It was an awesome hockey game today, although I was rooting for the other team 
but overall it was a good 2 weeks. Both US curling teams sucked, but the US walked away with the most medals ever in a Winter Olympics. I think the Canadians were gracious hosts. Thanks.
Besides watching the Olympics all weekend….with my computer nearby, I ran across some interesting reading:
California is a greater risk than Greece, warns JP Morgan chief
Short Selling Restrictions “A Great Indicator of Imminent Market Crashes”
Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
Banks Out of the Woods? Maybe Not
And What the $%@&* is this? Okay, so she used to be CNBC’s eye-candy, that moniker being taken over by youngsters, but is she now an investor analyst? Well, at least it’s free….Maria Bartiromo’s Investor Brief
…and we end the week on a dull day. Dojis all around as the indexes meandered plus and minus the zeroline all day long….on lower volume. All those traders had to stay home in NY to watch the kids since school was closed from the winter storm.
Today, Saturday, all the news media is fixated on Hawaii to see how big the waves are. Remember, those surfers are used to 20-foot waves.
Cleaning junk off my computers and installing Microsoft Office 2010 (beta). Not a whole bunch of changes…except there is now a 64-bit version…and since my machines run 64-bit, well that’s why I’m excited about it. Now to see how well it works.
Here’s a timely story:
After Olympic glory and immortality … financial services
First we had yech, then nice, now exciting. Wasn’t today just downright crazy? Greece was the word…again. So was jobs. But, speaking of jobs, rumors that AAPL might do a 4-to-1 stock split got bulls their groove back. 
GDP tomorrow…if it’s good we might just take off! Futures this evening look like they may be expecting that…or maybe just happy that the US dollar is backing off some.
Here’s a good description of the markets today: Rumor Versus Fact: An Insider’s Report On A Manipulated Market.
I’m gonna check in on the Olympics. G’nite.
If yesterday was yech, then today was nice….at least as far as the indexes were concerned. Negative readings from new-home sales and new short-sell rules could not keep the bull down.
The financials and the semiconductors were strong today, leading the way up….but it was Uncle Ben that really got the party started. And thanks to him my SPY calls popped. I cash half of them but still got some brewing. I also picked up some PARD right near the lows. Don’t have that happen too often. I also picked up BIIB calls.
For tomorrow I’ve got a couple on the list: HTCH ZAGG GKK FIG CNLG. Futures are taking dump as the US dollar goes berserk to the upside. Jobless claims may set the tone for Thursday, along with Durable Goods….but there’s also some earnings reports like GPS and WYNN. Oh well, might as well rest up. 
News about today….
New-Home Sales at a Low in U.S.
New Short Selling Rules … Explained!
And a look at the rest of the year…
Economic Outlook for 2010 and Commentary
I didn’t like today. I made some pocket change with TZA, so it wasn’t that I lost money. I just didn’t like the news….low Consumer Confidence and a big rise in troubled banks. The economy just screamed, “I’m not getting any better!” What I’m still trying to ponder is why the US dollar would be so strong with low confidence and bad banks….duh.
Traders will listen to what Ben Bernanke will say tomorrow before making any decisions. I’m probaly about 80% in cash and any trades I do make during the day are small and just made to take the “edge” off. 
Futures are in a small range and close to unchanged, but Asian markets stink, again because of that confidence thing. We’re heading into the last 3 days of trading for the month, so money managers may do some clearing out and sucking up stocks in their funds. Expect the unexpected.
It sure was a lackluster Monday… the indexes wavered plus to minus, red to green, ending near the unchanged marker for all the indexes. It was a quiet day for economic news and earnings also.
Tuesday should get a little more exciting with several earnings reports, Consumer and Investor confidence reports and housing prices.
We’ve had 2 up weeks in a row now, so you would think that it is time to take a breather. But is today all there is? Futures are in the green as I write, but the US market open is still 10 hours away.
My watchlist is still made up of the stocks I’ve talked about the last couple of days…and I still have TZA working as a hedge. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…hopefully something that will keep my attention. 
Asian indexes making some whoopee this evening. If it lasts through Europe, Monday may continue its green Monday reputation.
Some stocks I’ll be watching tomorrow: CNLG FIG ZAGG CRXX FBP
Time to hit the hay! G’nite!
