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

that's a fun chart :-)
i confess i never look at BDI, but it was something brought to my attention a couple of weeks back

I wonder what the combined operating costs of vessels, fuel and crews are, this would indicate where the BDI bottom is before a reduction in supply...

i've no idea, but at the end of the day, it's a supply and demand thing and not really anything to do with cost

on a different matter altogether, i keep seeing little snippets that the republican senators and congressmen have been told by their grandees to be rather mare pragmatic in their approach to the upcoming budget discussions

let's hope that is so, for though tough bargaining with reason and alternative views are perfectly acceptable, partisan obstructivism(??) for the sake of it is not

dow is certainly behaving as the charts indicated it should ..... let's hope it can continue for a while yet ..... i suspect 13000 is the next serious test on the way north

We'll see, I think it'll struggle to hold above 12800 at the moment, if we're to see any push come it'll need to establish support here first.

As Skinneys chart shows, 4 inverted candles at 12800, a star today would be a positive sign or a Harami tomorrow. No new positions opened this week on indicies or currencies, lets hope theirs some direction tomorrow.

i would acknowledge some minor resistance at 12900, but with volatility inevitable for the next couple of months, it's probably more a case of judging the direction of the short-term momentum

what a very disappointing end to the day .... had hoped to see dow finish comfortably ahead, but disconcertingly lower instead

Cisco ahead of expectations.

that cash DOW has recovered 70 pts o'night goes to show what very difficult and unpredictable times we are in

I totally messed up yesterday - my own fault for not sticking to my rules! So now I'm sitting on the sidelines for a bit.

I would beware of a possible fall later today, with the demonstrations going on in Euroland

I wasn't surprised to see the DOW give up gains yesterday, some figures expected today as per the below, forecast, previous...

13:30 PPI m/m 0.20% 1.10%
13:30 Core Retail Sales m/m 0.30% 1.10%
13:30 Retail Sales m/m 0.00% 1.10%
13:30 Core PPI m/m 0.20% 0.00%
15:00 Business Inventories m/m 0.40% 0.60%
19:00 FOMC Meeting Minutes

GBP Claimant Count Change 10.1K consensus -0.5K previous -4.0K

GBP Unemployment Rate 7.8% consensus 7.9% previous 7.9%


Merv the swerve speaks @10:30

BoE raises short-run CPI forecast, sees sluggish growth

LONDON | Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:49am GMT

(Reuters) - Inflation is likely to be significantly higher over the next 18 months than expected in August, Bank of England forecasts showed on Wednesday, posing a barrier to further policy stimulus.

In its quarterly Inflation Report, the central bank's projections showed it would take until the third quarter of 2014 before inflation fell below its 2 percent target, nine months later than predicted in August, despite sluggish growth.

The Bank forecasts come a day after official data showed the biggest jump in inflation in more than a year, to 2.7 percent in October, after a rise in university tuition fees. Higher utility bills are likely to push inflation higher, with the Bank seeing a peak in the middle of next year.

12780 gone short on Wall St, trading 10 min charts.

pay yer money; take yer choice ......

At 8:30 a.m. ET
October retail sales With Superstorm Sandy weighing on consumers, sales are expected to have declined by 0.2% in the month

October producer prices, which are expected to have increased by 0.1% -- led by higher energy and food prices.


Following the opening bell
Business inventories for September, which are projected to have increased by 0.6%.

This is true, I'll have to trade a candlestick at a time and try and take quick profits.

Position closed at 12774.5 +5.5pts.