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

short Dow @ 12,538

out @ 12,475

a touch early....

All looks too much to me like nothing more than ABC pullbacks right now...

Don't mind me, Davai. I'm just annoyed at myself for selling out of MRW too early this morning. Never mind, a small profit + Divi, but think there is probably more upside which I shall miss out on. It's more bearable if it's someone else's fault! ;o)

A small pull back from here on the Dow, 100 or so, then more upside early next week.

Exclusive - Spain to request EU bank aid on Saturday-sources

(Reuters) - Spain is expected to request European aid for its ailing banks at the weekend to forestall worsening market turmoil, becoming the fourth and biggest country to seek assistance since the euro zone's debt crisis began, EU and German sources said.

soft or hard aid?

Give the Chinese first refusal.. or would it be their second?

cynic WT oil down to almost $80 as we predicted, will this "kick start" the US economy?

$80 with a much stronger underlying $ (e.g.10% stronger vs € in just 2/3 months) ..... on that basis, is oil really that much cheaper at all if you have to buy same in $?

cynic answer the question please.

in my opinion it will have no particular effect on US economy, not least because i suspect this is just a short-lived downwards blip .... if it proves prolonged, then it will highlight that the US and other world economies have not picked up at all, and probably continued to weaken

it is tempting to short dow today, especially as it's friday, but i think that is just trying to be too smart for one's own good

cynic you seem to have forgotten this is election year in the US. lower fuel prices ='s votes as well as jobs.

does it? ...... not very convinced and nor do i think even us gov't can manipulate the price of oil

clearly you believe that a lower oil price will indeed have a marked impact on us jobs and economy, but even if that is the case - which i do not hold true - it takes a great many months of low oil prices before there would be any feed-through materialised

cynic you have forgotten the confidence factor that's what it is all about.

that is far from the initial premise you proposed - i.e. cheaper oil = boost for us economy
as in most things, confidence breeds confidence, but why would you feel confident about anything at the the moment, other than continued economic shambles?

cynic because and this is is a big ("if") if the republicans win they will promise economic change and so far we have had little or nothing to stimulate the economy from obama over the past four years.

which would you prefer? ...... mr banana or walter mitty?