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

Very interesting observation Fal .............

will keenly watch on Monday.

All the best
Amar

Apparently Aussie /yen is a good one to watch, this has been dropping recently which apparently indicates risk aversion, flight from Commods into safety. Doji on Dow on Friday, sign of indecision and trend change and double top! Looking between the lines of the recent(better than expected ) bank results Goldman, by new accounting rules did not have to include December in it's results despite losing $1.3billion then. Citigroup also re named $2.6 billion of CDS liabilities as assets!Corporate bonds should be flying if this was the real deal according to history 1974, 1982, 1921, 1932(from Moneyweek). Dax seems to be benefitting from falling euro and possibly UK car subsidy in budget?(sell on news?)We shall see...

Will be interesting to see which sectors are boosted by tomorrow's budget.
Looks likely that the house builders will get some good news & maybe the banks also if savers get some kind tax break. Presumably alcohol & fuel duty will go up, squeezing the transport & pub sectors? Bound to be some kind of knee jerk reaction, imo, unless the budget is neutral, which looks unlikely as taxation is going to have to increase.

Surprised to see the FTSE down so much today. I thought we might have a small dead cat bounce before a proper dive off the cliff tomorrow during the budget. I don't think the government has any money left to provide any meaningful intervention, and with so much already in the papers any plans are probably already factored into prices. Pretty certain we'll all be worse off though, and for many more budgets to come until our massive borrowing is paid back.

Strawbs.

purely out of curiosity Strawbs, when was the last time you actually bought any shares ..... or shorted them for that matter?

Last week.

Strawbs.

Life Insurers look to be one sector which is going to suffer:
"Footsie continues to bob above and below last nights closing level with investors reluctant to commit themselves ahead of tomorrows Budget speech.

One sector on which investors have made up their mind is insurance, where fears that the Chancellor might scrap higher rate tax relief on pensions are pushing down the share prices of the likes of Aviva, Prudential, Old Mutual and Legal & General. Broker Merrill Lynch said that the removal of higher rate tax relief would reduce the attractiveness of pensions versus non-pension savings and therefore affect the flow of money into the UK pensions industry.

Seems we got a bit of a recovery afterall. Might just be a coincidence, but I notice the last 3 trading days appear very similar to the start of the falls in January. Although history never repeats itself, it may be worth keeping an eye on for any FTSE traders out there.

Strawbs.

seemed to me that the markets were quite keen to sell off, but bears sensibly closed postions towards the end ....... however, assuming the budget is something of nothing and NY stays strong until and after close, it could be quite boisterous tomorrow and thursday

We are still in the 7800-8200 channel.Had a good profitable short on ftse 250 but it is an expensive way to trade with the 60 point round trip per point! It also doesn't open until 815 or of course overnight but does give a different exposure to ftse with its heavy oil and mining exposure. I think the ftse250 is best for a longer term trade where a few thousand points might be available over a longer time frame, Tomorrow should provide some very good trading opportunities for those with a strategy and a quick reaction. Get ready to get boisterous!

glad you liked "today's word"!

When I looked at DOW futures at noon today they were showing approx -135. Now the DOW is +30.! Almost tempted to open a spread betting account!
Another item which keeps you on your toes is the swine flu outbreak. All U.K. travel companies share prices seem to have been badly hit, which must surely be an unreasonable kneejerk reaction to something which is currently a tiny problem, yet the pharmaceutical/health care companies in the U.S. have bounced up on anticipation of a rush of orders! More people die in the U.k. per month from ordinary flue than have died globally in a month from swine flu! Absurd, imo.

We had the same hype about bird flu a couple of years back if you remember H... still good for Pharma holders today it's said.

better beware guys i've been suckered in to some more longs.( based on the individual charts of each stock) my trading portfolio is now net long, yet i am still convinced this is a bear market rally. i do have protective stops in place on everything.
F
your comment about ftse heavy oil and mining exposure is most relevent, don't forget the banks also.
have gone long VOD today since i am short BT. yep i know one is one and one is other so we shall see.
regards
jkd

Planes flying low over wallstreet caused the market to get the jitters as well as swine flu.....off track have you noticed that when Barrack Obama makes a speech : he is always looking to his right and left as if he is about to cross the road ?....

And how about that for press inaccuracy!!! It was ONE plane & it was Air Force 1. Another slow news day!

Defensives growing in popularity is the rally over?

a pullback was ineviatble after 7 straight weeks of gains in NY ..... "rally over" is a bit meaningless without further expansion - e.g. you think FTSE will now drop say 1000 points.

imo, the excuse of swine flu having a significant effect of world economic recovery, is pure hogwash! ......

indeed, though a pandemic may be on the cards, arguing that its effect could be as catastrophic as the Spanish flu in 1918 is ludicrous ...... at that time, much of the world was already physically worn out by the Great War, vaccinatory medicine was in its relative infancy and of course, general health was much lower, all of which made people far more susceptible to terminal illness

If you have a read through this you will find mention of many dying because of too strong an immune response, rather than too weak, as well as inappropriate treatment cough syrup and aspirin http://www.osteopathicphilosophy.com/influenza1.htm
Flu by Gina Kolata also worth reading
The virulent viral strains around today are a by-product of inappropriate and excessive anti-biotic administration that allow mutation of the viruses that potentially new meds can't keep up with.
It is far too soon to say whether the virus will reek havoc but it is worth noting that it killed more people in 1st.,2nd World Wars Vietnam wars combined and yet I don't recall seeing one Hollywood blockbuster about it!

reek havoc?????? ...... i know after a few days in the hot sun a cadaver is a bit pungent, but i don't think you meant that - lol!

swine flu is apparently an amalgam of several strains (inc avian flu) ..... the vaccine already in existence and significant stock in UK, covers most of these strains and, if administered timeously, will cure swine flu in nearly all cases.

and just for a bit of balance, i am 99% certain that i am correct in saying that the flu virus in particular is continuously mutating of its own accord and is little or nothing to so with antibiotic resistance.