Wow, two back-to-back trend days, yesterday’s up…today’s down. As yesterday was pretty busy for me, today was more of a sleeper. Maybe because I don’t get that excited about trading in down markets. Oh I traded today, but not as actively as the day before.
I traded stocks today because they are not as active as futures…so I made a couple of choices in the late morning and checked back in near the close. Yes I watched in-between, but I cleaned my office too!
My biggest winner was STEM for 15% and another stemcell company GERN for 8%. I closed them both, but I’m thinking there is more upside and will re-enter if the opportunity arises….I just dislike keeping anything overnight. I also played the explosive gold market using UXG coming away with 12%.
Yes, I know, they weren’t all winners. PANL popped in the morning but meandered down after the first hour. I closed with a 2% loss. I was thinking the bulls would come out to play near the end of the day, but they were all out getting their horns sharpened for next week 
AMZN had a good earnings report after hours, and we have some big ones tomorrow morning: XOM and PG. Let’s hope they can spin a better day for us. Happy Trading 
What a day! A full day of trading….banks did well….the futures did well. Volume perked up as well. There was a lot of trading going on, and I am tired 
What we were hoping for last night came to fruition…with a vengeance. It got a little wild at the FOMC announcement, but it always does. I stop trading about 20 minutes before and resume about 20 minutes after. It’s still crazy, but I avoid whiplash.
Two more days like today and January may still close in the green…now that would be somethin’!
The good news? got my rally…..bad news? on decreasing volume. But maybe tomorrow will be the day of increasing volume on a green day
The banks had a great day and will probably have an even greater day on Wednesday sfter talk of the “bad bank” came out. UYG and XLF popped after hours and SKF took a tumble.
This evening the futures are shaping up for a gap open and a run to the upside! As I write, ES, the S&P500 futures are up 17 points and YM, the DJ30 futures are up 130. Asian markets are neutral with a bullish bias, but nothing to get excited about…yet.
I didn’t jump on any of the stocks I had scanned last night…nothing really moved. So I stuck with the futures. Although they gyrated most of the day, I had 2 out of 3 that were winners…ending up for about 8 and a half points.
Good luck tomorrow…looks like it could be real fun 
A strong up day today, but afterhours, the futures are doing even better. But can it continue into tomorrow?
Published on
January 26, 2009,
10:49 pm in
Daily, Tools and Trading.
Tags: BHP, FCX, FEED, FMCN, GNW, LVLT, RFMD, volume, VRNM, ZGEN.
It was a green day, but boring. Volume was down while the indexes meandered up…then meandered down. I didn’t get to trade today because I was away from the screens, but it doesn’t look like a missed much.
On the other hand, futures this evening are moving up…rather aggressively I might add. Both the Nikkei and Australian markets are up. If this action can hold overnight, we may be in for a very green Tuesday.
Commodities and commodity-like stocks were good today…. FCX, BHP, gold and oil. Banks, like the market, had a good morning and a lousy afternoon.
Got some scans working in Tradestation, so I’m questioning my need for TCnet now. Here’s some stocks coming up: VRNM, RFMD, FEED, GNW, ZGEN, FMCN, LVLT. I guess I’ll wait until tomorrow to judge the scans.
Futures action looks good enough to trade. Maybe I’ll see if I can get my daily quota $’s tonight. By the way, if you need a futures broker with low rates and margins, try Infinity Futures. You can get a demo account here. I have no financial interests in recommending them. I just use them to trade.
Good luck tomorrow 
Nice comeback off the lows on Friday, but after all is said and done, the market was flat on Friday and down a bit for the week….even the VIX didn’t move much. The Dow was the only major index to end in the red, weighted down by GE. Except for the Tuesday puke, the rest of the week wasn’t so bad.
The S&P500 is sitting below the October lows and above the November lows. The 800 area has been strong support lately, so if we can stay above that and buck some of the negative news, we may be able to put in an upside reversal. Then we still have a chance of at least making a rally in a bear market…if we haven’t bottomed and started a new bull. A test of the November lows is still a distinct possibility.
Monday we have reports from MCD, AXP, AMGN among others. It will be another very busy week for earnings reports, as we are in the thick of the earnings season right now…and we have a full 5-day week….last week we only had four days. There will also be more economic data this week, including a 2-day FOMC meeting.
