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

cash equivalent of futures is currently trading about 5400
after showing a new high today

VAT increase is already in the market

however as cynic says FTSE is driven by a bunch of stocks which are overseas earners

so govt action is unlikely to cause anything other than a knee jerk for a day or so

we have May expiry soon and we will know more after that

what has my attention is the growing level of civil unrest that is being caused by public service cuts

you know how militant these unions and collective direct action groups are

as for the Dow, it has already broken up and through the Jul/Feb support line
and is back testing from above

if that succeeds , the odds are on a further high

cynic we all accept we are heading into choppy waters, it is likely that during the quiet summer months the FTSE will decline as there isn't much chance of good news. Better to take a break and come back on St Leger's day.

that is far from saying ftse will fall 1000 points!

cynic you must be doing quite nicely with your FTSE short!

yes it is ..... i've been out bending the plastic all day ..... market seems to have dumped plenty since i checked in at about 1 o'clock or whenever ..... that short was my only bit of blue for the day .... perhaps i'm not so cheesed at having pulled in my horns a little yesterday on RKH"!

cynic only another 830pts to go to prove the pundits right,and the adage sell in may....

with Dow hovering either side of -200 for the day, i closed my ftse short to bank a nice little profit for the day ..... Dow may fall further tonight, but i don't feel like monitoring it, and actually, i would expect to see a recovery later on .... just a little bonus profit as were my long positions earlier in the week - never to be knocked in tricky times!

long UKX @ 5256 last night

braver than me, but i wouldn't want to be still short either - see above

you've got to be in it to win it as they say cynic, taken nearly 1,000 points from UKX and INDU over the past week in both directions and to be honest should really have had more had I had slightly more balls! I love this volatility - it's dreamland for traders :-)

yes it is, and i too have made some nice profits in both directions in the last couple of weeks, but i feel the current scenario makes it particularly difficult to determine where we are headed next

I don't care too much as long as I make points! :)

Brave to call this on Monday.

doesn't not look to have been a smart move by splat - ftse currently indicated to open at +/-5200

Over 52 per cent of the UKs GDP is derived from public sector activity, up from 39 per cent in 2001 and 29 per cent when Labour took office.

GDP growth is an illusion financed by public sector debt to buy votes

It almost worked

Chart as of 2007/8



"The figures mark an important turning point for Britain, which historically has prided itself on being a nation of private enterprise and endeavour.

They do not include the costs of part-nationalising failing banks which could push the levels close to that of communist countries. "

Henrik Braconier, who studies Britain for the OECD, said the figures definitely signified that something was wrong in the economy.

"GDP growth is an illusion financed by public sector debt to buy votes"

Add to that the distortion in unemployment figures by keeping more youngsters in extended education (aka university).

A pretty false picture....

TP

Over 52 per cent of the UKs GDP is derived from public sector activity, up from 39 per cent in 2001 and 29 per cent when Labour took office.

I'm sure that is just a typo by the 3rd party it was cut'n'pasted from, but I don't think that's correct, by virtue of the fact that the public sector makes fcuk all and therefore contributes next to nothing towards GDP. I would've thought the article is meant to read something like "Public sector net debt, expressed as a percentage of GDP, was 52.9 per cent at end of March 2009."

Updated statistics have recently been released public sector debt now stands at 62.0% as at the end of March 2010.

There's a big difference there between what has been pasted and what is accurate.

no hilary

the figures are correct

it has nothing to do with debt

which as you point out is even worse at 62%

we all work for the public sector - it's called being a taxpayer!