Author Archives: TheAcsMan

Daily Market Update – May 1, 2014 (9:15 AM)

With only the Employment Situation Report left to go for the week, this was a relatively busy one on the news front compared to recent weeks and even months.

The market’s gains for the week are already enough for a really good week and there are still two days to go, including that one hurdle. Knowing that the remaining hurdle hasn’t been much of a hurdle puts focus on today as being an important one for the remainder of the week.

While already having some new hedge positions opened for the week I would be very happy seeing additional ones join them, particularly as it was another slow week as far as opening new positions goes and those are the usual source of income flow for each week. Of course, then there’s always the hope to see some combination of rollovers and assignments to round out the income stream and create the seeds for the coming week.

I’ve learned over the years, especially after an FOMC Wednesday that left me looking to be in good position to end the week, not to assume or expect that will be the way it all ends.

If I had been superstitious I would have made some comment about jinxing things, but some things are just better left unsaid.

The morning’s pre-trades are pointing to a lackluster kind of open and that would certainly be acceptable if that was the tone for the rest of the week.

However, since you never know and since tomorrow has the potential to have some volatility due to the data release, whatever opportunities appear to pop up today for rollovers may end up being done today rather than taking chances with an unpredictable report or more likely, an unpredictable reaction from the market.

While the DJIA did set a new record in the closing seconds of trading, the S&P 500 is within easy reach of doing the same, perhaps being the equivalent of another 50 Dow points away from its top.

The past two years has
shown that as the market approaches a new record it doesn’t shy away. It does more than just test the level, as technicians would put it. It tends to go through and usually does so without fanfare. As opposed to those kinds of records in the past when the market would make a forceful statement and surge past those technical resistance points, these days it just shrugs as it passes and simply moves higher.

That may be why we don’t see much in the way of corrections. There isn’t much in the way of gap moves higher. Such slow and steady for the most part.

That’s not a bad way to go, whether with individual stocks or markets.

Daily Market Update – April 30, 2014 (Close)

A bad first quarter GDP and mediocre earnings were the news  items to open the morning that would  have its crescendo a few hours later when the FOMC announcement was to be made.

As it would turn out , that crescendo was pretty muted.

While the announcement itself wasn’t too likely to have much in the way of new news it was likely to be interpreted by traders through the lens of this morning’s GDP statistic, with those wondering whether a slowing GDP will be a reason for the Federal Reserve to slow down its tapering, battling with those who believed the GDP number simply reflected awful weather and nothing systemic.

Those are usually the battles that are best watched from the sidelines, but since today is a Wednesday that’s already the default position. There has been very little rational basis behind the reactions following these FOMC releases lately, so default isn’t a bad way to go, otherwise you can’t expect anything other than even odds.

Instead, the battle itself came to a complete draw as there was barely a peep from anyone, not even much in the way of the usual knee jerk reaction that has become so common and laughable.

With new weekly options appearing tomorrow, based on the experience of the past couple of weeks I may again look for opportunity to execute rollovers on Thursday, rather than waiting until Friday. Hopefully today will be a positive kind of day although the pre-open is looking very non-committal, as that’s usually the case in advance of the afternoon announcement.

In last week’s case rolling over positions on Thursday was really serendipitous, as it avoided the impact of the market plunge on Friday, that I never would have otherwise expected. No matter how you dissect things, it never hurts to have luck on your side.

With lots of positions set to expire this week and a fair number looking as if they are in a position to be assigned, I would love to see that be the case, but not only is the challenge of the FOMC ahead, but also Friday’s Employment Situation Report. I would very much like to see cash reserves increased after a few weeks of drawing down reserves, although this week was one of conservation.

Having cash makes it unnecessary to be defensive.

While the Employment Situation Report tends to be a positive trading day, last month served as an exception to that rule, as the day snatched defeat from victory, with a mid-day sell-off after a nice opening gain. That might alert people to the possibility that a defensive position may not be altogether ridiculous, given some of the challenged faced this week and the remaining potential for international chaos.

In the meantime there continues to be an unraveling of the more speculative corner of the market and any rational person would have to be wondering whether that’s just an early warning signal, as it has been just that in the past. With more earnings yet to go there could easily be
more of that kind of negative news coming to discourage people and create selling pressure.

Still, you can’t overlook the fact that the market is within striking distance of its all time highs.and as the day was winding to its close all eyes were on the DJIA which was just a few points away from that high point.

Again. The market just keeps doing that, despite all of the times that most everyone believed that it was finally ready to take a break.

Talk about mixed messages.

Daily Market Update – April 30, 2014 (9:15 AM)

A bad first quarter GDP and mediocre earnings are the news to open the morning that will have its crescendo a few hours later when the FOMC announcement is made.

While the announcement itself isn’t too likely to have much in the way of new news it will probably be interpreted by traders through the lens of this morning’s GDP statistic, with those wondering whether a slowing GDP will be a reason for the Federal Reserve to slow down its tapering, battling with those who believe the GDP number simply reflected awful weather and nothing systemic.

Those are usually the battles that are best watched from the sidelines, but since today is a Wednesday that’s already the default position. There has been very little rational basis behind the reactions following these FOMC releases lately, so default isn’t a bad way to go, otherwise you can’t expect anything other than even odds.

With new weekly options appearing tomorrow, based on the experience of the past couple of weeks I may again look for opportunity to execute rollovers on Thursday, rather than waiting until Friday. Hopefully today will be a positive kind of day although the pre-open is looking very non-committal, as that’s usually the case in advance of the afternoon announcement.

In last week’s case rolling over positions on Thursday was really serendipitous, as it avoided the impact of the market plunge on Friday, that I never would have otherwise expected. No matter how you dissect things, it never hurts to have luck on your side.

With lots of positions set to expire this week and a fair number looking as if they are in a position to be assigned, I would love to see that be the case, but not only is the challenge of the FOMC ahead, but also Friday’s Employment Situation Report. I would very much like to see cash reserves increased after a few weeks of drawing down reserves, although this week was one of conservation.

Having cash makes it unnecessary to be defensive.

While the Employment Situation Report tends to be a positive trading day, last month served as an exception to that rule, as the day snatched defeat from victory, with a mid-day sell-off after a nice opening gain. That might alert people to the possibility that a defensive position may not be altogether ridiculous, given some of the challenged faced this week and the remaining potential for international chaos.

In the meantime there continues to be an unraveling of the more speculative corner of the market and any rational person would have to be wondering whether that’s just an early warning signal, as it has been just that in the past. With more earnings yet to go there could easily be more of that kind of negative news coming to discourage people and create selling pressure.

Still, you can’t overlook the fact that the market is within striking distance of its all time highs.

Again. The market just keeps doing that, despite all of the times that most everyone
believes that it is finally ready to take a break.

Talk about mixed messages.



Daily Market Update – April 29, 2014 (Close)

Investing should be easy this week.

After all it’s an Employment Situation Report Week that also happens to have a Tuesday in it.When the morning started I thought this week may be an interesting one.

While the recent string of Tuesdays looks as if it will be getting off on a positive note, the Employment Situation Report string was broken last month by a mid-day strong reversal, but the trend still remains, as for nearly the past 2 years both the week of the report and the actual day have been significantly more likely to end up on the positive side.

What more can you ask?

Well, you could have asked for a triple digit gain or at least something close.

While this morning was looking to continue some of the very impressive rebound from yesterday’s final hour I’m not fully ready to follow those odds of history repeating itself. On the other hand, when I see a company like Coach, which has been a prisoner of history and pattern, once again take a sharp dive when reporting earnings, I am prone to wanting to follow that pattern again. That pattern has been a fairly good formula to follow, although it has required some patience before jumping in, so even that trade isn’t too likely today.

Of course, those were my thought in the morning before being adequately caffeinated. Staring at the Coach 2 year chart made it difficult to resist waiting, although sometimes it’s just best to ignore those urges.

Yesterday’s rebound really was impressive, although it’s not the first such to have occurred over the past couple of weeks. Normally, those kind of rebounds carry with them a very bullish kind of message, but those messages have become obscured and haven’t really found themselves to be accurate predictors of the market’s direction.

That direction has been equally obscure of late and market health has really been called into question as the NASDAQ, and especially the greatest of the “Momentum” stocks have come under attack.

Just as those had been sure things during their climbs higher, most every sure thing sees its time come to an end. In the case of these kind of high fliers it gets a little unnerving when the word “bubble” starts being tossed around with such great frequency.

Generally, the more that climb onto the bandwagon the more sense it makes to just walk, the bubble thing is often very prescient, because it’s just not talk, but it’s also recognition of a pattern. That is the sudden reversal of fortunes in stock moves among the faddiest of stocks and the size of those movements.

As with many stocks that see reversals, such as Coach, there’s enough of a history to suggest that shares will recover in some short time frame, or at least trade in a stable fashion at a new lower level. It’s usually not correct to refer to such stocks as value traps, because their value tends to return or be re-established.

But in the case of these high fliers, there is no such individual history. Yet people believe that when they experience large drops it’s a chance to get in at a reasonable price.

History shows that many of these don’t recover and when taken in their totality, they may be a harbinger for things to come in the broader market.

As I mentioned yesterday, this will be an interesting week.

Yesterday was an appropriate start for that kind of a week and there’s more to come as earnings start coming our way.

Stay tuned and stay patient.



Daily Market Update – April 29, 2014 (9:30 AM)

Investing should be easy this week.

After all it’s an Employment Situation Report Week that also happens to have a Tuesday in it.When the morning started I thought this week may be an interesting one.

While the recent string of Tuesdays looks as if it will be getting off on a positive note, the Employment Situation Report string was broken last month by a mid-day strong reversal, but the trend still remains, as for nearly the past 2 years both the week of the report and the actual day have been significantly more likely to end up on the positive side.

What more can you ask?

While this morning is looking to continue some of the very impressive rebound from yesterday’s final hour I’m not fully ready to follow those odds of history repeating itself. On the other hand, when I see a company like Coach, which has been a prisoner of history and pattern, once again take a sharp dive when reporting earnings, I am prone to wanting to follow that pattern again. That pattern has been a fairly good formula to follow, although it has required some patience before jumping in, so even that trade isn‘t too likely today.

Yesterday’s rebound really was impressive, although it’s not the first such to have occurred over the past couple of weeks. Normally, those kind of rebounds carry with them a very bullish kind of message, but those messages have become obscured and haven’t really found themselves to be accurate predictors of the market’s direction.

That direction has been equally obscure of late and market health has really been called into question as the NASDAQ, and especially the greatest of the “Momentum” stocks have come under attack.

Just as those had been sure things during their climbs higher, most every sure thing sees its time come to an end. In the case of these kind of high fliers it gets a little unnerving when the word “bubble” starts being tossed around with such great frequency.

Generally, the more that climb onto the bandwagon the more sense it makes to just walk, the bubble thing is often very prescient, because it’s just not talk, but it’s also recognition of a pattern. That is the sudden reversal of fortunes in stock moves among the faddiest of stocks and the size of those movements.

As with many stocks that see reversals, such as Coach, there’s enough of a history to suggest that shares will recover in some short time frame, or at least trade in a stable fashion at a new lower level. It’s usually not correct to refer to such stocks as value traps, because their value tends to return or be re-established.

But in the case of these high fliers, there is no such individual history. Yet people believe that when they experience large drops it’s a chance to get in at a reasonable price.

History shows that many of these don’t recover and when taken in their totality, they may be a harbinger for things to come in the broader market.

As I mentioned yesterday, this will be an interesting week.

Yesterday was an appropriate start for that kind of a week and there’s more to come as earnings start coming our way.

Stay tuned and patient.