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

Merv the swerve speaks @10:30.

Morning all

Thanks Chris :)

And thanks for reminding us re 10:30 Skinny - Merve usually has something depressing to say...

Meanwhile, I found this:
The Euro STOXX 50 Volatility Index < .V2TX>, or VSTOXX, Europe's widely-used measure of investor risk aversion, hit a 5-year low on Thursday morning, a strong signal of investors' growing appetite for equities.

The VSTOXX, which measures the cost to protect stock holdings against potential pull-backs as it usually moves in an opposite direction to equities, was down 1.3 percent at 17.04, a level not seen since December 2007, at the very beginning of the financial crisis.

Italian 10-y Bond Auction 4.45|1.2 previous 4.81|1.5

U.K. consumers were much less pessimistic in November than a month earlier despite gloomy economic news and growing fears over next week's fall budget statement, a survey showed Thursday. The European Commission's monthly sentiment index reported that U.K. consumer confidence improved to -14.1 in November. The reading is the least negative level seen in over a year and compares with -21.6 in October. The survey provides no details regarding what drove the improvement but it is likely to be met with some surprise as it comes amid a raft of increasingly weak economic indicators, including rising consumer price inflation, and ahead of what could be another tough budget statement from U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, on Dec. 5. Other details of the EC's survey show retailers and the services sector were also significantly more upbeat in November compared with a month earlier. Only the industrial sector posted a fall while confidence among construction firms also improved over the period. These factors led the overall Economic Sentiment Index to rise to its highest level in over a year of 100.2 in November from October's 97.1.

Bank lending to households and businesses shrank in October, according to Bank of England data used to judge the progress of a new program to boost credit. The BOE and the U.K. treasury set up the Funding for Lending Scheme, or FLS, earlier this year in an effort to clear a logjam in the supply of loans. Banks that dish out more loans get access to cheap central bank funds. Outstanding loans to households and non-financial businesses from U.K. banks and building societies shrank 701 million pounds in October, after expanding GBP1.1 billion in September, according to one measure of lending used to gauge the effect of the FLS published by the central bank Thursday. BOE officials have said it will take time for the scheme to begin having an effect on lending, and remain upbeat about its prospects. A narrower measure of lending to non-financial firms, also published Thursday, recorded an increase of GBP598 million in October, the largest monthly rise since November 2011. Mortgage approvals also rose this month, BOE data published Wednesday showed. The U.K. money supply expanded in October but at a slower pace than the previous month, according to a separate BOE report. The BOE's preferred measure of broad money, which excludes money moving around within the financial system, expanded at a three-month annualized rate of 5.4%, compared with a rate of 7.5% in September. Households' money holdings increases in October, data showed. Some economists say a rise in household money holdings may foreshadow a pickup in consumer spending. Corporate sector money holdings also rose.

UK Oct M4 Ex OFCs +GBP6.8 Bln, +5.4% 3 Mos Annualized

UK Oct M4 Lending to PNFCs +GBP0.6 B Vs -GBP0.6 B Sep

UK Oct All Currency Loans To Businesses +GBP0.1 Bln

UK Oct Lending -GBP701 Mln On FLS Measure

The mood among euro-zone businesses improved in November, suggesting that companies may be willing to invest, a factor that could be crucial in limiting the current economic downturn. Figures from the European Commission Thursday showed confidence rose among industrial firms and retailers in the 17 nations that use the euro, pushing the economic sentiment indicator to a three-month high of 85.7 in November from 84.3 in October. The ESI includes businesses and consumers alike. The rise in November--which was driven by an improvement in the euro zone's biggest economy, Germany--came despite a fall in optimism among construction companies and households across the bloc as a whole. Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires last week had expected confidence to fall to a reading of 84.2. The improvement in business sentiment offers hope that companies won't shelve investment plans in great numbers despite the region being in a shallow recession. Many economists say that business investment will be a core factor for the euro zone to make a sustained economic recovery, given that governments and consumers are both reining in spending to curb their debts. The euro-zone economy is in recession, based on a common definition, after it suffered two straight quarters of modestly falling output between April and September. The commission's figures showed households became more pessimistic in November. The consumer confidence reading fell to -26.9 from -25.7, confirming an earlier estimate.

