Tag Archive for 'C'

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Merger Monday!

Published on March 21, 2011, 9:29 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Even though Japan is still a disaster area and the Mideast is still in turmoil, merger mania took centerstage today….T acquires T-Mobile and SCHW goes for OPXS, 2 pretty big mergers.

Even though Japan is still a disaster area and the Mideast is still in turmoil, merger mania took centerstage today….T acquires T-Mobile and SCHW goes for OPXS, 2 pretty big mergers.

Markets closed off the highs but did keep most of the morning move up. Cashed out on IWM and QQQQ calls, and will now wait and see what happens. I do have some calls in C and F….and looking to get some TBT.

Looking for a down move going into Friday’s GDP report, but looking at that as an opportunity to load up on long positions.

So far this evening, futures are moving down but would like to see a gap up in the morning. We’ll see how the rest of the world sees our move on Monday. Good luck and happy trading.

Beware the Ides of March

Published on March 15, 2011, 8:39 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Caeser was told many years ago to “Beware the Ides of March!” I believe many traders woke up with a knife in their backs….but buying was the thing to do. I bought calls in IWM, C, and F which got green real fast.

Futures are looking good so far. Nikkei should pop today after that over-reaction last night….and others should follow.

Looking for a gap up on Wednesday, but not too sure it will hold. May cash out the longs and just watch to see what happens. Not looking to short, but may wait for a better entry on longs.

As noted…

Published on March 3, 2011, 9:14 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Today’s up volume did not compare to Tuesday’s down volume….about 2/3rds…so bears are still on the prowl. I’m looking, like many traders, to test the recent highs and then look for more correction moves.

So I did start to accumulate some QQQ puts and SDS calls, a little bit of TBT….mostly to protect some longs in a few regional banks like HCBK and ZION, plus some C and F.

And if you’re an F holder waiting for this correction to be over, Ford Accounting Move May Add $13B to Profit, Expert Says. Sounds like good news!

We’ve got two weeks until March expiration. Next week will begin the rollover in futures contracts from March to June, or ‘H’ to ‘M’…. So volatility should continue to pick up.

The TRIN indicator worked its magic today as it predicted this bounce today. Isn’t it great when an indicator does what it said it should do? 8O

“A federal watchdog agency says that overlapping and duplicate programs waste billions of dollars each year. Congress is taking this study so seriously that they’re ordering a second study to look into it.”
– Jay Leno

Is it time to buy?

Published on February 23, 2011, 10:41 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Indexes had their biggest two day drop since last summer….which puts us in official correction territory, small but still a correction. I took profits on the majority of my remaining short positions and added a few long positions: C QQQQ and F, and those may be gone by the open on Thursday.

Jobless claims, Durable goods and New Home sales, along with Gas and Oil Inventories should make for an eventful morning. There’s also a lot of Treasuries on sale tomorrow as well. The volatility makes for a good short-term traders market. :)

You never need to chase a trade. The market has plenty of opportunities. The money runs out before the opportunities do. –John Saleeby

Weak Day

Published on December 7, 2010, 9:07 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

October Consumer Credit report came out at 3PM this afternoon, just after the Prez finished talking. Credit was up +$3.4 bln vs -$2.5 bln Briefing.com consensus. September revised to +$1.2 bln from +2.1 billion. So we are now hocking ourselves to the gills for one last nice Christmas? Or are we now making everyday living expenses on credit cards?

Volume was higher today, but 60% of that volume came from C. The government was unloading its stock. The volume on S&P futures and SPY was pretty close to normal….whatever that is.

It’s starting to feel like the markets are getting tired. Sure we made new highs today, but not very convincinglyand for not very long. We retreated as soon as news came out about looking deeper into inside trading and the credit info. But even before that the indexes were oversold and have been up for 4 of the past 5 days. We will get a pullback soon….the question is how much of a pullback!

I went deeper underwater today on all my short positions, but I just couldn’t make myself cover those positions. But, by the end of the day, those positions were making their way up and began breathing again. I’m still hanging in and still thinking a pullback is on its way…..famous last words! 8O

Wow!

