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

Ford axes British van plant to stem Europe losses

LONDON/BASILDON, England | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:21pm BST

(Reuters) - Ford will stop making vans in Britain next year, with the potential loss of 2,000 jobs, a union leader said, as part of a plan by the U.S. car maker to drag its European operations back into profit.

The move ends more than a century of vehicle production by the U.S. car maker in Britain, leaving it producing only engines and other parts at its remaining plants in the country.

USD Core Durable Goods Orders m/m 2.0% consensus 0.8% previous -1.6%

USD Unemployment Claims 369k consensus 371K previous 388K

USD Durable Goods Orders m/m 9.9% consensus 7.1% previous -13.2%

Thanks Skinny - you're so quick off the mark! Looks good

But we've just taken a bit of a dive... and certainly confirmation of Ford closing their plant here is not good

P&G Profit Tops Estimates as McDonald Trims Costs

Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), the world’s largest consumer-products maker, reported first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as it increased prices and reduced manufacturing costs.

Net income in the three months ended Sept. 30 slid 6.9 percent to $2.81 billion, or 96 cents a share, from $3.02 billion, or $1.03 a share, a year earlier, the Cincinnati-based company said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was $1.06 a share. The average of 18 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 96 cents.

AAPL ... so now you have it, but the impact on sp tomorow is anyone's guess ....

Reports $36 billion in revenue, $8.2 billion profit and $8.67 earnings per share

FORTUNE -- Apple's (AAPL) reported mixed results Thursday. Although its sales of nearly $36 billion beat both its guidance and Wall Street's estimates, its earnings came up slightly short.

At $8.67 per share, they were higher than the company's usual conservative guidance of $7.05. But they were less than the $8.75 Wall Street was expecting -- and that number had been reduced after analysts learned Tuesday that iPad sales in the quarter were coming up light.

Those iPad sales -- 14 million -- were even lower than analysts' lowered expectations. iPhone sales, by contrast, were a bit higher.

The disappointing news was tempered somewhat by Apple's rosy projections for the Christmas quarter: earnings of $11.75 on sales of $52 billion.

"We're very proud to end a fantastic fiscal year with record September quarter results," said CEO Tim Cook. "We're entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline."

The numbers:
Sales: $ 35.996 billion, up 27.3% year over year
Net profit: $ 8.2 billion, up 23.9%
EPS: $8.67, up 23%
iPhone: 26.9 million units, up 57.6%
iPad: 14 million units, up 25.9%
Mac: 4.894 million units, up 0.1%
iPod: 5.344 million units, down 19.3%

Apple iPad sales disappoint, Street eyes the holidays

Apple Forecast Shortfall Reflects Cost of Year-End Product Rush

Samsung Tops Nokia Again as Biggest Seller of Mobile Phones

Amazon reports loss led by its stake in LivingSocial

How Britain's oldest builder survived the recession

Nestled in the lovely Kent village of Brasted, just off Rectory Lane, is the headquarters of R Durtnell and Sons.

The family-owned-and-run building firm was founded in 1591, making it the oldest building group in the country. By definition, therefore, it has survived more recessions than any other.

Thanks for that Skinny - Brasted is indeed a pretty little village

Yes it is - I've haven't been for a few years, but there used to be an excellent butchers in the high street.

FTSE turning south as expected, EUR also weakening GBP/EUR 1.2457 so continue to short but might close out position by end of day.

Apple slightly off then, but look at Sumsungs bumper result!!

.

YTD.

Lovely HTML skills there Skinny (9237) :-)

FX VIEW: Naked CDS, The Euro, And Unintended Consequences

By Katie Martin The euro could be in for a rough ride when a ban on some types of debt derivatives trading comes into force across the European Union next week. Starting next Thursday, November 1, traders and investors will be unable to buy insurance against sovereign debt defaults, in the form of credit default swaps, unless they hold the underlying bonds. So, if you want to buy Spanish CDS, you will need to be able to demonstrate that you already hold Spanish government bonds. You can't just buy Spanish CDS in isolation (in a 'naked' form, to use the parlance) as a punt on Spanish doom. It's all an effort to stamp out the impression given, particularly in the heady days of 2010, that speculation in CDS contracts was pushing down government bonds. (That chain of logic is disputed, but still, a ban's a ban.) Thing is, that may mean that trading the euro stands out even more clearly as the best way to bet on or hedge against euro-crisis meltdown. "If investors suspect a significant rise in default risk in, say Greece or Spain, how are they likely to express this if the CDS market is off bounds? There's other assets like stocks and bonds--but there's short-selling restrictions here too. In our view, that leaves the euro," said Steve Barrow, a currencies analyst at Standard Bank in London, describing it as a "sinister conclusion". "If policymakers have got it wrong and the region continues to struggle, the reduction in the number of viable ways to express bearish positions could make the euro more vulnerable than it has been in the past," he said. Now, a weaker, export-boosting euro could be just what the region needs. But as Mr. Barrow adds, this may be more a case of extra volatility than of extra weakness. Is the euro going to swing wildly next Thursday? Maybe--who knows what'll happen on that day? But if it does, it likely won't be for this reason alone. Traders have had months to prepare for this ban, after all. Still, this is worth watching as yet another unintended consequence of the ban. Investors who like to hedge positions in Russian bonds, for example, with Polish CDS, will have to find another way to cushion the risks. Investors who like to use indexes that bundle together lots of countries' CDS as a broad hedge against euro crisis risks, will need to show they hold every single underlying bond. Spoiler alert: few investors do, particularly if they're nervous about euro calamities. More broadly, investors may decide that if they can't hedge the risk, they won't buy the bonds--unlikely to be what the ban's official architects had in mind. Potentially boosting euro volatility probably wasn't on the 'to-do' list either.

SC - I was bored at 6 this morning :-)

I am upgrading to Windows 8.
Demand has been so high that the bank couldn't charge me, so authorization delayed the download.

USD Advance GDP q/q 2.0% consensus 1.9% previous 1.3%

USD Advance GDP Price Index q/q 2.8% consensus 2.0% previous 1.6%

Brave man ahoj!

Well that was a nice solid 45 from the DOW.