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

DOW
had a small long which i cashed in for +60
index now at a resistance but not looking eager to crash through it and onward to 20,000+

Bloomberg - U.S. employers added the most workers in four months while wage growth slowed more than projected, suggesting some slack remains in the labor market.

January’s 227,000 increase in payrolls followed a 157,000 rise in December, a Labor Department report showed Friday in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 180,000 advance. The jobless rate rose to 4.8 percent, and average hourly earnings grew 2.5 percent from January 2016, the weakest since August.

The data, representing the final figures under President Barack Obama, indicate the job market is still enjoying steady growth though isn’t tight enough yet to result in a bonanza for worker pay.

DOW
now modestly short from 19,990
as mentioned previously, there looks to be no enthusiasm to crack 20,000, though no doubt i shall be proved wrong

as i have been , or at least for now :-)

It will come back down again cynic

certainly not fretting about it
in fact, i've had a very good run for the last couple of weeks, on stocks as well as indices

DAX
looking to have a mind to break decisively below 11,600

some strange yo-yoing of the indices this morning

DAX
now down to the next support level of ~11,520
shall watch carefully with a view to closing current short

============

did so for +70
may prove to be premature, in which case, i'll go back in

not quite the right thread, but i can't remember the one for general shares comment .....

GOLD
the strong rally continues but PMMs remain totally lacklustre
on the back of that, i cashed in my respectable profit on ACA, though i'm not convinced it was the right move - other than a banked profit is precisely that

Missing the buzz of trading past month. Too much on elsewhere.

Still no sign of a sell off.

Not sorry I banked quite a few a couple of weeks ago but as CD says still no fall back but not much in gains either.

True so concentrating on individual share trades at the mo.

DOW still going higher.

DAX
closed 50% at 11,764 as now approaching the 11,770 resistance

performance of DOW and S&P later may influence

markets may be faltering so have banked tasty profits on FXPO, ANTO and balance of DAX

===============

and now 50% DOW long

MARKET VIEW
i find it strange that the markets remain sanguine to strong even though there are various important elections across europe within the next few weeks

elections always breed uncertainty, and this time around there can be little doubt that right wing and nationalist parties in nl, france and probably germany too are on course to make considerable headway

though these elements may not gain power, they will still cause more than small ripples

Do we need to be reminded daily on the Stockwatch page that the FTSE is about to open, bring back the forecasts for its movement- which were always wrong, but a laugh

hahahahahah

What a narrow band the ft100 has been in all day!

now short both Dow and Dax as they're both looking very soggy now