "due to circumstances that may affect the normal share trading".

Bankia is reported to be due to ask the government for a bailout of more than 15bn euros ($19bn; £12bn) after a board meeting later on Friday.

It looks like a diagonal triangle on SPX/Dow, for our 5wave move. Could be something like this...

Look how easily the pattern changes hinged on the length of the (iv)th, its now likely to be an expanding diagonal;



I do have a system target of 1348, but watching with interest as we are in an ABC counter-trend move and thus i don't have enough evidence yet to call that with conviction... If it does reach that level, it will surely reverse thereabouts...

Markets are going to gap up on open...

The US, French, German and Swiss are enjoying a bank holiday today!.

But you can trade German shares!
Are you sure Germany is closed?

I didn't say they were closed, I said they are enjoying a Bank Holiday. :-)

i think the whole of europe is shut - pentecost is a big hol over there

and did not realise, but so is usa

Perhaps the countries have shut down but their markets are open. Spains IBEX 35 continuing it's fall.

The only market that is shut is the US - the rest have bank holidays (I think). :-)

FTSE up tomorrow.... Chancellor George decrees "let them eat pasties"!

Buy Greggs :-)

Facebook down another 9.6% @$28.84 overnight - bargain buy at float (not)!

RIM shares down 10% in after hours trading.

The company behind the Blackberry smartphone has warned it will make a loss in its latest quarter and make "significant" job cuts.

Research In Motion (RIM) also said it was hiring JPMorgan and RBC Capital Markets to help with a "strategic review" of the business.

It has lost ground as its traditional business clients have switched to iPhones or Android phones.

RIM shares fell 10% in after-hours trading.

Lookin' grim for this afternoon!
"Bloomberg - U.S. stock-index futures dropped (currently -94) as an opinion poll showed a majority of Greeks want to renegotiate the terms of their bailout, while the cost of insuring Spanish sovereign-debt against a default rose to a record.

Facebook Inc. (FB), the biggest social network, dropped 1.5 percent in early New York trading. Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, sank 8.3 percent after forecasting a surprise operating loss for the first quarter."

WTF !

EU calls for euro zone banking union, direct bank recapitalisations

whatever that may mean ... perhaps it's a typo for recapitulation

It was either that or the u turn on buzzard control that caused the spike :-)