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

there's a few high street stocks that could be worth shorting

the other retailer I'm looking at for a possible short is KGF Kingfisher

Looking for new CEO, who may cut the div which is only covered 1.2 times, and full year profits are only forecast to be the same at 390m. Net debt = 1.4b.

for lack of anywhere else to post the following .....

Telegraph leader painted a pretty bleak outlook for the markets over the coming months ..... read it for yourselves as too long to post here, and if done too damn tiresome to read!

on the other hand, there was an interesting article on miners and consolidation within the sector ..... specifically mentioned were ORE, CEY and POG as potential targets

Dow already looking dire, so look vainly i fear for respite from the gloom

"Ahead for investors is a reading on home builders' confidence. The National Association of Home Builders releases its monthly index for December at 1 p.m. ET."

spoke too soon !

who did?

sure glad i dumped a lot of stock over the last week or so, but still totally vile everywhere ...... even GOO is now well off the pace

re 465 thought the bears had finally broken the resolve of those defending the 200 ma but not over yet

dow just teasing below 200 dma while nasdaq amazingly keeps hanging onto 25 dma

wall street seemingly just shrugging its shoulders at "home builders' confidence" report (or lack of it!) ..... obvious just remaining horrid but not noticeably worse than expected

when to start buying is my dilemma, now, having called this drop so far so good, unloaded some 40% of holdings last two weeks whilst the going was good... personally think we're heading much lower yet, this week...

you just may be wrong, insofar as Dow cash indicator is currently +65 ....... a bounvce,m even if short-lived, must surely be on the cards imminently for, as i have said before, nothing falls or rises in a straight line.

there are also encouraging indicators for TAN, PFC and even SOLA .... will post accordingly on the relevant sites

Have dipped in this morning, re-purchase of HAWK, set limit orders for NPE, POG and TAN

feeling rather braver today, i think i shall but back into GOOG when USA opens ..... hellish expensive, but very low spread ..... had them about a week ago, but closed out at about $692 at a small profit ..... closed last night about $670

in case you were thinking the goldman results were good:

Ben Stein, the actor, game-show host and economist, accused Goldman economists of "selling fear" and then shorting mortgage-backed securities. That resulted in gains that offset write-downs in the third quarter.
Fortune's Allan Sloan suggested that Goldman was well-aware that it was selling doomed MBSs because it was shorting those same securities at the same time. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has called for Goldman alumnus and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to answer complaints made by Stein and Sloan.

Can you trust advice given by Goldman Sucks?

charts on both sides of the pond still showing a very choppy pattern which the brave can interpret to suit.

personally, i had a very good day on the markets (a firm offer for RIO would have been the icing, though i think that will happen sooner or later), but very difficult to determine whether or not this is a short term rally, and therefore one sells into it, or if sentiment is indeed changing, whether warranted or not.

certainly BoE is making strong noises about inflation still being under control and therefore a further rate cut is still probable as oppposed to just possible.

US exports are now booming, and that can be no bad thing.

gold, oil and iron ore prices are still very robust, and the belief in further consolidation within the commodity companies remains as strong as ever.

on that basis, one is very tempted to say that the markets are indeed about to regain their poise and even upward impetus ....... but but but, the nagging doubts remain

You used to be indecisive, but now you are not so sure then? :o)

you're right! ...... however, the markets have sure been roaring today and am glad i am running no shorts ...... in fact, am almost more than fully invested, so if i am sufficiently disciplined, may top-slice a few stocks on Monday, but it will be difficult not to let greed prevail ...... mind you, selling my holding in GOOG would free up a large slab on its own!

other than Nasdaq which chose to be perverse, the charts finished the week with a much rosier hue ..... i accept that trade is thin, but far better to have traded more than a little positively than the reverse ..... Monday is a short day, but it hard to envisage FTSE finishing on a down note ..... Dow will open after that, and rather more tricky to call .... there are then just 2.5 trdaing days before the turn of the year, all of which are likely to quiet in the extreme.

for myself, i think i shall take the opportunity of this sharp rally to bank some profits and quite probably to clear out a bit of garbage ..... if i follow that line, then DOO will be a prime contender and i confess to being more than a little fed up with the inactivity of VML and TMC (already halved that holding), even though commodities are currently the right sector.

for those who do not already know, i trade in CFDs, so the logic and what should be the discipline are rather different from (not different to!) when one has invested real cash - i.e. not just a small %