Quote of the day...

BOE Tucker: Bankers Must Be Prudent, "True To Their Profession"

Nice one Shortie :)

BOE Tucker: "There's A Job Of Work To Be Done. I'm Doing It."

5846.3 FTSE short in play, broke all my rules trading last night and finished barely in the black, silly, silly, silly me..... I know better...

CBI Realized Sales 33 consensus 19 previous 30

I've just gone short at 5851, too - hope it make some money!

Another little ray of sunshine!! BoE warns UK banks may lack enough capital

LONDON | Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:58am GMT

(Reuters) - British banks may not have enough capital set aside as a defence against future financial market dangers due to their over-optimistic assessment of the risks facing them, the Bank of England said on Thursday.

The BoE's Financial Policy Committee, which from next year will take charge of British bank regulation, urged the current regulator to reassess whether banks' capital properly reflects the risk of loans going sour and future fines for misconduct.

You do know I'm short don't you?

Maybe you both should have waited until I get stopped out :-)

I'm thinking a 5820 would drop it back into the envelope mid range, channel resistance being tested at the moment on the hourly chart above.

BOE Haldane: Forbearance Mustn't Keep Companies Without A Future Afloat

And yet another one.... LOL

Lol!

I keep hearing banks might be under-funded, it's why I feel one of these days the FTSE will dive... but when?

cynic - the NMX3720 is still on the up.

U.S. stock futures were revved for a higher start on Thursday, with "fiscal-cliff" optimism from the prior day spilling over, triggering global market gains as well. On the data front, investors will get weekly jobless claims, gross domestic product and pending home sales data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70 points, or 0.5%, to 13,027, while futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8 points, or 0.6%, to 1,415.90. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 19.75 points, or 0.7%, to 2,680.25. David Thebault, Paris-based head of quantitative sales trading at Global Equities, in emailed remarks, said markets are starting to understand the issue of the U.S.'s so-called fiscal cliff, the combination of sharp spending cuts and tax increases set to take place at the beginning of next year, could be manageable. "On the other hand, the U.S. fiscal cliff could have an impact on the economy of around 3% of GDP, but we can totally trust the U.S. government to manage this situation and find the best solution with the lowest impact possible on the economy and for the population," Mr. Thebault said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed a more than 100-point slide to finish 106.98 points higher, or 0.8%, at 12,985.11 on Wednesday after Speaker of the House John Boehner and President Barack Obama each made optimistic comments about reaching a deal over the U.S. budget. Mr. Obama also said he hoped to get a deal done by Christmas. Deal talks are expected to continue Thursday, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner expected to meet with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and others. Economic data for Thursday include weekly jobless claims and third-quarter gross domestic product, both at 8:30 a.m. EST. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect claims fell by 20,000 to 390,000 in the week ended Nov. 24. Those claims shot up a few weeks ago after superstorm Sandy and economists have been discounting the data until those effects fade, though it's unclear how long that could take. GDP, meanwhile, is forecast to have risen 2.8% from July to September, up from an initial estimate of 2%, according to economists surveyed. Also, at 10 a.m. EST, the National Association of Realtors will issue October pending home sales. Some investment banks started rolling out forecasts for the coming year. Goldman Sachs said Thursday that it's targeting 1,575 for the S&P 500 for 2013. Goldman also expects the fiscal cliff issue to be resolved. Within corporate news, retailers will be out in front with many due to report same-store sales results for November, including Gap Inc. (GPS), Target Stores Inc. (TGT) and Kohl's Corp. (KSS). Overseas, fiscal-cliff optimism spread to Europe, where the Stoxx Europe 600 index jumped close to 1%. In Asia, gains were broad-based as well and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index snapped a three-day losing streak to close up 1%. Oil futures for January delivery jumped 83 cents, or nearly 1%, to $87.32 a barrel and gold for December delivery rose $7 to $1,723.50 an ounce. The dollar pulled back as investor appetite grew for riskier assets.

Looks like I should close that short then Shortie!