Tag Archive for 'FOMC'

A wimpy month close

Published on April 30, 2012, 10:25 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , .

Monday morning started off with not so great reports…Personal Income and Spending was a dud, as was Canada’s GDP, and Chicago PMI was soft, below expectations, but still expanding.

So here we are…May…have you started your Christmas shoppimg yet? :D

Acording to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, the first trading day in May has the Dow up 11 of the last 14 years. So history has us looking for an up day on Tuesday. We have a few reports in the morning…Motor Vehicle Sales, ISM Manufacturing Index and Construction Spending. Plus, many of the Feds are speaking on Tuesday. The big one, Non-Farm Payroll is Friday…previewed by the ADP on Wednesday. Let’s go for a rollercoaster ride!

Tuesday’s Gone with AAPL

Published on April 24, 2012, 8:03 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Tuesday’s Gone with AAPL. Many traders have been shorting AAPL into earnings…and the report was a blowout…crushing estimates by a good margin. AAPL closed down over $11 dollars at 4:00PM and then bang! Up $40!

For the last couple of weeks the markets have been following AAPL, as in as goes AAPL so goes the market. I think it’s a fairly good prediction that the markets will be up on Wednesday. Of course there is the Durable Goods report in the morning and then the FOMC announcement in the afternoon. Maybe we’ll just go crazy!

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Monday Blues

Published on April 23, 2012, 5:46 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Traders got bitch-slapped Monday morning as no-news was bad-news. Well we did confirm a recession in Spain, so traders bailed out of the market. The German DAX led the way this morning, but after the European close, U.S. markets recovered somewhat. The S&P (ES futures contract) closed down -12.25.

We have an FOMC meeting starting on Tuesday. But it won’t be until Wednesday that we hear what they are thinking. There’s New Home Sales on Tuesday. Besides the FOMC announcement on Wednesday there is also Durable Goods Report. And on Friday we hear about GDP.

Remember…As Keynes famously once said “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent”. Be careful out there.

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Must be OpEx

Published on March 13, 2012, 4:22 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Yes it is…keeps coming back like a bad penny! ;)

And what makes this one interesting, as if they aren’t all interesting? Well first is today’s FOMC meeting and then Thursday we have the release of the stress tests on the banks.

Monday was a blank day with the S&P at no change, a doji. But all the bulls let out their frustrations on Tuesday after a fairly upbeat FOMC report and a generally good mood on Wall Street with JPM saying they will increase their dividend. WTF? Wasn’t the law laid down that no bank could announce anything until after the numbers are released on Thursday? Again….WTF!

The Fed lies, Wall Street lies, everybody lies! How is the little guy supposed to trade this market? Oh, that’s right, we’re not!

Bad Day

Published on December 13, 2011, 6:39 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

I’d have to say the markets had a bad day! It looked very promising with the major indexes up by more than 1%. But traders sure didn’t like the FOMC announcement at 2:15PM. Indexes deteriorated as an initial reaction and continued down. There was a small pop going into the close, but basically a bad day.

So tomorrow we’ll be halfway thru this Opex week. With December OpEx week being up 22 of the last 27 years, there’s a lot of points to make up.

Words

Published on October 18, 2011, 8:48 am in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

There is going to be a lot of words thrown about this week. Besides the eco reports, PPI, CPI, Housing Starts and Philly Fed Survey, there’s a Fed governor speaking every day…sometimes twice a day. The markets will be listening with one ear towards the FOMC gobbledygook and the other ear aimed at Europe. And the markets will get squeezed in the middle!

Don’t forget, it’s OpEx week as well. What a recipe for volatility! 8)

FOMC…FU

Published on September 22, 2011, 8:20 am in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

That’s what traders are thinking….fu! Shifting from short term to longer term bonds and standing still on interest rates? That’s your way of working through a recession/depression?

Even better-than-expected Existing Home Sales couldn’t help. And the strong tech sector finally gave it up also. Looks like we may get some downside follow-through on Thursday. Oh my:!:

AAPL sauce

Published on August 24, 2011, 10:32 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Earlier this evening, news broke that Steve Jobs is stepping down as CEO of AAPL. It looks like he’ll stay on as chairman, but the stock sold off hard afterhours. It will be interesting to watch this over the next couple of days.

Indexes had a lacksidasical opening and chopped around breakeven until the last hour, when a push put them solidly in the plus column. Volume was less than impressive.

Gold bugs were squashed as margin calls went out on the biggest gold drop since 2008, sending the gold bugs scurrying for cash. Buyers of gold last week or even yesterday, are hurting today…bitch-slapped more like it!

Is it Friday yet? With only 2 days remaining until the highly anticipated Jackson Hole speech, it seems that investors have grown weary of waiting. Is everyone expecting a QE3 type speech?

Monday Monday

Published on August 22, 2011, 10:53 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be… It started so nice at the open, at the highs of the day, but it was all downhill after that. The indexes closed back at breakeven…or thereabouts!

Looks like all the market moving news will be coming from Asia or Europe…until Friday…when Ben Bernanke will give a speech from Ass Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Traders are expecting another QE launch, like last year. So we sit and wait.

Wow, gold $1900! Does it feel toppy yet? GS Blankfein hires a high-powered defense attorney…uh oh! Did you see GS dive near the end of day? Seems like all that matters is news and rumors. :cry:

“Obama said the housing market may not pick up again for another year or longer. On the bright side, President Obama now has nine people interested in his house.” — Conan O’Brien

Welcome back…

Published on August 9, 2011, 10:25 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

So is QE3 coming or not? Maybe not, but the “Bernanke put” is back! A song comes to mind… Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends. We regained two-thirds of what we lost yesterday, so that’s nice….but why? Stealth QE3 Is Upon Us, how Ben did it and what it means.

It was definitely a rollercoaster day as indexes moved in both directions all day long. It took about an hour to go from the low of the session to the high, closing near the highs…and the futures continued to go up after the cash close. Boy was that last half hour ever exciting!!

Volume was the highest in the last 3 days and the VIX returned about half what it gained yesterday. Some wild and crazy action for the last 2+ weeks…it’s getting frustrating. :!: