What everyone has been waiting for….the February Employment Report will be known to the rest of us at 8:30AM EST on Friday. Maybe then all the traders will come back and we can go on with the business of trading. It’s been lonely with this low volume…and quite dull….although it has been a good week, for me anyway.
GNVC was my big winner today along with some GS calls. Besides that….dullsville. So I cruised the blogs. You may find these interesting:
Algorithmic trading with Twitter
Trading on Twitter: Opportunity, Danger, or Folly?
Follow me on Twitter and/or StockTwits. And let me know so I can follow you back.
Markets were jumpy and jittery this morning….or maybe it was just me. Either way, the first thing I did in the pre-market was to buy some MDVN at 11.30 and sold about 15 minutes later at 12.85….was that lucky or what? Then, when the markets opened, I sold the DIA calls and DDM because of that whole jittery thing for small profits. And this may not sound right….but my PALM made me happy today. 
After that, well, nothing! We watched paint dry again. You would think with a good news day the markets would take-off…but no. Sure they meandered up for a while until the Prez came on the tube. Sure it could have been coincidence, but it sure is getting repetitive.
So when I woke up from my unintentional nap and reviewed the market’s progress, I saw that PARD finally got off its ass and made a move. So what did I do? Yep, cashed out. The only other thing I did was start a position in VIX calls, the Mar 18 calls to be specific. MIPI and GY getting greener, but not ripe yet.
After doing my scans this evening, nothing really caught my eye….well, except for one thing…this week has been really low volume! I mean it’s like Christmas week. What the $%@&*! Everyone is waiting for Friday’s Employment Report and maybe Thursday’s Jobless Claims. So I’m a bit edgy as to what is coming for the rest of the week. The beginning of the week has been so gtood though, I can afford to sit back and watch….not that I’ll do the right thing. 
For whatever reasong, this evenings futures are moving down….probably that damn US dollar getting its energy back. If this continues tomorrow may be bear day. We’ll see. And remember….after Monday and Tuesday even the calendat says W T F . . .
Well, it wasn’t a follow-thru day, but this couldn’t have gone better even if I had planned it! SEED and GNVC got green fast and I was able to take profits by noon. 
Only PARD just sat there and did nothing…but its day will come also. Even my ES trading was done fast, furiously and profitably in the morning. Somebody pinch me…I must be dreaming!
The watchlist from yesterday acted well. I entered MIPI and GY, both green but not by much. To that watchlist I’ll be adding: ENER TRMA SHIP, of course a lot depends on the markets in the morning.
Betting on a continuation to the upside, I also entered DIA Apr 104 calls and DDM…small positions just in case there’s any overnite news. If it goes against me, Oh well.
Lots of news on Wednesday: ADP report, Challenger report, Beige book, Mortgages report, so it may be a very active day. Of course any trading above today’s volume would make it active. It’s been a low volume week so far.
And some interesting reading:
Hey Washington! Economy has us very worried
Cut Pay For Government Workers
Good nite and have a wonderful tomorrow!
Published on
March 1, 2010,
10:41 pm in
Daily and Trading.
Tags: CYCC, ES, FSII, GY, JTX, MIPI, PARD, PGNX, SEED.
Another green Monday….it’s been like that for a couple months now, except for a couple of misses. The DJ30 looked the weakest today and the small-caps the strongest. Here’s a recap of today’s Business Highlights.
If you went to cash on Friday, you probably missed a good portion of today’s gains. I was able to cash out within the first hour with good gains in SPY and BIIB calls. I also have some shares in GNVC PARD and SEED. SEED hasn’t made a move in days so I’m still just holding and nursing. GNVC and PARD are in the green and I will also nurse for a bit more profit.
I also had a sucessful day in the ES futures, entering early this morning before the cash market opened at 1107 and got out shortly after the open at 1113. It was a great start to the week and the month!
Here’s some stocks I found in this evening’s scans: CYCC FSII GY JTX MIPI. I’ll be adding those to the morning’s watchlist. There’s no economic news in the morning, but Auto Sales come out later in the day. Futures this evening are sitting around doing nothing…very quiet.
So while Mondays have been green…Tuesdays have been turnaround days. So let’s watchout for a down move. If the bulls can muster a follow-thru, and maybe on higher volume, we could be on our way to test the recent highs at about 1150 SPX. Go bulls!
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.
Sometimes, entranced by the screens, watching equities and options change colors, charts moving in a wave, and indicators pointing in every direction, I just have to scream....
