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

Bugger!

17077.5 closed at 17016

i opened a small dow short at 17095 but closed too early at 17040 ..... never mind; at least it was a little bit of dosh in the bank

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may be worth reversing that if it drops a tad more

17000 looking at short term support..

You not yet comfortable with bigger positions Cynic off these record highs or are you still carrying DOW unrealised losses... I've no index bets at the moment, took my losses to move on.

take my chance at 17018 ...... too slow when it dipped 10 points lower

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but limited out at 17070 ..... thank you says the bank manager

ARM might be worth watching this morning.

Short FTSE @6,764.9

FTSE 6754.3 gone short

IMT currently up 2 points despite going XD @38.80p today - typical on the one week that I wasn't short overnight.

me short s&p 1983, afforded tight sense stop.

6,764.9

Just closed @6,737.3 +27.6.

i had a small dow short which i closed first thing this morning as it seemed to be going nowhere - but of course it subsequently did!

still have a small ftse short running from 6773 - not yet decided what to do with that

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banked the profit at 6741

Short again @6,747.7.

Closed half @6,716.5 +21.2

on edit - make that 31.2!

1967.6 out., thanks.

Leaving the rest to see how this air crash pans out.

markets are more unpredictable and skittish than usual ..... why on earth the markets should react because of a malaysian airliner crash in ukraine, heaven knows ......currently no index positions

Because it looks as if it may have been shot down.