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

Microsoft profit slips as PCs fizzle; Windows 8 awaited

SEATTLE | Fri Oct 19, 2012 4:00am BST

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's quarterly profit fell a greater-than-expected 22 percent, as sales of computers running its Windows operating system dipped and some revenue was deferred ahead of upcoming releases of its core Windows and Office products.

The sharp decline surprised investors, who had underestimated the effect of weak personal computer sales, sending Microsoft's shares down 1.3 percent in after-hours trading.

i almost never use stops and in the case of GOOG, they would have been useless unless guaranteed as the drop was instantaneous ...... anyway, such is life, and of course it is one of the perils of playing the markets

damage was unpleasant, and though o'weight here, i assuredly do not have all my eggs in one basket ..... it's just so dull having to put humpty together again!

cynic - who do you trade google with please?

IG .... i use their L2 platform, not least because us stocks such as GOOG zip about a bit at the best of times, so you can choose when to press the button

Ok thanks.

GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing 10.7B consensus 11.9B previous 12.4B

Nice to see Google paid off!

Probably lose the gains shorting Apple though next week...

should imagine you made enough for a 3-week holiday at Sandy Lane!

I wish Cynic, only had a very small amount on it as I wasn't able to watch. FTSE250 12079 I'm going short today...

Shortie,
HOw is your position on FTSE250. Are u out?

CAD Core CPI m/m 0.2% consensus 0.3% previous 0.3%

I'm down but not out yet -17 pts....

FTSE should maybe be lower than it is, much stronger than the Dax at the moment and hasn't really followed the Dow Cash down either.

Yep, very strange. I think they plan to reverse again.
what do u think about next week?

GOOG indicating to open back over $700, but shall shut my mind and ears and eyes to the siren song!

I'm expecting a down day today, if that should happen then next week will all depend on where it finishes. A small sell off would perhaps favour more downside on Monday, but overall, it's going to keep going up until after the US election. Just my thoughts, probably way off.

I would think it will end the session up - can't say the same for Microsoft!

FTSE is refusing to sell off though so thoughts above entirely irrelevant unless it does

'U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday following disappointing results from Microsoft and McDonald's, while General Electric reported revenue that fell short of estimates.'

Not looking too promising to me - staying short FTSE for now