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

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''.

Yes, I agree that the FSA are toothless and the policing is weak, but how do you police the politicians when they are running the banks? I stand by my statement that nationalising the banks would lead to such a blurring of duties that the system would be answerable to no one.

Sorry Harry, added a bit more . You are to fast. :-))

Perhaps re thinking then. A can of worms is going to be uncovered in the next few months. Will sentences be given ? The top man if things get to heavy will walk away.
The banking system cannot go on like this.

..Bob Diamond will receive £20 million if he resigns

By Harry Wilson | Telegraph – 35 minutes ago

Laughing all the way to the bank (have to excuse the pun)

...will walk away.. with nice gold shake..again and again.. people loosing their minds when huge money can be hug quietly..

Agree tomasz. when you have a contract worth that money you are pretty safe. Ok I will resign then with a £20 million cheque. What a joke. Perhaps if found guilty or he knew
about this, he should be fired with no golden hand shake.

Eurozone agrees on bank recapitalisation

EU leaders have agreed to use the eurozone's bailout fund to support struggling banks directly, without adding to government debt.

Speaking after 13 hours of talks in Brussels', EU chief Herman van Rompuy also said a eurozone-wide supervisory body for banks would be created.

Officials said the plans could be finalised during July.

Analysts say Germany appears to have given ground after pressure from Spain and Italy to provide more support.

(close to) triple digit gain likely at least at the open

======================

Eurozone leaders have a struck a deal opening the door for its rescue funds to help bring down borrowing costs of nations in trouble and directly recapitalise banks.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the eurozone would make a more "flexible" use of the rescue pot in order "to reassure markets and to get again some stability around the sovereign bonds of our member states".

Had a small short @5,602 Hmmmm.

if you were short at 5602, then suggest you close now at marginally better than b/e .... you can always re-open if it looks right later

I'll hold for now - an interesting day to come methinks :-)

Euro area agrees bond support for Italy, Spain

BRUSSELS | Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:53am BST

(Reuters) - Euro zone leaders agreed on Friday to take emergency action to bring down Italy's and Spain's spiralling borrowing costs and to create a single supervisory body for euro zone banks by the end of this year, a first step towards a European banking union.

Responding to pleas from Spanish and Italian leaders, a midnight summit of the 17-nation currency area agreed that euro area rescue funds could be used to stabilise bond markets without forcing countries that comply with EU budget rules to adopt extra austerity measures or economic reforms.

After hours of argument, they also agreed that the bloc's future permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, would be able to lend directly to recapitalise banks without increasing a country's budget deficit, and without preferential seniority status.

"The process was tough, the outcome was good," Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti told reporters, adding that Italy did not intend "at this time" to apply for the emergency support.

Out for +20 (for now).

Squawk Squawk skinners :O)

Still in, if it breaks 5550 we could see near 5500.