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

DFBPBJ, thankyou, that would explain it and I now know I'm not losing my marbles, well not yet anyway..

They are now 4 hrs behind us, as apose to 5 normally, so yes, closed at 8.00 our time...

Last comment before the hols...Unless im missing something fundamental if these speculators don't liquidate today on Brent Crude they will have to take delivery of the black stuff on the April contract. Can't believe they want to do that so would expect a retreat. Even if Oil is defying gravity and supply and demand fundamentals

Thanks Big Ted, abit of a worry though being caught, placed a short on Wall St last night without stop loss and couldn't change.... Looks good for today anyway going by the falls we've seen so far on other markets.

Dow did very well to finish in positive territory, even if a fair bit below its peak ...... FTSE indications at 20:00 were +44, so entrails look promising for the morning

Still difficult to call direction, Dow looks to be shrugging off downward pressure and may now be considered to have put in a double bottom...

and much of the good work undone by further jitters in F/E overnight

USA CPI figures 12.30, should give next direction to markets...

Futures currently -90 which may give an indication of what the U.S. is expecting.

For anyone interested in Brazil quite an interesting feature in Guardian today.

US figures clearly not nearly as bad as feared as FTSE and Dow indications have rocketed ...... CNN does not have the news yet



but IG does!!

U.S. stock index futures turned higher on Friday after a government report showed consumer prices were unchanged in February, boosting chances for a big interest rate cut next week.
S&P 500 futures jumped 10.70 points, above fair value, a pricing evaluation that accounts for interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.
Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 67 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 18.00 points.

Should prolong weakness in the dollar, plenty of time yet before shorting gbpusd... as our own next rate cut could be a few months away...

Falling through the floor!

And back up again! More volatile than a tasmanian devil with a hangover

Stocks turn sharply lower
Markets tumble after initial gains as investors fret about Bear Stearns funding.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks turned sharply lower after Friday's open as investors worried about Bear Stearns' need for funding help from JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 2.3%. The Nasdaq composite index gained 2.4%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down more than 2%. Bear Stearns stocks lost more than 40%.

Funny, something screams at me to short the Dow on every sharp rise, as the bad news just doesn't stop coming... wish i had the courage of my convictions...

I think that we will all be paying : in small bottles of crude oil or miniature gold coins at the supermarkets soon !

The fact that Carysle group in Guernsey was wound up indicates to me that it will be followed by more that get their funding pulled from under them, and so spreads the contagion!

Bear Sterns bailed out... Exactly what I'm doing 11844 short positions on Wall St closed....

well done .... just about picked the very bottom (yet again) ..... excellent touch you have at the moment, which i confess i have lost