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

all that does is cause further instability in the markets, and not just in UK ...... Bernanke, who is a renowned expert in this area, is categoric that one of the major reasons for The Depression, was dithering by central gov't, wihc is precisely what we are seeing yet again in Europe ..... whatever the flaws in Bernanke's original proposal, at least it provided the catalyst for the US gov't taking action.

as it stands, the banks are stuffed full of money which they are unwilling to lend ..... if i have heard correctly, and i am 97% certain that i have, Fortis in Belgium yesterday unilaterally closed off all unsecured credit - i.e. anyone with an overdraft, even if "authorised", found themselves completely without funds and without notice.

Agree with the reasons for the Great Depression, not sure that banks are stuffed full of cash, maybe stuffed full of derivities, CDOs and debt which could be sold for cash if a buyer could be found but currently can't. I think any government bailout should be taken very likely and only as a last resort. I would prefer to see the Central banks replace the likes of the FSA to control credit and debt levels, I also think that we should print more money to free up the markets and combat inflation. This may dilute wealth but should free up trade....

but dithering helps no one!

Print more money!!! Isn't that what they did in pre-war Germany with the subsequent consequences?

Printing more money doesn't combat inflation, it does the opposite.
2517

Snap HC
2517

Ugh!!! DOW currently down 500 points! Not at the bottom yet then!

Signalwatch sees 8400 as next bottom!

Should be there by Friday at this rate.... ;-)

Strawbs.

Interesting start tomorrow then with bailout package being announced before open but with Dow finishing 500 down, so lets see now, open down 100 up to flat and then down 200 by mid-morning... love it... i seem to be putting around £10k a day last two weeks in to cover margins and its just not funny anymore...!

Big Ted I learnt my lesson a long time ago not to cover margin's as invariably they go against you and its dam expensive. Have been taking a more conservative approach and set a couple of limit orders with usually beaten up stocks when the markets turns down. Set 60% below their Friday close. It looks like both will be triggered today. It has to stop somewhere but I have now idea where.

Interesting program last night on BBC4 about the credit crunch. Looks like the investment fund & hedge fund traders, having become very rich selling packaged sub-prime investments globally, are now set to become even richer buying up companies whose valuations are rock bottom. Just us little guys left to pick up the fallout!!!

Hmmm. Just like the Fed announcement last night. Quick rally then fall out of bed again! Rather underlines the "one track mind" state of the market (or it's participants) at the moment. Probably the one thing Bernanke and Co. haven't learnt from the history of the great depression, it's not the policy response.....it's the publics one.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

Agree, however it cant keep dropping 500 points everyday. and we all know there are a host of good little companies out there still going about their business as usual and yet only valued a fifth of what they were a year ago... The reason i'm backing the positions is because the companies (mainly CEY and CRA) both have plenty of cash and, well, lets face it CEY to become a producer soon sitting on mountains of gold (literally) and CRA about to announce a tie up with a global service supply leader, i'm certain if i keep adding the story will be far different in six months time, these are just two companies, but hell, there are now hundreds of fantastic bargains out there with hideously low forward PE's, that the market cant keep pushing down forever - the knack is making sure they are cash rich, from this post it appears i believe we must be approaching some kind of floor, maybe a bit of pain, but i think (as highlighted above) there are masses of funds waiting to snap up the bargains...

Just as a matter of interest, where do these companies keep their cash?
Presumably lodged with banks, but unlike us private investors, with no guarantee?

9000 here we come! sheer madness, its now talk of recession pushing the Dow down. I presume 9000 (round number) is some kind of support??? or are we going to plunge through that and carry on to low 8,000's??? utter b*ll*cks, i'm a bit worried that the world is going to implode and shatter into trillions of little pieces, i was quite enjoying life too!!!

Well ! I don't know about you lot but I have lost a packet on this absurd overdone downturn !.

Just had a conversation with a good friend of mine who retired at an early age having made his money on the stock market in his younger years, we are both in agreeance, the bottom is here (or very near), its the fear factor out there, everyone sees doom and gloom, i see opertunities, it takes unbelievable mental strength to do the opposite of trend, but you really do have to buck the trend and add companies you believe in at low levels and sell when everything looking overbought...

i suspect a low on ftse.today.
looking for a reasonable bounce from here.
if it takes out todays low and holds stock up and head for the mountains.
could be wrong of course.
just my opinion as always.
regards
jkd

BT
our posts crossed but it seems we are in agreement, although im not sure this is the final low.
best regards to you.
jkd