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

Yeah, not great. Other news to come today - reckon the US market is looking for a reason to pick up again.

"The Markit Flash US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index was unchanged at 51.5 in September, indicating only a modest improvement in US manufacturing business conditions.

The preliminary flash PMI reading, which is based on around 85% of usual monthly replies, remained only fractionally higher than the near three-year low recorded in June."

Not great either really

Lets see what the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia brings us at 3pm

There's also Dennis Lockhart from the FOMC about to speak, at 14:30 I think

Yes - from the Forex site :-

"Federal Reserve FOMC members vote on where to set the nation's key interest rates and their public engagements are often used to drop subtle clues regarding future monetary policy;"

... :)

Retailers fuel recovery hopes with stronger order books

LONDON | Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:24pm BST


(Reuters) - Britain's retailers performed better than feared during the Olympics in August and manufacturers' order books improved this month, bolstering hopes that the economy is creeping out of recession even though dangers still loom large.

Retail sales dipped 0.2 percent in August as Britons abandoned online shopping to watch the Olympics on television, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday. That was better than a 0.4 percent drop forecast by a Reuters poll.

Euro zone business decline grinds on despite ECB action - PMI


LONDON | Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:52am BST

(Reuters) - The European Central Bank's aggressive new bond-buying plan has so far failed to inspire any major improvement in business at ailing euro zone companies, unexpectedly gloomy surveys showed on Thursday.

The downturn in activity in the euro zone's service sector steepened this month at the fastest pace since July 2009, Markit's purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) showed, with French companies performing particularly poorly.

Philly Fed Manufacturing Index -1.9 consensus -4.1 previous -7.1

Hey - that should get things moving hopefully?

.

I wonder what pearls Merv the swerve will cast this evening as he enters the home straight.

King says euro zone threatens slow UK recovery

LONDON | Thu Sep 20, 2012 8:53pm BST

(Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mervyn King gave his trademark downbeat assessment of the British and world economy on Thursday in his first live television interview after nearly 10 years in office, and warned the euro zone could yet fall apart.

Four years after the start of the financial crisis, King said it would be a long while before the economy returned to normal - and the most important task for Britain was now to reform bank regulation to reduce the chances of a future crisis.

"We're beginning to see a few signs now of a slow recovery, but it will be a slow recovery. After a banking crisis one can't expect to get back to normal and I fear it will take a long time," he told Channel 4 News.

Some progress on Greek debt deal, gaps remain

ATHENS | Fri Sep 21, 2012 1:08am BST

(Reuters) - Negotiators discussing Greece's bailout came closer to an accord in late night talks on Thursday but are still short of a final deal over some 11.5 billion euros (9.1 billion pounds) of spending cuts demanded by international creditors, officials said after talks concluded.

The European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank "troika" team visiting Athens has rejected some of the measures proposed by the Greek government, holding up final agreement on unlocking the next instalment of Greece's 31.5 billion-euro bailout package.

A senior official said the late night talks secured agreement on several points including the symbolically important step of raising the pension age to 67 years. He said further advances were likely when talks resume on Friday.

"There was some progress, a funding gap remains but there are novel ideas as to how it can be covered," the official told reporters waiting at the finance ministry.

He said an agreement at the technical level might come as soon as Friday after which the troika leaders could leave to prepare their report.

GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing 12.4B consensus 13.2B previous -1.9B

Thanks for all the updates Skinny!

Your welcome.

German Ifo Business Climate 101.4 consensus 102.6 previous 102.3

I'm actually in Germany currently. The view here seems to be that the global economy is deteriorating but they see the Euro zone as 'being in limbo' for the next two months or so, while they see how all the recent actions/promises will pan out.

There is also concern here of the US 'fiscal cliff' and how that may affect the markets.

Business confidence seems to be being described as dipping rather more than the above, official figures (in Skinny's post) would suggest

Toya - Hi, what date is the US 'fiscal cliff' ? sounds scary.

Hi Chris - January I think is the deadline: "batch of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to take effect in 2013 if Congress doesn't act soon". Of course, the thinking is that whoever ends up in government, will find a way around it...

One has to admire the American Optimism!