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

i see FB has been absolutely slammed on its results ..... dropped 8.5% during hours and a further 9.5% after hours with the numbers

Maybe a bit of an overreaction though Mr, C?
Facebook Inc. (FB), reporting its first results since selling shares to the public, posted a narrower profit margin as sales and marketing costs surged -- a sign that the company is chasing growth through higher spending.

Facebook Inc. reported a net loss of $157 million, or 8 cents per share. Facebook rose to as high as $29.02 in late trading after the results were reported.

Operating margin, excluding certain costs, was 43 percent in the second quarter, a decline from 53 percent a year earlier. Second-quarter revenue rose to $1.18 billion, Menlo Park, California-based Facebook said in a statement today. That compares with an average estimate of $1.16 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit excluding certain costs was 12 cents a share. Shares slid in late trading.

it's friday lest you hadn't noticed, and strange things can happen over the pond ...... watch very closely for 13005 being breached with impetus ..... if it is, then look to buy dow

So 13,000 then?

you may notice that it keeps stalling at that point .... stay patient but watchful

Facebook taking another bashing - currently down 12.3%.

I've left a cheeky DOW short in @13075.

Skinny, all it will take is one word from the Fed. :>)
I am hoping that it never comes as I'm short the FTSE from 5630, and my Aug entry for the ftse comp is 4812!

i think a short may prove expensive

It will not be expensive whatever the outcome with sensible stops I'm pleased to say.

in that case, i expect they've been hit! ...... dow now 13090 ...... did any of you do as i suggested?

Yep, got in when 13000 breached. Got stopped for a nice profit, now looking for a re-entry point. any suggestions?

well i wouldn't have put in a limit, which is what i assume you mean ..... 13005 was the key, but not sure where to look for re-entry

Trailing stop to lock in profit. Any key levels to look out for, or is it blue sky thinking for run up to November elections? Thanks for the heads up, by the way.

Good night - still short - pint a point (London prices) :-)

Yep got stopped out, still thinking downwards in the short term though.

I'm also short skinners (reasonably tight stop though)... same as you, 8 pints a point (Manchester prices) :)

nothing goes in a straight line but 14545 is the target and, having broken north, the upward run could be very fast and sharp, notwithstanding that there has been a very quick recovery from just 10 days ago

splat :-)

Markets look overbought in the last week and the rise was too sharp and quick to
sustain neaterm trends IMVHO. It will certainly be a nailbiter for the Longs on
this and would advise you have guaranteed stops in place !

We could have a nervous and twitchy week ahead, i think it all pivots around the
DOW at moment which looks massively overbought last week ahead of another
round of QE - question is will the market have faith in the next round of crisis
management ??

I doubt it

I reckon the Dow (and hence FTSE) could continue to go up until sometime on Tuesday: Geithner is coming over to Europe for some key meetings on Monday, and the FOMC Statement is published Wednesday evening. After that, I reckon we could see a pull-back as the market will have been over-excited.

Cynic: where do you get your "14545 is the target" from? Recent highs of the Dow were around 13280