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

Ambrose goes all sober. As if he wasn't teetotal to begin with.

"The Bernanke Put has become the Bernanke Call" - well quelle bleeding suprise!

apart from glum faces, there's certainly not much blue about, though BLNX is a friendly exception

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my inclination is to think that the fall - collapse would be more apposite - has now been overdone, but unless you are glued to the screen (i'm not as still in dubai) it would be quite a brave move, as weak markets, like strong can self-perpetuate for a while

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but being a masochist, i have had a small dow dabble (long) at 14880

cyni remember our post 12475 6000 looming!

crikey ..... that recently?
bet you didn't short either :-)

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Surely some mistake with the volume reported today!?!

The thing I don't understand is that the markets must have realised that QE will gradually come to an end one day. So instead of pretending that this is the beginning of the end, surely it's exactly the opposite? State intervention comes to an end and the natural order is resumed. I suppose it opens up a period of uncertainty which worries the market, but this was inevitable. I can't believe it isn't all factored in considering the time we have all had to absorb the info.

Harry, the market goes up and then guess what? it has to come down.. the reasons come and go.

Harry,

The Yen crosses all turned upwards a day or two before the FOMC, and have continued upwards since. Trend following currency traders were quite comfortable holding through the Fed, which represents just a small cog in a large wheel when you consider the larger and real effects of Abenomics. Your argument about tapering rhetoric being in the price already is, imo, quite true and its effect on the currency markets was merely to accelerate an existing move. This is in stark contrast to equity markets which plunged in a knee-jerk reaction to the statement. That is fairly typical of equity markets though, with equity traders rarely looking any further than the end of the nose on their face.

The market has decided that it would still like some of Shinzo's shekels, but that risk is off for a while as the money goes into fixed income securities. I suspect you'll see a shift in that way of thinking within the next trading day or two - risk will get turned back on again, and you'll see a surge in equities as they make up for lost time.

forgetting the inevitable difficulty of timing - silly billy yesterday evening! - i would be more inclined to back the dow than ftse to head north

Cheers for that insight hilary, but that then goes against the theory that markets are always forward looking. I assumed they (equity traders) had looked at all of the probable consequences of tapering and positioned themselves accordingly. I have, so why can't they! ;o)

Harry,

The forums are littered with equity traders. You can probably count the number of them whose lift goes right up to the top floor on the fingers of one hand.

:o)

LUXEMBOURG--European Union finance ministers waved through Latvia's bid to adopt the euro currency Friday, clearing one of the final hurdles for the Baltic state to become the bloc's 18th member next year. In a statement, ministers said they agreed with the European Commission's assessment that Latvia has "achieved a high degree of sustainable convergence and therefore fulfils the necessary conditions for adoption of the euro." The small Baltic nation, an EU member since 2004, has been looking to join the common currency for several years. After a series of booms and busts--including humbling bailouts following a banking meltdown in 2008 that stymied its last euro-zone bid--Latvia looks on track to abandon its lat currency on Jan. 1 and take up the euro after receiving a green light from the European Central Bank and European Commission. EU leaders will make the final decision in July after consulting with the European Parliament.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 206 points on the day, and Treasurys sold off, pushing the 10-year yield up to a 15-month high of 2.308%. The market's highly negative reaction to what the Fed says it wants to do could, in fact, delay what the Fed says it wants to do. That's because higher interest rates and falling equity prices will be drags on the economy. Not enough to cause a summer swoon or to trigger recession worries, but the Fed's talk of tapering is based on its central-tendency forecast of 2.3%-2.6% economic growth for all of 2013 and a jobless rate just over 7% at year's end. Those targets will be harder to hit if financial markets remain off balance. Good news for the economy is now bad news for the markets. Consider how investors reacted to Thursday's positive economic reports. A jump in sentiment among Philadelphia manufacturers and a large gain in sales of existing homes supported the Fed's outlook. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose further to 2.406% by midday. The Dow slumped 200 points or so by lunchtime. Mortgage rates still aren't high enough to stop most househunters from buying. But the increase to monthly payments will limit how much a buyer can bid on a house, thus slowing the recent double-digit gains in home prices. At the same time, falling equity prices, if sustained, will hurt household wealth that has been a support to consumer spending and confidence. After tax hikes cut into take-home pay this year, consumers financed many purchases by saving less. The saving rate fell to 2.5% in April from a 2012 average of 4.1%. If markets remain volatile, households may become bigger savers again, and that strategy will slow spending. Smaller gains in home values and consumer spending will make the outlooks for economic growth and labor markets less robust. The Fed will have to keep those training wheels in place.

Below 200ma again.

Call that a chart Skinny, now this is the real thing. ps, nicked it from over the road LOL.

Most stuff still getting cheaper by the day.

Oh good I'll be able to afford that pole dancer soon then stan.,.

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