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

That just wiped out my days profits, a measly 87 up today I'm left with..... Any ideas what caused that??...

Only thing i can find...

A CNBC commentator noted that a bailout plan for bond insurer Ambac (ABK 10.01, +0.78) could be announced as early as Monday or Tuesday next week. The report has given way to refreshed strength in regional banks (+1.0%) and multi-line insurance (+1.0%).DJ30 +7.65 NASDAQ -7.51 SP500 +1.26 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1753/1122/1.93 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1632/1473/+1.10 bln

undeservedly Lucky Alphonse here got very lucky and out of jail, clawing back about 60% of losses suffered earlier in the evening, but scary nevertheless

missus cant believe, i've blown 3 grand this week, that's her tit job down the swannie, im in the spare room....

*damn*

Reminiscent of the Liverpool Intermilan game this week. One man sent off half way through and then 2 goals in the last 5 minutes

surely only one tit's worth .... she can have one done now and the other later.

on a more serious note, though i am sorry Ted and other shorters ended up out of pocket, it means that Monday should start well ...... however, though Dow continues to swing violently, it is actually within quite a narrow band of 400 points, as it has been for a while now, and still there is no decisive break in either direction, though south looked odds on until the end yesterday

Unlucky Ted, I went out with a boob job once, looked fantastic but felt like squeezing up against a couple of books!

hats off to Big Ted, at 12 years old with a missus who wants a boob job, things have changed since I was 12.

as to the markets, it's amazing how dow shot up on just a rumour of bail out for Ambac, it wasn't ready to fall on a day with not much news. On the FTSE next week, the only position I will look to take will be a short, at 6050 with long stops and try and hold with following stops.

Thursday will be important, with Cattles, RBS, BAT, Avis and Aviva reporting Finals. And another 30 companies also reporting.

Hmmmm, i do like reading a good book...! I was only joking about losing the three grand, just looked behind the settee and there it was... lol
I wasn't short yesterday, in fact i was 6' 4"...
was tempted to short very tempted when it was well below 12200, have opened one at the death, possibly prematurely, but cant believe that the gain will be maintained... Missus did threaten if i dont make enough soon for BOTH boobs she's leaving me for Cynic... :) lol

great thread this.

I was unable to participate today - which was just as well as I would have got it totally wrong going short on the Dow.

I am off for 3 weeks hols to sunnier climes - so no open positions - keep up the good work guys

Just left me short running Friday, disapointing result as was close to going long. Never mind, will bring me stop loss in to 12650 I think also. Onwards and downwards so to speak, expecting to see alot of people short on Monday.

Financial Times today seem to be warning about the vast gap that has emerged and usually not sustained for long supposedly between bond prices which are low and equities which are relatively high. Either bond prices need to rise or... Also had a read of James Farleigh's book of dragon's den fame who mentions Stagflation in the 70's and concludes that the only way out is to bite the bullet raise interest rates and endure a recession, though may be not in a US election year!

Sorry Richard Farleigh the Australian dragon!

Falco, have the same book... have to say though, times have changed and both the Fed and BoE are much better at stimulating economies at right time than years ago, having said that i do think our current problems stem from 3 years ago when housing started slowing, the rate was 4.75 and instead of leaving it alone, the BoE dropped it again, causing another massive rise in house prices, i have always maintained, if they left it we could have gone along nicely prob with 5% as a steady growth rate...

Anyone rate Mike Swanson...? I have listened (or rather read) his views, particularily on goldand he seems to be all about... well his recent news letter is suggesting the next big move to be up, big time... hang on, will get link, its worth reading even if you dont agree...

Ah, here it is...

http://www.wallstreetwindow.com/content/node/5947

just to add to my post 1267 ....

Dow finally closed a smidge below 12400 with FTSE indicating to open around 5950 on Monday.

I need my "cheat sheet" to check targets for FTSE, but its movement will almost inevitably mirror that of Dow ..... so (spitfire) tread gingerly if shorting FTSE prior to Dow opening (or even closing) on Monday.

Dow targets remain in the spectrum of 12250 (arguably 12000) and 12650 before real direction can be established.
Nevertheless, there will almost certainly be plenty of volatility and thus opportunity in the meantime .... getting the timing and rhythm correct will be everything as always!

All I love this thread as you seem to be spot on most of time and give me a dose of reality before committing with both feet. Im sure there is a big move somewhere soon in these indices but they still seem to be stuck in a range. An oil short might be a better play, although not on Friday when 9 inches of snow fell in NY. Fortunately was watching it when it reversed and tooks the profit on a covered long but still think the trend is down sort term.

Just checked ftse chart, and it seems to be in a small bull channel from 11th Feb, with top line at 6045 and bottom line 5900. So if it can break 6045 it may have chance of gaining strength, but a failure to reach this and a drop to below 6000 again could be a good entrance. This has played out on 16,17,18th Jan and 5,19,21th Feb, with no exceptions.

But whichever way it goes, I will go with the trend, even though I'm more comfortable with a short in these markets, I would certainly go long if signals were all in place. It seems that the dow want's to go higher, as seen on Friday with that late rally on a rumour. So ftse could be stronger Monday Tuesday on the back of a higher dow, but Wednesday onwards newsflow and result will kick in.

Good luck to all in coming week.