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

next week we get frosty pants so get yr longjohns out......

jimmy - the george soros thing has been around for a while, and he's certainly not one to ignore

perhaps of more immediate interest ....
the chinese have abandoned the circuit-breaker, which is actually good news
thus, there will be a collapse on the market as some positions are forcibly liquidated, but then that will hopefully have lanced the boil

so where does that leave DOW tonight?
i don't know
it has already dropped 375 points - it was down over 400 at start of uk biz today - and the question is whether or not there is a further significant amount to follow

fingers crossed that there'll be at least a sharp and sustained "relief rally" today

Not convinced myself, lets get this week over.

at least slightly less hard to call than the collapses seen in the last week

How long will this rally last ? i didn't have the guts to go long last night with all the news around , however of the stocks picked up yesterday i managed to sell GKN for a 5% profit this morning .

both dow and ftse are having a spot of bother with "round number" resistance
we shall just have to wait and see

Not sure this is a bounce maybe the DOW will tell us later ,not going long on anything here at the moment ..

made a turn on ftse but now out of that
still all twitchy, presumably ahead of NFP though i don't think those will have much effect
iran talking down the crude price to put the squeeze on saudi is also far from helpful

Dow futures tracking back from 200+
2517

DOW seems to like the non farm payrolls

292k vs 290k predicted
amazed market hasn't caught fright at the thought there may be more rate rises on the fairly near horizon

both dow and ftse remain nervous of those "round numbers"
let's hope when wall street opens we'll get some further zip

I didn't realise they predicted such a high number (290k) CNBC were talking 200k and could be 150k. Seasonal factors in play?
2517

Well the bad news used to be the good news, could the good news now become the bad news for the market? Not betting on it, but I'm thinking the threat of increased rate rises will end in tears.

cynic alluded to that earlier Chris, I expect that will be the case, although banks would welcome any increase.
2517

it's a bit rock and hard place for the amis
they may want or even need to raise rates in a few months time, but with the rest of the world economies struggling somewhat, they will have problems exporting

also, indebted 3rd-world countries will almost certainly be borrowing in U$, so that will be a double whammy for them

Good point.

george - i think it's a typo of mine; i think 200k was indeed the estimate

anyway, DOW all over the place, but with nimble fingers there's some dosh to be made
i anticipate jimmy buying a private jet with his proceeds ..... perhaps he can then offer to fly MrT to argentina and fred to north korea, all for free of course

Free?.. can I come.