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

just did one small trade on Dow this morning and banked profit on CEY very late ..... perfectly happy with that

short DOW 16,270
there was meant to a support at 16,275 on the way down but that didn't hold for long

==========

that's unkind; DOW continuing its burst for glory (now 16,300)
short may it last :-)

FTSE/DAX/CAC all rebound strongly after the bell .

What you doing on this thread Alf I thought you and JB were off to end it all?

Not yet Stan , there's hope .

You could say they are clinging on by a thread
2517

Oh very good George.. boom boom -):

What strange movements on the indices ,went down all day and well up after the bell.
FTSE as i write up 96 pts .

Oh good might make a few bob with my longs taken out today.

took a 50 point loss on my DOW last night, but it could/would have been a lot worse
for all that, i still do not trust this sudden surge to have longevity

Very difficult to play cynic.

indeed .... first one i have called wrong of late, so really shouldn't complain

fyi, just bought a few ANTO
good quality company, and though it is predominantly copper driven, that will be the first commodity to recover as and when

just to make you ponder ...... the following are all from FT that has just flashed through to my phone

China shares plunge ahead of G20 meeting
Investors not convinced by policymaker’s reassurance on economy

Oil industry tormented by epic bust
Rise in the amount of stored crude adds to alarm

European stocks firm after Wall St rebound
Traders nervous after Shanghai falls 6% and oil prices dip

China shares suffer biggest drop in a month
Three main national benchmarks all down over 20% for 2016

everywhere i see nothing but gloomy economic stories

inter alia, i give the headline of a long a unremittingly worrying story from today's World Cargo News - i don't know if it's available on line

Batten down the hatches
Analysts' reports on the liner shipping industry and the sector's prospects for 2016 paint a stormy picture

markets are totally nuts - and yes, even more so than usual!
another day to sit on one's hands unless glued to the screen

actually bought some ANTO today, but though slightly in the money, they are really for holding at least medium term

The state of the U.S. economy may get a little clearer today with a spate of economic data coming out.
Initial Jobless Claims - which have remained quite low throughout the recent market volatility - will be out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists are looking for them to tick up slightly to 270,000 from 262,000 in the previous week. This would still be a very strong reading.

Also due at 8:30 is the January reading of Durable Goods.

Later in the day the FHFA House Price Index, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, and the Kansas City Manufacturing Activity report will be released.

DOW
i'm inclined to think that this will finish in the red tonight
i can't marry money to mouth very easily (sensibly) as i have a lot of cooking to do and shan't be able to monitor properly

Can't see how you can judge the DOW/FTSE at the moment ,it is so erratic .

What's on the menu Mr C and what's the occasion???

older son and the beasties are visiting (d-in-l is a quackette and working this w/e) so making some chicken liver pate (not that nasty sickly sort you always gets served in restaurants) and a really good fish stew with a tomato, onion, garlic and red wine sauce