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

You ol' romantic you Cynic!
By the way, Happy new Year!

Don't know about bear, more a grumpy baboon..... you know the ones with the colourful rear ends.,.

More of a mandrill :-)

Thanks guys! :-)

Meanwhile, I'm glad I went short on FTSE and DOW yesterday

well done T ...... have not gone short, but have banked profits in FOGL and RBS

dow looks to have been strong after hours, but not sure why ...... cash dow currently +57 at 13624, so let's see what happens next

Bank of Japan increases asset purchase programme

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has extended its asset purchasing programme by 10 trillion yen ($126bn; £78bn), following similar moves by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

The move, aimed at boosting the economy, increases the overall size of the stimulus programme to 80tn yen.

Though the increase had been widely anticipated, some analysts were surprised by the size of it.

i've heard the girls say the same of you skinny!

On a good day cynic, on a good day!

Will it be enough to sustain the rally? I closed my FTSE short quite early yesterday at 5849 - but didn't think to set up a long position. Ah well, see how it goes today

What is happening to oil price? Any idea?
Fallen from 100 to 94.7

ahoj - UPDATE 4-Oil falls as Spain finance worries resurface

LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell to a six-week low on Wednesday, as worries about the perilous state of Spain's finances returned to the fore, snuffing out gains after Japan's central bank became the latest to further open its monetary taps.

Thanks, But the affect is overstated. Oil fallen 6% in two days.

I think they want to put pressure on Iran.

"U.S. housing starts rose less than expected in August as groundbreaking on multifamily home projects fell, but the trend continued to point to a turnaround in the housing market. The reports come as investors look for improving economic data to help bolster a 7 percent rally since early August that was largely driven by action from central banks."

Clearly the housing data wasn't quite convincing enough!

I think the Existing Home Sales due @3pm carries more weight.

Ah right - I'll look out for that thanks!

USD Existing Home Sales 4.82M consensus 4.57M previous 4.47M

Great - thanks Skinny!

I think it is OK. What do you think?