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

Thanks Shortie - a bit of light reading!

Speaker John Boehner @SpeakerBoehner

Will open the House & provide an update on status of #fiscalcliff negotiations at noon ET -- tune in to http://houselive.gov to watch.

Ta Hils - not a site I've seen before.

What, Twitter? :)

:-)

Anyone here used Motley Fool Share Advisor - they seem to emailing at least once a day lately offering 65% discount.

Someone here (think it may have been Cyners) mentioned the Baltic Dry Index the other week. It's probably worth noting that it's off 15% over the last couple of weeks and today experienced its biggest one day drop since January.

it was indeed me mentioning Baltic Index ..... we sit and watch but see no reason to backtrack on what we have been saying for months - world economies are improving

Whilst some economies might be improving many in the developed world firmly have their foot on the breaks. The problem with the US and others is that growth has been manufactured by QE, take away QE and you've got an extended credit crisis. I'm firmly in the not convinced camp.

I used to be undecided, now I'm not so sure.

Thanks for that link above, Hilary. I can't actually watch it currently, but no doubt the market will react choppily, as usual!

QE is a fact though i guess at some time there has to be some reconciliation - not sure if that's true actually ..... in the meantime, there has been consistent improvemnt in the general us economy in recent months, and even the growth in f/e is not to be sneezed at ..... meanwhile, india also now looks to be recovering its senses

Some info on the Baltic Dry Index:

Baltic Dry Index Sees Worst Quarter in 14 Years as Oversupply and Low Demand Continues to Plague Industry
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/baltic-dry-index-sees-worst-122000584.html

The BRICs are doing alright yes but only as a result of the propping up of their major trading partners. If the world stopped printing money growth would quickly reverse. On QE of course there will need to be some reconciliation, namely inflation. The only boom I can currently see is in unimparred commodities and has been for some time now.

MARKET TALK: Pimco Sees US Growth Losing Traction in 2013

12:24 EST - Pimco, home to the world's biggest bond fund, sounds downbeat on the US growth next year. The latest quarterly report out of the company's December cyclical economic forum shows Pimco expects US growth of between 1.25% and 1.75%, down from the firm's call of 2% growth this year. Pimco has argued for a new normal, or a world of more subdued growth, after the Lehman crisis. The call is driven by Pimco's expectation of "untimely fiscal tightening and increasingly ineffective monetary easing." Still, other regions fare even worse with Pimco looking for a mild recession of 1%-1.5% for euro zone, and 0.5%-1% growth for Japan. Pimco also expects China to grow at a rate of 6.5%-7.5%.

Obama, Boehner talk and exchange new offers on "fiscal cliff"

WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:37am GMT

(Reuters) - Negotiations to avert the "fiscal cliff" ahead of a year-end deadline intensified as President Barack Obama and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner spoke by phone on Tuesday after exchanging new proposals.

It was latest sign of possible progress in efforts to avoid the automatic steep tax hikes and spending cuts set for January 1 unless Congress intervenes.

GBP Claimant Count Change -3.0k consensus 5.9K previous 10.1K

GBP Unemployment Rate 7.8% consensus 7.9% previous 7.8%

GBP Average Earnings Index 3m/y 1.8% consensus 1.9% previous 1.8%

Euro-zone Industrial Output Falls, Signaling Weak 4Q

Industrial production fell in the 17 countries that use the euro in October, suggesting the bloc's economic downturn deepened at the start of the fourth quarter. Weakness in euro-zone factories was more severe than expected and underscores the prospect that the region's shallow recession in the second and third quarters of 2012 will grow more severe in the fourth quarter. That would tighten the screws on governments seeking to cut their debt levels in a bid to escape the region's fiscal crisis. Eurostat, the European Union's official statistics agency, said Wednesday that industrial production in the euro-using nations fell 1.4% in October from September, missing economists' forecasts in a Dow Jones poll last week for no change. With the exception of the previous month's 2.3% decline, that was the worst outturn for the bloc's factories since September 2011. Output in year-to-year terms fell 3.6% in November, the steepest annual drop since December 2009. The fall in industrial production in October casts further doubt on the ability of euro-zone countries to return to growth in the near term. Weakening economies make it harder for governments to cut their debts because rising unemployment and falling tax receipts all cause public borrowing to rise. Official data last month showed the euro-zone economy shrank 0.1% in the third quarter after contracting 0.2% in the second quarter, putting it back in recession, according to a commonly used definition.

GB unemployment figures looking much better. 82000 reduction in total unemployed.

Skinny, I keep getting the Motley fool email as well, the offer keeps expiring tomorrow, and tomorrow, ...