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've gone short FSTE again at 5658 - an odd number, but it's served me well in the past week - hmm, possibly a bit premature!

Interesting link below - Apple is top of the cash pile!
8 Companies you didn't know had so much money

I think the FTSE has overextended, I'm expecting it to rally back to 5700 then target the 200 DMA approx 5746 at the moment (no signals though). Good luck with your short position Toya.

Thanks Shortie! I shall keep an eye on it today and be ready to stop it if it's clear I've made the wrong decision.

I just feel it will be a short-term rally. However, it could all change when US Housing Data is released at 15:00 today

can't disagree with shortie's analysis, though "overextended" in my language implies "too far too fast"

We speak the same language then Cynic..

On pure logic and charts, I entirely agree with you. However, I also feel that current politics could influence the markets quite strongly:

"Strategists said upside for equities remains limited after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told a cabinet meeting that the Israeli forces were prepared to significantly expand the offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip... Europe’s debt crisis could also move back to the fore, strategists warned, as euro-zone finance ministers prepare to meet Tuesday in another effort to bridge differences over how to achieve a sustainable debt path for Greece."

Also there's the US fiscal-cliff, debt ceiling, potential credit rating downgrade, look at what happened last year after the debt ceiling was raised and the S&P cut the US rating. Further QE, it's long due a knock on USD strength.

FTSE clearly is heading higher...

Paragon finals tomorrow, going long I think, they've recently increased and extended their warehouse facility and look set to outperform expectation. With estimated full year profits of £72m I think they should be trading on a PE of 12 which would support a 287p sp.

249.27 Paragon Group Mar 13 Spread Bought.

USD Existing Home Sales 4.79m consensus 4.76M previous 4.75M

USD NAHB Housing Market Index 46 consensus 41 previous 41

FTSE hindsight should have gone long as per my posts this morning. I don't like betting against the trend though.... Hhhmmm...

shortie - i recollect that 12740 was an alleged dow support .... that being so, you may like to consider shorting now it has reached that level

i shall consider and, on the basis that dow will retrench a little, shall almost certainly shut long ftse which has done me proud today - we'll draw a veil over the last week's performance!

AAPL off and running +5%.

i know :-) but a lot of ground to make up as far as i am concerned ..... still that is in the past, so one starts again

Well, I missed a great opportunity on the FTSE and Dow today - never thought we'd shoot up quite so high so fast! Ah well... another day beckons

if dow holds current levels (>12640), then perhaps worth another long ftse for the morning, but be careful of o'night spikes

I take it that you mean > 12,740?

Bulls, not bears, go into hibernation

LONDON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:35pm GMT

(Reuters) - The longest losing streak on world markets since the darkest days of the euro crisis in late 2011 shows how reluctant investors are to trust in any sustained recovery after years of crisis.

Global equity indices on Friday flirted with a record eight consecutive days in the red for the first time in a year. Do a sweep of all related risky assets around the world and there's been a similar pattern of pullback.

Interesting article Skinny - pretty much sums things up!