I was worried Thursday night when the Fed raised the discount rate because the futures dived, but Asia and Europe took the brunt of the blow. By the time it came around to the US again, there were some good CPI numbers. So, not even a rate hike could dampen the bull spirit. The Russell and the Nasdaq have been up 8 days in a row. The Dow and the S&P have been up 4 days in a row and could have matched 8 days in a row except for a couple of dojis. And one more thing, every day of this options expiration week was an up day….can’t remember that happening in a long, long time.
And all this happened while Tiger had a scripted speech on all the TV channels. Did you notice how volume dropped at 11AM Friday? Boy, I was hoping for a PowerPoint presentation with a rating of all those women….or at least some action shots. He seems to have gained weight, but he’s probably not gettingas much ” excersize” as he had been before Thanksgiving. 
Time to do some Sunday scans and get some studying in for next week.
The Fed announces a Discount Rate hike after the market closes, the day before options expiration? What the fuck! Was it their intention to screw the traders?
Futures are down big this evening, but some things to keep in mind….China markets are still closed, big multinationls are gonna hurt because of the stronger dollar, volume will be big on Friday, and we’ll wait until next week before we know what the real reaction is to all this.
And another thing….Why do we need a commission for fiscal responsibility? Sure it creates a new bureaucracy, which means more jobs with huge pensions to goernnt employees, but isn’t that responsibility supposed to go to the congressmen, senators and president that we elected? Isn’t that what Congress is supposed to do? Be fiscally responsible? What the $%@&*!
I’m just totally pissed at my government right now. So read all about it here:
‘Washington has never been this dysfunctional’
Suggestion To President: NO Politicians On His New Fiscal Commission
What is the goal of the President’s Fiscal Commission?
Well I was looking for a 30 to 50 point move today, and we got right in the middle at 40.43 on the Dow. Damn, I love it when a plan comes together. And although there was a lot of good earnings and economic reports today, hump day was a slow, dull day…but you know what they say, “Never short a dull market.”
The FOMC acknowledged what everybody knows…. that unemployment is going to be with us for a long time. No $hit Sherlock. But they said all is okay even though nobody’s working. It will just be a slow recovery. Those Fed guys are so smart.
Boy did we have some blowout earnings reports today. DE WFMI and HPQ all showed that things are getting better. Even CHK had a good report, but their guidance looked a bit shaky. Let’s see if DELL CBS WMT and Initial Claims report can keep the warm and fuzzies going. C’mon S&P…bust though 1100.
Two stocks on the radar tomorrow will be GSK and XNPT…for a short that is….because this evening the FDA has not approved their restless leg drug… Seems there is a little thing about tumors forming in the pancreas. Bummer. XNPT will get hurt more on this. And don’t forget, YRCW only has 39 cents more to go to hit zero!
But a couple charts that look good to me this evening HNSN FIG KONG. Add them along to the ones from yesterday’s post, ‘cuz they are still in play in my book. Check them out.
Reflections on a company going downhill (yes, that’s an Olympics pun): NBC pretends that all evening long they are showing us some live sporting event, but we know the sun doesn’t shine past 7PM Pacific time. Even some of the indoor events were recorded earlier in the day. What the $%@&*! Isn’t there enough activity to show during prime-time? And why don’t they show the skiing and snowboarding events live? Yes they’re showing hockey and curling live on their sister channels, but really….Pressure Builds On NBC To Explain Why It’s Ruining The Olympics
All the indexes moved above their 20 day moving average and closed near their highs. now all we need is a follow-through day, not huge triple digit move although that would be nice, but a nice 30 to 50 point move on the Dow would be good!
The Stock Trader’s Almanac says February options expiration day, which is Friday, says the Dow has been down seven of the last 10 years. so if we have a follow-through day, seasonality says that the end of the week may move down.
If you’re a bull then congratulations on today…. And if you’re a bear, well you probably had your skin handed to you! For me, I booked profits from DBA TLB PSID. I also took partial profits on SEED when it got jiggy late this afternoon. I’m looking to get at leaast another $.60 to a dollar from SEED.
Some nice-looking charts I found in my scans this evening include: CNLG LEE DEAR UCBI ZAGG. Some of these have low-volume so do your own due diligence and check them out before entry…. But the charts look really nice.
And if you don’t feel like doing scans or looking at charts or any of that due diligence stuff, here’s some eye-opening reading for you:
U.S. Housing Aid Winds Down, and Cities Worry
How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America
See you on the playing field tomorrow 
Practice makes perfect. Look for a video coming soon at this blog!
