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

I guess the one thing that is certain, is that there will be a big move one way or the other this/next week - the question is which way!!

my guess is an initial wallop followed by recovery as overall, the markets do not look to want to go south

your idea of going long on the construction sector has to have merit ..... confess i have never looked at betting on sectors before, but could be worth a gentle dabble ..... as an individual stock, WOS ought to be a good bet, but i never ever get that right, so i now avoid it

I can't imagine it's going to be a Storm-inspired surge somehow. I keep seeing reports by analysts talking about a "corrective action" in the next 2-4 weeks, before coming back to buy.
But no doubt there will be other views out there!

confess i have take a small short on dow, but having got just about everything wrong of late, no doubt it will whizz

cynic - I've been long since early August (albeit fairly small), I also hold some safer dividend infrastructure plays through the likes of JLIF & HICL etc.

On edit:-

You could be right with the DOW selling off tomorrow and (hopefully) recovering on an Obama win.

I've just seen this :- U.S. nuclear plant declares "alert" after Sandy storm surge: NRC

NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:55am GMT

(Reuters) - Exelon Corp declared an "alert" at its New Jersey Oyster Creek nuclear power plant due to a record storm surge, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said, warning that a further water rise could force the country's oldest working plant to use emergency water supplies to cool spent uranium fuel rods.

The alert -- the second lowest of four NRC action levels -- came after water levels at the plant rose by more than 6.5 feet, potentially affecting the pumps that circulate water through the plant, an NRC spokesman said late on Monday.

Echoes of Fukushima!
MarketWatch.com have problems with their site - no doubt power outages

almost akin to minor earthquake in patagonia; no casualties reported

Managed to scalp + 25 on Dow overnight (at work). In Long both UKX and Dow this morn. Sometimes the bleedin obvious (short) seems too bleedin obvious :O)

I'm hovering on a short :-) - currently quoted @13,088.

that construction sector index is a pretty lively thing ..... it started at -5 and is now +20 after +40

I've set up a DOW short at 13120 - in case it lashes out to reach up there. May edit it down later

cynic - it isn't purely a construction index. It (Household Goods & Home Construction) also tracks companies such as RB. and CHH.

There should be some support for Apple just above 600 (where it currently is) if this breaks 575 should provide support.

i was looking at "construction and materials"

Oh ok - the one I posted above, and am long on is this :-

On edit - amongst other things, it covers the housebuilders.

cynic - a bit on AAPL here iii lunch time round up

thanks skinny .... will have to ponder best move and ensure that i don't just hold because i'm in love

You are not the only one in love. The love affair will improve the growth and push the share prices higher.

there's a lot of conflicting opinion so you choose as you will