I’m looking (or is that hoping) for an up week. Unfortunately, we can’t have an up month…not that we can’t, it’s just a hundred points is a lot to make up in the S&P. And they say how goes January, so goes the year. Oh well, those old-time axioms are meant to be disproved
Well….MSFT was the yang to IBM’s ying! IBM lifted the market yesterday, MSFT sunk it today….along with the jobless report and housing starts. Although the markets closed lower today, they still made a nice recovery from the lows. For a while it almost looked like they would go green…but no.
The VIX has been pretty wild this week, with a wide range each day. Volume has been ratcheting up since the beginning of the year, which to me shows buying pressure….so trading has been interesting. I didn’t complete one trade today, while I had several yesterday. That’s okay, cash is a position also
GOOG had a fairly nice report after the close, but financials acted crazy again. Futures are meandering in the overnight session and Asian markets are on the downside. So what’s gonna happen tomorrow? Hell if I know 
Well the dip happened in the 2nd hour instead of the first, but the reversal did take place and lasted the rest of the day. The banks went up all day and continued to do so after-hours. Maybe it’s time for that Obama rally?
I got out of UYG and XLF after hours for a good gain. I need to get into FAS, the 3X financial ETF if financials continue the move.
AAPL had a good report and really busted out after-hours…and futures are still in the green, continuing the uptrend.
I’m going to look for a continuing move up in the S&P500, at least up to 850. I’ll evaluate at that level to see if it may be time to short a pullback. Time for some chart scanning. Happy trading
Welcome to the real world Mr. President. …such warm greetings from Wall Street It’s not your fault, I know, it’s never just one person’s fault. But you could help tomorrow….just sign an Executive Order reinstating the uptick rule and you will recover quickly.
Yes the banks sucked today! The European Banks were down 50 to 60%, but the good ol’ US banks were down 15, 20, 25, 30, and yes, even 43% for PNC.
With the help of IBM’s good report, the Q’s had a post-market pop along with IBM. Futures are in the green this evening, but I expect some momentum down in the morning with a reversal after the first hour or two….unless we totally breakdown…arrrgh!
So if the bounce does show up, we’ll see it in XLF and UYG because the financials will need to bounce as well. XLK should bounce with IBM’s good report, along with the other techs. So, welcome Mr. President…since you’re talking hope, I hope you can help
Published on
January 19, 2009,
10:40 pm in
Tidbits and Trading.
Tags: AAPL, AMD, EBAY, ES, futures, GOOG, IBM, ISRG, JNJ, SP500.
In a week with slim economic data and all media preoccupied with the most expensive inauguration ever, almost 160 of the S&P 500 will be reporting earnings And there are a few notables in the mix: JNJ and IBM on Tuesday; several airlines and EBAY on Wednesday; Thursday, the big day, has AMD, AAPL, GOOG, ISRG, among others. We know the earnings will be bad, it’s what they say about the future that will make or break each day.
Sunday night the futures were doing real well, at least the ES was, but news about European banks pretty much sunk the futures by the time markets closed at 11:30AM Monday morning…..and they are looking weak this evening. Asian markets are also down.
Tuesday all eyes will be on Washington…..let’s hope the new president makes a rousing speech. We should see how good it is by 12:30PM. Happy New President everyone
Published on
January 17, 2009,
11:20 pm in
Tools, Trading and Weekly.
Tags: FAS, FAZ, QID, QLD, SKF, SSO, Tools, TWM, UWM, UYG.
Thursday and Friday were both nice green days, but the week still ended down in the red. It will be interesting if “inaugural exuberance” pulls us up for the next week
The first 2 weeks of the new year have been downers, but I’m thinking the markets need some relief before continuing their trek down. Although the S&P500 came close to the December lows, it never broke through and this 840 – 850 area is looking like support…much like the 940 – 950 area looking like resistance. So I’m thinking 100 points up and down for a while. We’ll see.
SInce the short and ultra-short ETFs ( QID, SKF, TWM) have been good the first couple of weeks, I’m thinking the long and ultra-longs should work out here for a bit (QLD, UYG, SSO, UWM)…. and don’t forget those new 3X ETFs like FAS / FAZ.
I’m spending the weekend experimenting with my charts and scans in TradeStation and converting some of my TCnet scans to TS to learn EasyLanguage. Of course, my early day experiments are more fruitful than my late day ones…hiccup….pardon me 
Well, it is OpEx Friday….and the ride should be a little bumpy….but futures are showing a follow-thru to yesterday afternoon’s action.
