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

Definitely Skinny! I'm off to Zumba first though

is that some tribal african dance?

French Flash Manufacturing PMI 44.7 consensus 44.1 previous 43.7

French Flash Services PMI 46.1 consensus 45.3 previous 44.6

From Reuters:

'European shares advanced for a fourth straight session to touch a one-week high on Thursday, with encouraging data from China, showing further signs of recovery in the world's second-biggest economy, boosting sentiment.

'The China HSBC Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, which largely reflects the private manufacturing sector, hit a 13-month high of 50.4 in November. It followed data on Wednesday showing U.S. manufacturing picked up at its quickest pace in five months in November. "There have been a lot of concerns regarding the outlook for global growth. In this context, any improvement in Chinese data is welcome, given that investors are still risk averse, which is reflected in valuations," Robert Parkes, equity strategist, HSBC Securities.'

German Flash Manufacturing PMI 46.8 consensus 45.9 previous 46.0

German Flash Services PMI 48.0 consensus 48.5 previous 48.4

Flash? We know they have a proper economy unlike ours, but isn't using the word Flash just rubbing it in?.. explain please Skinny -):

Stan - click on the image :-)

Fear not - it really does work Stan :)

I think Skinny posted a handsome young man for my benefit

imo, that germany has a strong economy is all smoke and mirrors ...... do you remember how it used to be boasted that the french economy was so strong blah blah blah?

do you remember how no french or german cattle ever suffered from bse - hahaha?

I agree with you cynic: If you read some in-depth reports, Germany is already suffering from the downturn in Europe - it's why I can't understand the markets racing ahead...

Spanish 10-y Bond Auction 5.52|1.8 previous 5.46|1.9

Toya, ignore the indicators. There is no competition!

Ah thanks both, never heard of it before.

ah well Mistress T, markets are (nearly) always looking forward at the next 6 months or so and as i have been telling everyone for the last 2/3 months, there is no question that world economies are picking up .... this wasn't guesswork or similar, but merely an obvious conclusion from the fact that chemical shipments were picking up - i.e. companies re-stocking ...... at long last, i see the press and economists echoing this, albeit rather belatedly, for they wait for assorted national economic reports, and of course those are historic

our own observations are that europe remains quiet, but asia, which has never collapsed in the same way (pace japan), is assuredly stronger ..... india has really suffered, but that may be in due in part to a very weak currency, but is now showing small signs of recovery ..... m/e petro economies - i.e. not just oil, but petro-chem derivatives - are certainly stronger

Morning all, French and German PMI data today

In the wake of confirmation of Mr Paul Ottelini’s intention to depart Intel the business falls short on quarterly earnings and confirms an $8.8bn impairment charge to intangible assets as a result of “serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failure and misrepresentations at Autonomy Corp (remember them?) prior to HP’s acquisition.” Ooops! HP shares down 13% in response. Autonomy may reject the charge. One to watch..

Skinny: did you set up your short HP??

No - I took the 2nd option as discussed (pub) :-)

HP closed +2%

It'll probably go down again

Meanwhile, I reckon DOW should go up next week - on the basis that we'll have had a lull over the US festive days; plus they've (temporarily) stopped killing each other in Gaza;the EU will continue to discuss Greece :); and Obama will talk up Fiscal Cliff negotiations...

Long term, cynic, I'm sure you're right - gotta be, I hope...