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

The tablet market is getting interesting!

Google to unveil tablet at conference: report

(Reuters) - Google Inc plans to unveil a $199 tablet co-branded with Tawian's Asustek Computer Inc at its developer conference this week, taking direct aim at Apple Inc's iPad, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Rumors that the search engine giant planned to launch a tablet at its annual developer conference have been doing the rounds in tech blog posts for weeks.

The 7-inch tablet, running Android mobile software, will showcase new features of Android, according to one person, who said the latest version of the software is named Jellybean, Bloomberg reported.

My wife surprised me this morning, she has noticed that practically every actor on the television programme 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' advertise 'Apple' blatently.i-pad, mac etc. Opened my eyes as to the strength of the brand, so good luck Google. :O)

Is that the old "I don't watch it - wife does it and tells me" :-)

Absolutely skinny, Wimbledon as you know has started this week and as an avid fan (my wife that is) takes priority over the soaps which are recorded (yippeee). So she has played catch up this morning. Just struck me that someone who has no interest in stocks and shares whatsoever should make the observation. :O)

:-)

Yes, and Apple don't pay for product placement either! http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-10/apple-the-other-cult-in-hollywood

Queen's jubilee boosts retail sales in June: CBI

(Reuters) - British retail sales rose at the fastest pace in 1-1/2 years in June as Britons splashed out for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, a survey by the

Confederation of British Industry showed on Wednesday.

The CBI distributive trades survey's sales balance jumped to +42 versus +21 in May, its highest since December 2010, confounding expectations for a sharp slowdown to +10.

German Unemployment Change 7K consensus 4K previous 0K

Average yield on 10-year bonds the Italian government sold at auction was 6.19% (previous 6.03%). Bid to cover 1.3 (1.4).

i see the american pundits are piling on the gloom about the eurozone

Possibly just driving down the markets cynic, so that the DOW can rebound and they can cash in their profits. I read somewhere that the expectations of the EU Summit are so low, that any positive indications will be welcome and send the markets rocketing!

That was some leap - DOW currently @12,584. FTSE showing 5,525.

and now just broken back through 12600, so perhaps even heading to finish +

Mistress T .... sure glad i'm off to provence on hol tomorrow ..... frazzled brain (not market related) so will do lots of walking in les alpilles

UK banks braced for new mis-selling scandal

LONDON | Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:42pm BST

(Reuters) - The Financial Services Authority will announce on Friday it has found evidence banks mis-sold interest rate swaps to protect companies against a rise in borrowing costs, a source familiar with the situation said.

Perhaps time to nationalize the banks. They are just getting a joke.

.

Tomorrow nice open

Sorry to be rude, but when has a nationalised industry ever been good for the company or the country? Letting politicians run the banking system would open up the whole industry to manipulation and corruption (even worse than currently experienced). Regulation and agressive scrutineering should be the norm, with prison for those found to be corrupt, but not political control, imo.

audacius goal but I dont see that happen,rats races, people still greedy, too many hands involved.

The system is not working at the moment re the banks. Bit late the policing now Harry.
Sorry to say but the FSA are a joke as well. As I have always said they jump to it, when its to late. The whole banking system needs rethinking. Not the time for this to wreck the banks now. At the end of the day who do you think pay the fines etc ?
The savers and borrowers. The government and authorities have had years to nip this in the bud. What are they afraid of ? Perhaps the bankers packing their bags . If legislation across all countries was put in place they cannot. Bankers are in three
words ''out of control''.