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

USD Unemployment Claims 367K consensus 371K previous 359K

Facebook passed 1bln subscriber...

CAD Ivey PMI 65.6 consensus 59.2 previous 62.5

Samsung posts $7.3 billion Q3 profit, this quarter will be tougher

SEOUL | Fri Oct 5, 2012 4:16am BST

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics reported a record quarterly profit of $7.3 billion (4.5 billion pounds), nearly double last year's figure, as strong sales of high-end TVs and Galaxy smartphones more than offset reduced orders for chips and screens from Apple Inc, its main rival and leading customer.

Most analysts, however, expect a run of four straight record quarters to end in December as the South Korean group, the world's leading maker of smartphones, TVs and memory chips, ramps up its marketing to counter Apple's new iPhone and other products in a crowded $200 billion global smartphone market.

Samsung may have spent around $2.7 billion on marketing in July-September alone around the London Olympic Games and new Galaxy promotions, Credit Suisse has estimated.

10% of their revenue comes from making parts for Apple. So, Apple should be doing as well.

German Factory Orders m/m -1.3% consensus -0.5% previous 0.5%

USD Non-Farm Employment Change 114k consensus 114K previous 96K

USD Unemployment Rate 7.8% consensus 8.2% previous 8.1%

CAD Building Permits m/m 7.9% consensus -0.7% previous -2.3%

CAD Employment Change 52.1K consensus 11.7K previous 34.3

13870/14000 on dow is next and short-term target ...... probable pause at that level

.

Sunday Telegraph suggesting that gold will reach approx $2400/oz on the back of further QE.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/gold/9587117/Price-of-gold-could-reach-2400oz.html

Who's further QE, did they say Ha?

AAPL
taking a beating again this afternoon, no doubt triggered by some industrial unrest in china over the w/e ..... if i were brave (foolhardy?) i would buy more at this level, as i would be very surprised if sp was not significantly higher before the figures, due i think within the next couple of weeks, and perhaps stronger again after them

in conclusion, if you do not already hold, this may be the time to have a dabble

Still watching this for a short 639.5 at the moment, another 20 and I think I might apply a position.

it's already dipped to 636.5 today, so you either missed your chance or perhaps got lucky that you did not short at that point ...... imo, a pretty brave thing to do anyway, given the recent high of 700+

AAPL
a bit more news + dates for you Shortie ....

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is ordering up to 10 million units of the iPad Mini for the fourth quarter, according to some Asian component suppliers. Apple is reportedly going to send out invitations for the iPad Mini event on Oct. 10, with an announcement coming Oct. 17.

cynic,

Price:

The spot for circa 7 inch tablet seems to be USD 199. Apple? iPad 2 USD 399, iPod Touch 5th Gen. USD 299, and iPod Touch 4th Gen. USD 199 - Mini starting at USD 299? Easier to hold re gaming v iPad, and bigger screen but not too big re reading, browsing, and TV/Movies v iPod Touch? Interested to see what iPad and iPod Touch users buy when they replace their current Apple.

Cheers,
KidA

KidA - all gibberish to me (i'll stick to my basic b'berry!), though i know the world seems to think these products are the greatest thing since sliced bread ..... the reviews seem to be pretty positive too, despite the well-publicised gremlins

all in all, i am happy to stay with yesterday's prediction

what a beastly day again, after looking quite promising just an hour or two ago

Shortie
look as though you called AAPL right after all :-(

French Industrial Production m/m 1.5% consensus -0.2% previous 0.6%

Italian Industrial Production m/m 1.7% consensus -0.5% previous -0.2%

Cynic - One thing calling it and quite another taking a profit, as of yet I don't have an open position.

I just think the likes of Samsung and the high end Android market are able to compete with Apple. Sure the Ipad Iphone is the cream of the market but we don't all get around in sports cars do we. I think they'll see a decline in market share over the next few years. As with all computing equipment people don't buy the best or most expensive if a cheaper alternative will suffice for their needs. My son has an Android tablet which I bought him as I was fed up with him playing with my phone. £80 well spent for something for him to play games on mainly!! Classic case of he didn't need anything more expensive for what he's going to use the device for, alternatives are now at market so Apple should lose market share.