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

Agreed Skinny. Nice to know that it's all going to be OK.

:-)

Apparently they have a new phone out!

i've been touting AAPL for months! ..... it's quite a little star as far as i am concerned, though i trade it quite regularly

I think the most important thing about the new phone is that it has 4G capability, which none of the current handsets have. A bit ahead of it's time as 4G isn't yet operational, but clearly setting the trend.

so i did - 13349.5 +4 for guaranteed stop ..... prob prove to have been too greedy by half!

and now i currently have the luxury problem of determining when to get out ..... before bernie gets to his feet? .... hmm!

aha - QE3 already announced, so have raised stop to 13375 to give me a certain profit and shall now go off for a really good steak and some red wine

stop way too early but neverthenless stroke of genius.well done.

you confuse stop with limit .... a very important diff!! .... closed the above at 13478 but still have decent dow long running + AAPL + GOOG
a def "wowee" day and very unexpected too

Just closed mine @13,539 for a few.

Just to reiterate :- Fed bets big in new push to rescue U.S. economy

WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:49pm BST

(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve launched another aggressive stimulus program on Thursday, saying it will buy $40 billion (24.7 billion pounds) of mortgage-backed debt per month until the outlook for jobs improves substantially as long as inflation remains contained.

In an unprecedented step, the Fed's policymaking panel escalated its effort to drive U.S. unemployment lower by tying its unconventional bond buying directly to economic conditions, a move that immediately sparked controversy among its critics.

The full text

TEXT-FOMC statement from Sept. 12-13 meeting

Sept 13 | Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:31pm EDT

(Reuters) - Following is the full text of the statement from the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee issued on Thursday following a two-day meeting on interest rate policy

well done skinny .... good ride wasn't it
i know i closed too early but couldn't watch as was having dinner, and certainly more than happy

Cynic - me also ironically enough - I wish life was that simple all of the time.!

just cashed in half of remainder with semi-view to buy them back some time tomorrow - arguing too far too fast

.

i fully expected dow to drop back say 30-50 points o'night purely on the basis of taking a breather ..... however, cash dow is showing + a further 21, so it will be interesting to see how well that holds up etc ..... meanwhile, my position opened at 13002 is still running :-) so not exactly complaining

DOW 13,575 to buy FTSE 5,898.

Fed bets big in new push to rescue U.S. economy

WASHINGTON | Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:42am BST
(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve launched another aggressive stimulus program on Thursday, saying it would pump $40 billion into the U.S. economy each month until it saw a sustained upturn in the weak jobs market.

The central bank's decision to tie its controversial bond buying directly to economic conditions was an unprecedented step that marked a big escalation in its efforts to drive U.S. unemployment lower. Stock prices jumped, while gold hit a six-month high as investors braced for faster inflation.

Unlike in its two previous bond-buying sprees, the Fed said it would only purchase mortgage-backed securities, hoping in part to unstick a housing sector that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke called "a missing piston" in the U.S. recovery.

One top Republican charged that the move was a bid to help President Barack Obama ahead of November's closely contested presidential election. Republican nominee Mitt Romney's campaign said it confirmed the failure of Obama's policies.

No shit Sherlock!

Spain, Ireland, ESM fund in focus at euro zone talks

NICOSIA | Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:38am BST

(Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers will discuss on Friday if Spain should ask for financial support after the announcement of the European Central Bank's new bond-buying programme brought Madrid's borrowing costs sharply lower.

For the first time since the start of the year the ministers' talks will take place at a time when market pressure for immediate action to solve the euro zone sovereign debt crisis is easing, rather than mounting.

ECB's announcement last week that it could buy unlimited amounts of Spanish bonds, should it apply for help from the euro zone bailout fund, brought Spanish 10-year bond yields down from 7.64 percent on July 24 to 5.62 percent on Thursday.

Yields of Italy, under similar market pressure since the start of the year, fell from 6.6 percent on July 24 to 5.03 percent on Thursday.

But many policymakers believe that for yields to fall lower, or even remain at these levels, the ECB would have to show its promises are not empty.

Buy and hold is the name of the game. Many shorts are due to close.

Smaller companies will do better.