Tag Archive for 'BAC'

Hungover Market

Published on March 20, 2012, 1:58 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Are traders still hungover from green beer? Volume is low and volatility (VIX) is even lower.

The end of the 1st quarter is in sight, just 8 days away, and fund managers are finagling their quarter-end reports…but not too many of them yet. All the action so far this week has been AAPL and BAC, but that’s just because of news and rumors.

So the market keeps dragging its knuckles up hill with a few resting points and small retreats… exactly what it’s been doing since December. I’m trading for nickles and dimes here…making a few dimes and losing a few nickles. 8)

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Up day?

Published on September 6, 2011, 10:11 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Sure, the indexes closed in the red…but it actually was a pretty strong up day. After making new lows at the open, the indexes kept creeping up…cutting its morning losses by two-thirds! The world was coming to an end last night, but finished today feeling good about itself.

Banks/Financials continued their sell-off…and energy and transportations joined in. The day could have been a whole lot uglier than it was.

And futures are looking frisky this evening. Is it time for this bottomming process to finally complete? Let’s go for a run up!

What happened?

Published on August 25, 2011, 10:03 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

The BAC / Buffet news looked like the markets would take off….but no. We opened at the high of day and then went down for the rest of the day.

Big speech on Friday!

Crash continues

Published on August 10, 2011, 10:57 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

As has happened the last three times the markets have had a green day, the following day was a big downer…no follow through. Volume was a “meager” 4.8 million, a let down after 3 days of over 6 million contracts traded. TRIN though was at an extreme 5.13 … looking for a bounce on Thursday or we’re in real trouble.

Because of SocGen’s problems and the Eurozone going down the tubes, the entire financial sector was crap. Stocks, and associated call options, such as C BAC MS GS, all withered in the bear stampede.

VIX is still elevated and I’m sitting on my hands just watching 987 tick charts and playing in my demo accounts. Sure, the pressure is off and I do great, but playing the charts and watching what happens is good practice….and you don’t lose money!

“By the way, the ratings agency is Standard & Poor’s. Who’s going to listen to a company whose name translates to Average & Below Average?” — Jon Stewart

Unexpected?

Published on August 8, 2011, 8:48 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

I thought the bounce would start sometime by the close, but you can’t always get what you want! And the selling in the ES futures continued into the evening. ES has sunk below 1100 last time I looked.

I did nibble on some TBT calls at a time I thought they may have bottomed, but, no such luck. I’m still sitting in them, underwater. So you can say I had a bad day.

It was an incredible day….The VIX advanced 50%, and although I was looking to short the VIX, I sat on my hands. SPY down 7.5%, yes in one day. The Russell was down almost 9% and the “winner” today was the Dow, down “only” 5.5%.

Some sector ETFs really got bruised: FAS the 3X financial bull ETF was down 30%, so the financial XLF was down over 10%. But Bank of America, BAC was down 22%…ouch! Oil and technology weren’t pretty at all.

So is it time for Turnaround Tuesday? China has some announcements overnight and those European PIIGS are still a pain in the ass. And let’s not forget, it’s time for FOMC meeting and announcement. Gee, what are the chances of a rate hike on Tuesday? :roll:

AAPL-tini

Published on July 19, 2011, 11:08 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Appletinis all around! Woot, woot! Smash that glass against the markets…what a killer report AAPL came out with afterhours on Tuesday. Will today’s climb continue on Wednesday?

The markets ignored lousy reports from GS and BAC. The bulls wanted to run and nothing was going to stop them. They were fueled not only from IBM’s good report last night, but also very encouraging housing data this morning. And there’s more Home Sales news on Wednesday morning. Gold did sneak back under 1600…maybe a little farther down? And don’t forget silver.

Thinking it’s time for some slow grinding up…or maybe some down…or maybe just some consolidation. We are getting into the “meat” of the summer season. Got to get those vacations done before the kids have to get back to school. Everyday an adventure. That’s why we trade!

2 years of Greek tennis

Published on June 2, 2011, 9:35 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

I’m real tired of hearing about all of Greece’s debt problems…fixed, not fixed, restructured…rumors, news and reactions. Today was like a tennis game…back and forth…up and down. All the indexes hung around breakeven…red, green, up and down. Does the U.S. stock market really depend on the Greece economy? What ever happened to Portugal? PIGS.

My remaining TBT positions, Jan 33 calls, were very happy today, after several different positions got stopped out yesterday. Financials also were up today, although, like the indexes went up and down all day long.

Non-farm Payroll report on Friday will confirm or deny ADP’s Wednesday report….which started the ball rolling down. Either way, expect a knee-jerk in both directions before deciding on which way the markets want to end the week.

GO GOOG

Published on April 17, 2011, 10:01 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Well, earnings weren’t stellar for the first week, especially for GOOG….it got clipped for almost 10% on Friday! BAC stunk a bit also, stinking up the entire financial sector. We’ll see this week if there is any saving grace from C or WFC or GS. Besides a big financial reporting week, we’ll also hear from GE and F on Thursday, among a lot of other companies on Thursday, a really big reporting day.

Don’t forget this will be a holiday shortened week with the markets closed on Friday. Expect lighter than average volume, which may mean the markets move up!

Coming Next Week: More Earnings, Housing Data

Banks get bitch-slapped!

Published on April 13, 2011, 10:25 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

The premarket was looking pretty good…futures up overnight and JPM had a good report. But, historically JPM gaps up on earnings and sells off during the day. And although there was an initial gap up, all the banks/financials turned tail and moved down quickly, stinking up my positions. I’m still hanging in, but not as confident as I was yesterday. Still looking for BAC to beat on Friday.

Jobless Claims and PPI on Thursday before the bell…and then GOOG after the bell. Hope tomorrow is a better day.

“Remember, hope rhymes with dope.”

And they’re off….

Published on April 10, 2011, 9:42 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

By the end of Friday I had cashed out many of my holdings. I’m about 20% invested, 1:1 long vs short, and 80% cash. Just couldn’t tell what this market wanted or was going to do. Commodities were floating to the sky, budget finger-pointing and low volume made me uneasy. The Dow was up slightly while the other major indices were down slightly last week. And it looks like the Russell/TF is leading the way down…just like it led the way up.

Even though we have some sort of budget compromise, I’m not sure it’s any better. It only gets us all the way until next Thursday, averting this weekend’s shutdown. So on Friday, not only do options expire, but maybe the government as well! :mrgreen:

The big news this week will be earnings…with AA kicking off the festivities after the close on Monday. JPM comes out on Wednesday and GOOG on Thursday. Option Expiration Friday has BAC SCHW and MAT.

Now I’m going back to melting down all my silver disco chains and throwing in a few forks and knives. Good luck and happy trading :!: