Didn’t trade much today…I was out of the office until mid-afternoon. I did get stopped out of some QQQQ calls I had entered on Monday, for a smaller profit than anticipated. Actually I just got my commisions paid. 
The markets ended stronger than it looked at lunch time….I did catch some updates on my Blackberry smartphone. I do have the capability to trade off my phone, but I haven’t excersized that option…yet.
I updated to the latest version of TradeStation to get ready for the change in options nomenclature next week, Friday, February 12, 2010, the first part of the Options Symbology Initiative. The biggest difference I’ve noticed so far is slower reaction time, but I guess they haven’t started using the new symbols. I hope their programmers are looking into that speed thing!
I’ve also downloaded the latest version of StockFinder from Worden. Looks interesting but I need to learn another program language. It sure would be nice if there was a universal trading program language. Then I could concentrate on the charts and indicators rather than how to program the damn things. 
Tomorrow Initial Claims will lead the way. We’ll also have to watch CSCO and V to see if their good reports this evening will follow thru…as well as all the Thursday reports. And don’t forget Friday for what turns out to be our “monthly curse” the NonFarm Payrolls and Unemployment Rate reports. Ugh!
Happy Trading!
Haven’t see one of those to the upside for a while….and volume was a bit stronger also. The markets had a lot to be happy about…great earnings reports and great car sales, except for Toyota of course. Even home sales ticked higher, but that’s probably a crock of $h!t.
Tomorrow has the potential for more good reports from IP V AMP CSCO among others and also the ADP employment report, the preview report for the governments report on Friday.
News is Good Again for Stocks, for Now.
It looked like some common sense was coming into the market today as the indexes moved down for most of the day. The stupid stuff was that the banks were running up as the markets moved down. There were more declining issues than advancing issues in the NYSE, but the advancing volume was much greater…I think by virtue of those rampant banks. C alone traded 2+ billion shares, the same bank that took all our tax money to be saved. Here’s one even better, AIG up 63%, yep, that’s no misprint! And if you want to see how good this recovery will be, read this: About half of U.S. mortgages seen underwater by 2011 from Reuters.
For me, the day was not bad, but not good either. I had an ES trade that made a couple hundred and traded BGZ about 5 times to scalp some more, both up and down. Near the close of the day I positioned myself into some BGZ and QID for overnite. QID was my bet in CSCO and BGZ was my bet on overbought markets that need to correct so we can move up with a real bullish stampede. I’m also still underwater with some XLF puts, but I’ve got until September to get that one right.
Futures have continued their downward move as I write this….getting ready for the Chinese markets to open. Initial Claims in the A.M. and we’ll see if CSCO brings the rest of tech down with it and maybe pull some banks down too.
Okay, too many tequila shooters with Corona chasers 
But, as of now, overseas markets are selling off and so are the futures. Tomorrow’s big news will be the CSCO reports.
Today, had a good time with HW CTIC and ARNA…not such a good time with QID….but the looks of the futures make QID a nice position.
Happy Cinco de Mayo
The first half hour was up, but after that we continued to make lower highs and lower lows all through the day. The mouse (DIS) and cheese (KFT) dragged down the DJ30, while banks weighed the S&P500 down. The Nasdaq was giddy with anticipation of CSCO earnings report, which were good, but forecasts sunk it afterhours.
I’m thinking trading with be subdued on Thursday as traders wait for Friday’s January Employment Report…which will probably make Friday a big down day 
But that may set us up for a nice bounce next week.
This evening, futures are down slightly, as are Asian markets. I guess I’ll scan some charts and get a good night’s rest. Happy Trading
Published on
August 5, 2008,
8:50 pm in
Daily and Trading.
Tags: CSCO, DJ30, futures, GOOG, morningstar, moving average, Nasdaq, oil, SP500, XLF.
The biggest up move since April Fool’s Day Two to three percent up on all the indexes….wow! And it’s not as if the FOMC said anything unexpected, three-quarters of the up move had already been achieved by the time we heard that there would be no change in rates. Oh yeah, oil went below $120 per barrel. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq have formed morningstar-like candle patterns and are on their way to their 50 day moving averages. What to expect now?
There’s been a pattern that after a big move, the next day goes in the opposite direction…sometimes with a similar veracity. But we’ve been looking for a nice trade-able rally for quite a while, so I’m looking for a bit of continuation here. At least pop above this 2-week congestion we’ve been in and take a close look at their 50ma’s 
We can hope, can’t we?
CSCO had a good earnings report and popped another 2 bucks after hours, which in turn upped the Qs, GOOG and other tech stocks. Early futures looking good for Asia and Europe and US, so maybe, just maybe, we’ll have some follow-thru. See if XLF can break through its July highs and banking shorts may need to cover causing some more upside.
Tonight, with a clear head, I’m gonna look at charts.
Futures moving down throughout the morning based on CSCO forecasts last night and WMT same store sales report this morning. The hinge pin will be the job claims report (or is that nail in the coffin). Is this “the big one” today? Capitulation? Is all this eradicate behavior, doom and gloom news, and everyone talking bear, signaling a bottom? Are we not supposed to be buying when there’s “blood-in-the-streets? I think I’ll keep my “powder dry” unless I see the perfect chart.
On the good side…the Nikkei closed up last night, ANF BJ and ARO had better than expected January comparative sales, ECB expected to lower rates a quarter point.
I’m strapped in and ready to go….back to sleep 
P.S. Jobless claims down…put that in the good column.
The Dow dropped another 65 points today on some Fed monkey-speak and Macy’s (M) pre-announcment that January doesn’t look very good for them. And boom! The market went into dive-dive-dive. CSCO, who met expectations and started to go up, turned around to dive after Chimp Chambers opened his mouth and made a bad guidance call…remember last quarter? Oh well, looks like more of the same tomorrow.
And yes, the market rise of last week has now completely disappeared…poof…like it never happened 
Wow, the party was over by 1:30PM EST. I started exiting my longs but did not get into any short positions. I only broke even on my 2nd play with NYNY…which now looks pretty good looking at that afternoon dive. Boy this market tires me out by the end of the day. You have to stay tense and watch every minute.
CSCO will gives us the mood for tomorrow when the market closes today. Stay tuned.
