Tag Archive for 'S&P'

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Up, down and back to even

Published on August 1, 2011, 10:30 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

The gap up was expected of course, but the reversal after only 15 minutes was a surprise. I unloaded half my long positions at, as it turns out, the high of the day. My thought was to hang on for a continued up move after a pullback. But, the pullback never stopped!

The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq broke through Friday’s low to notch new lows. But, the Russell did not make a new low…although it did close below its 200MA. The Dow tested its 200MA but bounced back up. The S&P broke through its 200 but managed to recover and close above…. A wide range day on all indexes. You would think with all that volatility the VIX would have gone up. Instead the VIX moved down. With the VIX down and the RUT not making new lows, there is some hope for the bulls.

The House passed the latest version of the debt-ceiling crisis bill. Now onto the Senate. It traders hated the announcement of a deal, just what will they do once it’s approved? Well, futures are near the low of the overnight session as I’m writing. Oh my!

A little bit of economic reports every day this week, but Friday brings the monthly aggravation of the employment situation…which can’t be too good. And of course, the never-ending debt-crisis will continue to wreak havoc. Can’t wait til it’s over so we can go back and worry about Europe! ;-)

Goldfinger!

Published on July 18, 2011, 11:19 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Gold finally makes it over $1600 mark…now to see if it continues up from here. The markets went in the other direction with gusto. The NYSE Advance/Decline volume was over -10:1 for the bears. The S&P and the Dow, did recover half of its morning losses by the end of the day. The Nasdaq looked strong in the afternoon…maybe in anticipation of IBM earnings…but there was no stopping AAPL! Wow if really took off.

Still a very crazy market…up and down. Remember,

Better to be in cash wishing you were in the market than to be in the market wishing you were in cash!

Be careful out there.

Helluva week!

Published on July 4, 2011, 10:16 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: .

That was one bullish week! Just look at the chart of the S&P….each day opened near their lows and closed near their highs.S&P July 4th
This week has the big employment reports on Friday and earnings reports start up again next week. Not expecting any increases in volume until after Labor Day.

What was that?

Published on June 13, 2011, 9:16 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Was that really an “up” day? The Dow and S&P a little green and the Russell and Naz a little red. I was like a deer in headlights… I couldn’t figure out if we were going to bounce or swirl the bowl for a cleaning flush! As it turns out, neither!

The markets were pumped in the morning with all kinds of M&A activity, but it fizzled soon after the open. Advance/Decline issues and volume were all negative, but only slightly. It really was a mixed day.

Lots of Chinese economic news coming out Monday night….CPI, PPI, Retail Sales among others. We should see some activity in the overnight. Be careful out there!

Amazing

Published on June 1, 2011, 8:44 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

After having one of the best days this year yesterday, I had the worst today! Amazing! I took profits on many positions yesterday. Sure I was expecting a pullback today, but not a crash! Just like tomorrow I expect a bounce, but not a 30 point bounce in the S&P….but you never know.

I can’t remember ever seeing the TRIN close this high…4.22. A close above 2 results in a bounce the next day 9 times out of ten. If no bounce, the market is in trouble.

Boy, the financials really got a bitch-slap today. Looks at those candles on XLF FAS UYG and IAI….ugly! And speaking of ugly, look at TBT. I got stopped out of many of my positions but will live to fight another day.

A lot more jobs data coming the next 2 days. Will it be a rollercoaster or just straight down?

Are we done yet?

Published on May 17, 2011, 10:02 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

Well, the markets continued their move down today. The eco reports weren’t that great along with some lousy earnings reports. But, there’s always a but, buyers returned in the afternoon, whith the markets closing well of their lows. The Nasdaq Composite actually closed in the green and the SPX almost made it.

And now the futures are also showing some perkiness…matching early returns in the Asian markets!

I think I’ll grab a few bucks from oil and S&P futures before going to bed. Happy trading!

Anybody home?

Published on April 26, 2011, 9:19 pm in Opinions. Closed Tags: , .

Well, volume was 2 times yesterday’s volume, but that still is not saying much. Traders still on Easter vacation?

S&P at new highs…follow through or do we bang our heads up here and tumble down?

History to be made tomorrow as the FOMC rate announcement will be followed with a Q&A with Ben Bernanke in the spotlight. Could be a scary moment :twisted:

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 :!:

Another snoozer

Published on April 4, 2011, 9:00 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Well, if you thought last Monday was low volume, today has you beat on even lower volume. At least most of the indexes closed in the green….barely. The S&P was up a wopping 46 cents.

Overbought continues to define the market, and oil continues to move up, and gold, and silver. They’re keeping a lid on this market. I’m still thinking a pullback will be beneficial for this bull…something a little lower than today’s little dip.

Not much economic data this week to rile the markets…nor any big earnings reports…all calm until the season kicks off with AA next Monday.

But the semi’s sure got a goose after hours today when TXN said they’d buy NSM. Should look good tomorrow as other techs try to figure out who to buy.

Still got a little long and a little short in equities. Spent half the day just scalping the TF for some pocket change and the rest trying to program an alert into one of my Tradestation indicators. Programming can be so frustrating! 8O

“President Obama spoke about our role in Libya. He’s not sure when the war will end, what happens when we win, or how much it will cost, but other than that it was quite informative.” — Jay Leno

3..2..1..

Published on April 4, 2011, 8:38 am in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Is it time for takeoff? News, good or bad, the markets go up. Bullish sentiment is running high. Energy and food prices are moving up. Runaway inflation is pending….so….buy, buy, buy?

I am net long, with a few short hedges, but still not confident enough to go all-in…..50% cash, 35% long and 15% short.

According to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, April is the best month for the Dow, 3rd best for the S&P and 4th best for the Nasdaq. That’s a lot of ammo for the bulls.

I would like to see a pullback before launching just to get out of shorts and load up on a few more longs. But, as we know, the market rarely does what you want it to do. Good luck and happy trading!

“It’s not being wrong that kills you, it’s staying wrong that kills you.”