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

Thankyou Cynic for the advice, I will store it away and trade accordingly.

for anyone interested, i shall also be looking closely at shorting Cable again - i.e. backing $ to strengthen ..... the tables suddenly turned on friday, with $ closing about 20950 against a low of about 21130 ..... my own view, though i got it badly wrong last time, is that $ is now oversold

Noticed in shares mag that they are recommending shorting the big miners, which with banks already hammered could really affect the Dow and ftse 100 adversely as these 2 sectors are big constituents

Shares Mag is inevitably a bit behind, which usually would not matter, but times are now unusually volatile ...... it is certainly a tenable argument that commodities are due to dip, taking with them the mining stocks; however, the converse is the sudden M&A activity which could more than counter-balance at least in the short term.

December oil futures expire friday, so oil is tipped to reach $100 barrel, then fall back.
BLT still want to buy RIO, though they would prefer to do it through friendly negotiations. I feel sure they will launch a hostile takeover bid if the friendly approach fails.
Vedanta goes ex-divi this coming week as does Lonmin.
I still believe, however, that there is money to be made from the mining stocks, but my approach is to get in & out within a day or two & to keep locking in profit.

$ had already strengthened significantly by first thing this morning and is now about 20750, so left it alone - though glad to note my prediction was correct this time!

however, i have profitably closed and reversed my positions on Dow and also taken a long FTSE.

and at FTSE close, 20600 ...... unbelievable, and for sure some very singed fingers for those who forgot to duck! ..... with hindsight, i should have left my short open, but felt i had been foolish enough when i close it at 21025 ...... still, the debtors books are full of those who have kept hanging on in hopeless expectation - e.g. those in SEO and SUB and VOG and numerous others

Dow interesting today ..... climbs nicely and then falls back, but recovers again ..... my guess is that it will finish strongly, or at least that is my hope!

I'm currently showing the DOW down 61 points. Recovery looking slim unfortunately.

position back to break even, so no harm done, but got a little greedy

Bet it gave you the heebie geebies though cynic !

certainly did not inspire me to jump for joy!

have been more prudent than i was last night and closed FTSE long with modest profit though still holding Dow long open ....... Wal-Mart and Home Depot figures today + September pending home sales ....... none of these are likely to be rosy, but will the market take them badly as is its wont of late?

Wal-Mart & Home Depot figures are already out on the Bloomberg site. They look reasonable, but that's all. As you say, be interesting to see how the DOW reacts to them. I also read this morning that the if DOW reacts negatively then that will have a direct impact on the price of the $ (weakening it) & subsequently strengthening Gold & other precious metals (I have a vested interest in platinum).
All seems very complicated!

thanks for that info .... had not picked up on it ..... Wall Steet indications are little moved, though good to see level back above 13000

Slightly better guidance on the figures on the home page of CNN, under heading"Stocks set to rebound
Futures higher as better-than-expected results from Wal-Mart outweigh earnings miss warning at Home Depot. "
DOW futures also up, so your long position on the DOW looks about right, imo.

it's marginally in the money, but certainly no momentum at the mo ..... i guess these housing figures will be perceived as more important

And FTSE should follow!

that is true, but did not want to be overexposed by having both positions open

Spot on, i myself have gone long FTSE.