Published on November 4, 2010, 9:31 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

What a great day for trading….and a solid day for all the indexes. I really wasn’t expecting it. The norm is for the markets to do the opposite of what they do on FOMC day. Since they were up yesterday, I thought we would go down today. But no. The rest of the world was up so the US put the exclamation mark on Thursday’s market!

Although the Jobs Claims report wasn’t that great, the market quickly brushed it off. New 52-week highs exploded on decent volume.

I grabbed profits from XLF, C, and UNG, and still holding positions in TBT, C, UNG, and DRYS. I also started positions in QID and ZSL.

Looking for Non-Farm Payroll report to be…..well, it doesn’t really matter. If it’s strong, that might put a damper on QE2, If it’s weak, then the market may be weak. So I’m looking for a bit of downside no matter what the report says.

Then after the morning report, also look out for Pending Home Sales at 10AM and Consumer Credit at 3PM. The market has been growing each day with more excitement. So let’s see if it goes out with a bang!

Chop chop chop

Published on October 28, 2010, 10:02 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

We’ve had six days of nothing…decent ranges during the day but always closing near breakeven…some indexes green some red. Looks like traders are waiting for an election result and QE2 announcement….or maybe just for the GDP report Friday morning.

My biggest position is cash, about 85% and then 15% long in financials via C and XLF. Futures are a bit red this evening as news from Japan was not so good. Let’s hope Europe has better news….but I’m not going to wait until 3 in the morning to find out. What will be will be!

A bullish down day?

Published on October 27, 2010, 10:52 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

All the indexes except for the Nasdaq closed in the red, but way up off the lows. No matter what the bears throw at this market, the bulls keep fighting. But is it a futile exercise?

It still feels like a buy the rumor, sell the news…the news being both next week’s election and QE2 announcement.

On the other hand, the banks and semiconductors were strong in a week market today. I picked up some call options in both C and XLF out to next year, both January and March.

It’s all a guess until this market takes a stand and tells us something :!:

GOOG

Published on October 14, 2010, 10:03 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

All the action today was after the market closed when GOOG came out with a blowout earnings report. GOOG popped $50 and brought up all the index futures and the Q’s. So, how will the market react overnight and tomorrow, options expiration Friday?

After the indexes dumped most of the day, it was another bull stampede in the last hour…maybe in anticipation of those GOOG earnings. Just 2 stocks, C and BAC, comprised almost a quarter of the total market volume….which was back up to average, or as it is now known as a big volume day! :D

Expect a few shennanigans on opex. Futures at this time of the evening are alreadya bit under the weather…but we still have 12 hours before the US markets open. Speaking of US, maybe someone will decide to support the US dollar. Boy, is it ever stuck in the mud…but low dollar means high stocks and gold and oil and just about everything. So don’t be surprised when all those foreign imports start costing more.

I’ll leave on a light note from David Letterman:

“Bo, the White House dog, turns 2 years old today. Do you know the difference between Bo and the economy? Obama has fixed the dog.”

Heehee!

Hump Day

Published on October 13, 2010, 9:32 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

The sun rose this morning … INTC did what it always does…drop after earnings. AAPL held on to 300 barely, and I added to my short positions via SDS QID and VXX … so it was a slow day. I also took profits on C calls and DRYS calls I’ve been holding for months.

So why did the markets go up today? INTC had a good report…but INTC didn’t go up. JPM had a good report…but JPM did not go up. I guess it must be AAPL…as goes AAPL so goes the market? I did see a report today that AAPL’s weighting is two-thirds of the QQQQ. The markets were cut in half from the highs today…so does that mean something? I’m not sure, but I am now net short and will continue to take profits in the longs that I have remaining…if they show themselves.

Now that AAPL hit 300 I guess all the people on CNBC will be pumping $400 for a while. Of course it looks like it went down to $298 after hours. Speaking of which, the US Dollar continues to tank and Index futures are moving up this evening. Gold continues its trek to $1400 and the grains are moving up also.

I’m starting to feel queasy about this market….irrational exhuberence comes to mind. If all these companies are doing so well, why is the economy still in the gutter? There’s a correction coming, I just don’t know if it’s sooner or later.