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

NXT +138p on its trading statement.

Think I'll watch and wait until the FOMC Statement this evening

GBP Manufacturing PMI 45.4 consensus 48.6 previous 48.6

NXT never cease to amaze me - now up 250p.

But there UK retail, how come?

USD ISM Manufacturing PMI 49.8 consensus 50.3 previous 49.7

U.S. raises pressure for euro zone crisis action

FRANKFURT/BERLIN | Wed Aug 1, 2012 3:04pm BST

(Reuters) - The United States raised pressure on euro zone leaders to take decisive action to solve the region's debt crisis, notably by lowering troubled members' borrowing costs, on the eve of a crucial European Central Bank meeting.

Whoever set the float price for FB, wants sacking.

plenty of takers at the time - aka mug punters

DOW - perhaps some profit-taking tomorrow given that it is the end of the week, so accordingly have banked 50% of both GOOG and AAPL, where in honesty, my exposure was potentially too high anyway.

AAPL is very "interesting" at the moment due to the on-going court battle with Samsung ..... the result of that action (and counter-action) is likely to have a very serious impact on the loser, always presupposing the pair of them do not negotiate some out-of-court settlement half-way through

CHF Retail Sales y/y 3.7% consensus 2.8% previous 6.4%

ECB Press Conference at 13:30 today. So: what'll it be? Any concrete actions in the short term - or more rhetoric?

Re AAPL vs Samsung: I wouldn't like to be placing my bets on the outcome of that particular battle - but as you suggest Cynic, they will most likely settle out of court at some stage.

Also jobless figures from the yanks @1:30 pm.

leaving the court case aside, AAPL sp is at a level where it is worth considering buying ...... it is now back to the level prior to the last figures, which disappointed the analysts rather than falling (much) short of the management's own forecast ..... don't forget that the next generation of i-pad is to be launched imminently, with all its inevitable razzamatazz ...... there will be news stories galore about people queuing etc etc, and no doubt a jump in sp

I reckon of the two announcements due at 1:30pm, the ECB is going to have the more significant impact on both sides of the pond.

GBP Construction PMI 50.9 consensus 48.2 previous 48.2

As an aside - Above 50.0 indicates industry expansion, below indicates contraction.

On edit:- Toya, I guess it depends on what he does or doesn't say!

NXT making further new highs today - amazing.

arguably now overcooked, especially with the words of caution about poor trading (everywhere actually) during the olympics ...... however, am THRILLED that the hotels have been totally stuffed, as they're badly o'priced in normal times ..... beloved went to harvey nicks and harrods yesterday; both deserted

cynic - talking of HN - did you see the olympic special of Absolutely Fab last week?



USD Challenger Job Cuts y/y -44.5% previous -9.4%

yes - i thought it was hilarious though Bubbles part was pretty superfluous