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

German Import Prices m/m 1.3% consensus 0.9% previous 0.7

GBP Current Account -20.8B consensus -12.3B previous -11.2B

GBP Final GDP q/q -0.4% consensus -0.5% previous -0.5%

GBP Revised Business Investment q/q 0.9% consensus -1.5% previous -1.5%

EUR Italian 10-y Bond Auction 5.24|1.3 previous 5.82|1.4

cynic,

Apple:

Do you think Maps, quality control - chipped casing, and Schiller's 'Felix Ungar' re the chips/scratches will gather strength and affect post-fanboy orders? I'm not alone re sticking with iOS 5, and there seems to be forum talk re cancelled orders/waiting.

Cheers,
KidA

USD Pending Home Sales m/m -2.6% consensus -0.4% previous 2.4%

FSA seeks to mend Libor, not end it

LONDON | Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:09am BST

(Reuters) - The Financial Services Authority, in a much-awaited reform of benchmark interest rates that have been plagued by scandal, outlined a 10-point plan to fix Libor but stopped short of scrapping the rates.

Martin Wheatley, head of the FSA, acknowledged problems with London interbank offered rates, but said that Libor is so deeply entrenched in the financial system that it cannot be easily replaced. There are no better alternatives now, and any transition to a new benchmark would be difficult, he said.

Those bankers, at least mechanics, dentists, opticians, plumbers, builders, supermarkets, insurers, legal etc. don't rip us off. :)

Cheers,
KidA

Chicago PMI 49.7 consensus 52.9 previous 53.0

BREAKING NEWS: Spain says 7 banks have capital needs, 7 do not; total shortfall is 59.3 billion euros in stressed scenarios

Italian and SPain PMI are both better then expected. Unemployment is slightly lower and EU PMI is the highest Since May.

GBP Manufacturing PMI 48.4 consensus 49.5 previous 49.5

GBP Net Lending to Individuals m/m -0.4B consensus 0.7B previous 0.6B

GBP M4 Money Supply m/m 0.2% consensus 0.7% previous 0.5%

GBP Mortgage Approvals 48K consensus 50K previous 48K

CAD RMPI m/m 3.4% consensus 1.4% previous 0.9%

looks like a good day to top up AAPL, which has been hit of late, ahead of results due within the next 2/3 weeks

Not convinced, I was thinking about shorting APPL.

USD ISM Manufacturing PMI 51.5 consensus 49.8 previous 49.6

in that case Shortie, it looks that you would have called it wrong - or at least at the moment ..... i topped up at 669.50, so no complaints

Cynic - your looking good at the moment, 67310.0 to short at the moment. I've got this on watch so no position just yet!

if i was going to short, i would wait until a day or two before the figures are issued ..... i don't think the date is fixed yet, but i think it's mid/end october ...... even then, a tight guaranteed stop might be wise, as historically AAPL have always come in way above expectations - but not last time!

perhaps i should have bought more GOOG instead :-)

Bank of England to hold fire as economy shows signs of life

LONDON | Mon Oct 1, 2012 5:39pm BST

(Reuters) - The Bank of England is expected to hold off on an extension of its government bond buying programme for at least another month on Thursday and officials' comments, if not economic data, have cast the first doubts on them doing so in November.

Signs are mounting that Britain exited recession in the third quarter, as production bounced back from the hit caused by an extra public holiday in June and ticket sales for the London Olympics are expected to have boosted growth.