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

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.

12762 roughly has some support, 12829 roughly I believe to be initial resistance, so will try trading the range.

cluck, cluck, cluck! - lol!!

Pound a point? :-)

Yep and the rest... the DFT is a margin of 120 times stake with a low 4 points margin so more affordable than a longer dated future with no overnight fee.

USD Core Retail Sales m/m 0.0%% consensus 0.2% previous 1.1%

USD PPI m/m -0.2%% consensus 0.2% previous 1.1%

USD Retail Sales m/m -0.3% consensus -0.2% previous 1.1%

USD Core PPI m/m -0.2% consensus 0.1% previous 0.0%

Another 11.5 pts made, so in total 17pts made today. It's like watching paint dry, think I'll call it a day on the DOW.

USD Business Inventories m/m 0.7% consensus 0.5% previous 0.6%

you should have waited shortie ..... dow has suddenly dumped 50 for no clear reason

Yeah just seen it, don't fancy a long though as consider this to be support broken, see where it closes at now.

12540 July and end June lows look like the next test for the DOW if it doesn't pull back later tonight.

rather agree, and also to wait and see ...... so much volatility without any good reason

Just taken +20 from that bounce - but it looks to be weakening again.

It's all about the Fiscal Cliff - and Ireckon the weakness will continue until that is resolved, according to various reports I've been reading.

I did set up another short earlier but cashed it in much too soon!