Tag Archive for 'government'

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Same sh!t different day

Published on July 28, 2011, 10:28 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: .

What else can you say? The Waiting is the hardest part!

So you think C-SPAN comes up with the highest overnight ratings? Everyone is waiting for some action.

The markets hung around breakeven for most of the day, reaching its highs around noon. After that it was a grind down into the close. You would think the Jobless claims numbers would have given the markets a bit more oomph.

On the last trading day of July we have GDP numbers and Chicago PMI….oh yeah, and everything about the debt-ceiling. Can’t wait until that sh!t’s all done!

Debt ping-pong

Published on July 25, 2011, 9:55 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: .

Millions of people have charged more than their credit limits. Besides the astronomical size of the U.S. credit card, I just don’t get why this is such a big deal. I’ve gone over the limit before and I’ve paid it off…eventually. Once you go over your limit, you can’t use your card any more. So in this case, wouldn’t that be a good thing? What I really hate is all this fear-mongering by the government and embellished by the media…or is that the government public relations department?

The markets opened with a big gap down and during the day we almost closed that gap. Unfortunately, the B&B show (Barack & Boehner) came on during the afternoon and the markets bled the rest of the way. Now that everyone is done bitching, maybe they can say “Let’s make a deal!” Should see it in the next couple of days.

So today was a day to do nothing….no volume at all. Let’s start the week on Tuesday and take it from there.

Not much today either

Published on July 6, 2011, 11:28 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

Another day of markets going nowhere…but on a bit higher volume. It’s been a narrow range week so far, only 14 points in ES, but futures are looking bullish this evening. Of course we have a long ways before the US open.

But we’re kicking off two days of employment data with ADP report and Jobless Claims on Thursday and then the biggie Non-farm Payroll and Unemployment report on Friday. So I’m looking for some volatility soon.

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.

Bobbing for AAPL’s

Published on April 20, 2011, 11:21 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Wow! Those were some blowout earnings reports…both from AAPL and QCOM. The tech sector should do well on Thursday, the last day of trading this week.

Thursday has the usual reports with Jobless Claims included, but also a boatload of earnings repports including GE HON PCX NUE NOK and several airlines. Wondering if we have some low volume in the afternoon as traders start the long weekend.

Oil, gold and silver are in takeoff mode this evening! And the U.S.Dollar, well it’s crap while the Euro also takes off …another big wow! It’s a long time until the European open and even longer for the US open, so all this will change. But trading overnight is where all the action is in futures :!:

Slippery Slope?

Published on April 19, 2011, 8:23 am in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

Ok, we’ve known about our debt problems for a long time. Today sure seemed like an overreaction and this Debt Market Reaction Raises Some Questions??

The panic sure brought up the volume, especially for a Monday and a holiday week! I picked up some USO puts and F calls to hold for a couple days. My bank/financial plays may be helped out by a great GS report this morning.

“Obama called on Americans to have more grandchildren. Probably so there’s more of them to pay off our debt.” — Jay Leno

Tax Time

Published on April 15, 2011, 8:13 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: .

Income Tax Day is usually bullish, but it has been delayed until Monday because of a ittle-known Washington, D.C., holiday that celebrates the freeing of slaves in the district. So will the bulls start on Friday or wait until Monday? The Dow has only been down 5 times on Tax Day since 1981.

***Update end-of-day….Well I guess it’s true….all indexes closed in the green!

Weekend Reading 4/9/11

Published on April 9, 2011, 7:32 am in reading. Closed Tags: , .

“We’re heading for a government shutdown. This is serious. Without the government who will fail to inspect our airplanes? Who will fail to secure our borders? Who will put us 14 trillion dollars in debt?” — Jay Leno

We’re off to see the wizard….. Deal to Cut $38 Billion Averts Shutdown.

Grab a piece of pie! The Budget Pie Illustrated. 38 billion sounds like a lot, but relative to the whole pie, it’s just crumbs!

Ingredients for the pie: Your Short Course On Why The US Is Screwed.

Kudos To Paul Ryan And The GOP For Acknowledging Our Budget Mess.

Gold, Silver And Oil Are All Skyrocketing And That Is Bad News For The U.S. Economy.

Bernanke sounds an alarm on clearing.

Looking for a job Is America Becoming The Land Of The Part-Time Job?

You can make a lot of money in “Stupid Town”.

Watch that computer you’re on! Mass ‘scareware’ attack hits 1.5M websites, still spreading.

The market is weird. Every time one guy sells, another one buys, and they both think they’re smart.

Here comes the big one…

Published on March 31, 2011, 10:14 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

So Jobless Claims were higher than last week’s number….BUT, they revised last week’s number higher, so this week’s number is lower!!? That’s government accounting for you!

Then, the not-so-good Factory Orders report came out, the markets popped! WTF? They did tame down and end with a narrow range day for all the indexes. And again, a very, very low volume day. Where have all the traders gone? Must be computer issues in the server room.

Can’t wait to see the shennanigans in Friday’s Non-Farm Payroll. Hope it’s more exciting than today’s snoozer :!:

Here we go again

Published on March 27, 2011, 9:46 pm in Charts and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Two weeks ago we were talking how low can we go, but this week we’re back to… can we go higher? After breaking down through key support levels, namely the 50 day moving averages, the indexes are back above and looking for more.

S&P 500 Mar 25
Of course we’ve had a pretty strong 8 day bounce and we may take a breather. We are closing out the frist quarter of the year and starting the second quarter and a new month. Friday we have another BLS report for employment which will tell us which way the markets will go. Oh, and the earnings season is about to start all over again.

And another thing… Have you seen this CNBC “Heat Map” that they keep touting. I just don’t understand. It is red or green, and sometimes black for unchanged. It’s not what I thought a heat map should be. I always think it should be some sort of gradation….like on FinViz.

I’ll close with a joke…about getting a job at GS:

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a Donkey from a farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the Donkey the next day.

The next day he drove up and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.’

Chuck replied, ‘Well, then just give me my money back.’

The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.’

Chuck said, ‘Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey.’

The farmer asked, ‘What ya gonna do with him?

Chuck said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’

The farmer said ‘You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!’

Chuck said, ‘Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.’

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, ‘What happened with that dead donkey?’

Chuck said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $998.’

The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’

Chuck said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.’

Chuck now works for Goldman Sachs.

Good luck and happy trading!