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

Good old Merv - Bank of England expected to cut UK growth forecasts

The Bank Of England is expected to cut growth forecasts close to zero from the 0.8% predicted in May as the double-dip recession intensifies.

The quarterly inflation report is likely to indicate no growth for 2012 compared with 2% predicted a year ago.

Governor Sir Mervyn King is expected to be asked about a possible interest rate cut from the current record 0.5%.

This smacks of 'headless chicken mode'

Facebook opens doors to real-money gambling in Britain

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc will allow users in Britain to wager real money on its service, opening its doors to gambling for the first time as revenue growth slows at the world's No. 1 social network.

On Tuesday, Gamesys, an independent gaming company, launched a version of online Bingo for Facebook users in Britain who are at least 18, and which the company said will pay winners real money. Gamesys also announced plans to offer virtual slots gambling on Facebook.

as it must surely be time for the markets to take a breather, i have closed the balance of my dow long for a more than acceptable profit

Should be o.k. today, imo as there is a only a 10 yr U.S. bond auction today which should go without a hitch. Thursday may be a bit different as U.S. unemployment claims figures will be released, but not really much on the immediate horizon to dent confidence that I can see. (Maybe next tues when U.S. retail sales figures are out?)

Early downside probably due to a raft of heavy weight Ex dividends today.

Yes, a little money back from BT to swell the coffers! ;o)

How about STAN - ex dividend today and up 55.5 as I type.

Yes, but that assumes that you bought after the bad news & the sp tanked! Win, win if you did!

Harry - I traded it 3 times yesterday against a SIPP holding - not a comfortable day, but Ok in the end.

skinny - mine was merely precautionary .... the longer term prognosis for dow remains very strong, but the indices are very much for trading .... meanwhile, i continue to hold amzn, goog and aapl over the pond

cynic - I agree.

Further to post 8684 above - I do think facebook has lost the plot and is looking desperate.

i don't like FB as a product so would never buy into it

BoE slashes UK medium-term growth outlook

LONDON | Wed Aug 8, 2012 10:32am BST

(Reuters) - The Bank of England has sharply cut its forecast for medium-term growth in Britain's economy due to worries that factors hurting growth since the financial crisis may be more long-lasting than first thought.

In its quarterly Inflation Report, the Bank said that growth in two years time was likely to be around 2 percent a year, down sharply from the forecast of 2.67 percent just three months ago.

This marks a break with previous Bank forecasts, which have usually shown strong rebounds in growth, even after short-term weakness.

German 10-y Bond Auction 1.42|1.8 previous 1.31|1.5

German Industrial Production m/m -0.9% consensus -0.8% previous 1.6%

USD Prelim Nonfarm Productivity q/q 1.6% consensus 1.5% previous -0.9%

USD Prelim Unit Labor Costs q/q 1.7% consensus 0.5% previous 1.3%

GBP Trade Balance -10.1B consensus -8.5B previous -8.4B

all very much running out of puff ..... hardly surprising after such a strong run

French Industrial Production m/m 0.0% consensus 0.4% previous -1.9%

GBP PPI Input m/m 1.3% consensus 1.4% previous -2.2%

GBP PPI Output m/m 0.0% consensus 0.1% previous -0.4%