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

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...

However, when I read things like this:

Eurozon'es Economy continues to deteriorate at an 'alarming pace'

then I tend to think of going short from a suitable point!

http://rt16.it-finance.com/FinSpreadsFlash/showimage.phtml?id=371908acbd786f6d75b2b35b196c629c819a7581aaf927545a769363bd4ba4ea&type=png

Looks like a Yen breakout, tempted to trade...

Charts
FTSE 100 Daily
http://rt8.it-finance.com/FinSpreadsFlash/showimage.phtml?id=858827ba1e799ad8043be0985410a8510a7b6cee04f78ef767c13f8f8d588aaa&type=png
Wall St
http://rt16.it-finance.com/FinSpreadsFlash/showimage.phtml?id=fa2cc3aaba939600988374fae95be32046ffa425198e47de4f624b1cdae00fe5&type=png
EU Stocks 50
http://rt8.it-finance.com/FinSpreadsFlash/showimage.phtml?id=de01cab8080d9a3fb3a973cc101a3eb1a6bfbc97581f61cc3bd1f5742e101aa3&type=png
Japan 225 (Nikkei) Breakout here also as with the Yen
http://rt16.it-finance.com/FinSpreadsFlash/showimage.phtml?id=554ff7066c96d162b36b7c2672ae9281561ac2b31fbeb3f03fb3f1cf5b8522b4&type=png

don't get fixated on europe

I'm thinking in terms of short the DAX cynic

where's it standing at the moment? ..... last noted at 6951 ...... 7178 is a key support/resistance

7240 - both resistance and support it seems to me, and the level it had fallen to on 7th November.

Wouldn't short just now though - wait and see what happens next week in US

Ah - thank you Skinny!

if anything, looks more like a position from which to go long with a short term target perhaps 150 higher

Now then: can someone help me to interpret RSI (presumably if it's +50 then it's an indication the price may continue upwards??) and MACD - ?

It could actually be at a reasonable level to short right now, but my funds are a bit stretched currently so daren't take a chance just now

I certainly think if it rises up to 7400 then I'll go short again, even if it does travel a little beyond that

More charts - thanks Skinny! A good illustration of the wide range within which the DOW travels compared with the FTSE

FTSE 100 gone short 5785.3

Toya RSI is a momentum oscillator so 50 means no trend, 70 overbought, 30 oversold. 14 is the days taken over so short term.
MACD is the relationship between two average prices to hopefully produce a signal.

Thanks Shortie :)))

Reckon a short at this level of FTSE should work but I messed up the other day so need to tread a bit more carefully!

i happen to disagree as the markets currently seem disinclined to stumble, though that is not to say there will not be a brief window of opportunity, depending on what (small) southerly movement is deemed to be sufficient

CAD Core Retail Sales m/m 0.0% consensus 0.5% previous 0.4%