Category Archives: Daily Market Update

Daily Market Update – May 20, 2016 (7:30 AM)

The Week in Review will be posted by 10 PM and the Weekend Update will be posted by Noon on Sunday.

The following trade outcomes are possible today:

Assignments:  CY, HPE

Rollovers:  CSCO

Expirations:  BBBY, M, STX

The following were rolled over earleir in the week:  MRO (6/3), BBY (8/19).

Shares likely to be assigned may still be rolled over if forward volatility or a dividend makes that an attractive action.

The following were ex-dividend this week:

The following will be ex-dividend next week:  HFC (5/25 $0.33), IP (5/25 $0.44)

Trades, if any, will be attempted to be made prior to 3:30 PM

Daily Market Update – May 19, 2016 (Close)

After another 2 days of big moves in opposite directions, yesterday ended the day flat, although it did have its moments.

This morning the futures are moderately lower, despite some decent earnings news from 2 of the DJIA members.

The other day when Home Depot reported good numbers and traded up sharply in the pre-opening session, those gains faded very quickly along with the rest of the market.

With that as a recent backdrop and more and more betting that the FOMC may now actually make an interest rate move at their June 2016 meeting, anything can happen.

For my part, I’m not really looking ahead.

I just wanted to be able to get something done today or tomorrow, as I still had a number of positions expiring along with the end of the May 2016 option cycle.

Yesterday, I was actually happy to rollover the Marathon Oil position, even though it was in the money, as I do like getting the elevated premium and would continue to do it over and over again if the opportunities continue to arise.

Today, I was happy being able to rollover the out of the money Fastenal position, even as it required going out to August, continuing a pattern that began in 2015.

While the market was somewhat lower this morning, I was looking at doing the same with some other positions set to expire, as was done with Marathon Oil yesterday,even if there’s a chance for assignment.

Locking in on winners may be an easier approach than looking to select some new ones as uncertainty still reigns.

What we didn’t have today was much in the way of winners, although the market cut its losses in half and actually had some good earnings from 2 DJIA components, which explained its ability to outperform the S&P 500 by 50% on the day.

Despite being so close to market all time highs, very few people are talking as if they’re at or near personal all time highs, so trying to out think or out wit this market has proven fairly fruitless other than for those that have really been at the right place at the right time.

There’s nothing wrong with being lucky and the age old saying about being smart or being lucky may really have application in this market.

I hope there’s some good luck left over tomorrow and some trades or some assignments to go along with that luck.

Daily Market Update – May 19, 2016 (7:30 AM)

After another 2 days of big moves in opposite directions, yesterday ended the day flat, although it did have its moments.

This morning the futures are moderately lower, despite some decent earnings news from 2 of the DJIA members.

The other day when Home Depot reported good numbers and traded up sharply in the pre-opening session, those gains faded very quickly along with the rest of the market.

With that as a recent backdrop and more and more betting that the FOMC may now actually make an interest rate move at their June 2016 meeting, anything can happen.

For my part, I’m not really looking ahead.

I just want to be able to get something done today or tomorrow, as I still have a number of positions expiring along with the end of the May 2016 option cycle.

I was actually happy to rollover the Marathon Oil position, even though it was in the money, as I do like getting the elevated premium and would continue to do it over and over again if the opportunities continue to arise.

While the market is somewhat lower this morning, I may look at doing the same with some other positions set to expire, even if there’s a chance for assignment.

Locking in on winners may be an easier approach than looking to select some new ones as uncertainty still reigns.

Despite being so close to market all time highs, very few people are talking as if they’re at or near personal all time highs, so trying to out think or out wit this market has proven fairly fruitless other than for those that have really been at the right place at the right time.

There’s nothing wrong with being lucky and the age old saying about being smart or being lucky may really have application in this market.

Daily Market Update – May 18, 2016 (Close)

Despite what you may have heard about the Additive Law of Addition, it really does matter in which order you invest your money.

Do you remember the nearly 200 point gains of last Monday?

How about the 200 point gains of the previous week?

Well, you might then recall that on both occasions those gains were wiped out the very next day.

If you invested on either of the up days, there’s a good chance that you weren’t very happy the day after.

But reverse things, if the market heads sharply lower and you take the opportunity to dig into your cash reserves, you might be much happier the following day.

For the most part, the latter, that is investing at the lows of the day only to see a big reversal the next have been mostly fairy tales.

They just haven’t become reality and so often, what may have looked like a bargain following a large drop, whether in an individual stock or in the broader market, hasn’t been a bargain at all.

That now brings us to mid-week and futures were again flat.

That was the case for the preceding days of the week, as well. There had been no clue of what was brewing in the markets.

Actually, even as those big moves were happening, it’s not too likely that anyone had a clue as to why they were happening.

This morning, as for the next 2, there is still some earnings news.

While we await those reports for a handful of remaining important companies, there’s still the issue of oil and whether the market will continue to mostly follow along.

Now you can also add to it the newly re-discovered belief that the FOMC may have found a reason to increase rates sooner rather than later and maybe more than once between now and the end of the year.

That was confirmed as the FOMC minutes for the previous month were released. There are FOMC hawks circling.

A few weeks ago I couldn’t wait for earnings season to begin, but more importantly I couldn’t wait for the May 2016 option cycle to end.

With more expiring positions on this Friday than has been the case for all of 2016, I’m hoping to get some trades done and maybe even see an assignment or two.

The way things have been going back and forth lately, however, I have my fingers crossed more than is my customary amount.

At least there was an opportunity to once again rollover those recent Marathon Oil shares and slowly build the return on that position while waiting and waiting some more for some clarity to finally show its face.

Daily Market Update – May 18, 2016 (7:30 AM)

Despite what you may have heard about the Additive Law of Addition, it really does matter in which order you invest your money.

Do you remember the nearly 200 point gains of last Monday?

How about the 200 point gains of the previous week?

Well, you might then recall that on both occasions those gains were wiped out the very next day.

If you invested on either of the up days, there’s a good chance that you weren’t very happy the day after.

But reverse things, if the market heads sharply lower and you take the opportunity to dig into your cash reserves, you might be much happier the following day.

For the most part, the latter, that is investing at the lows of the day only to see a big reversal the next have been mostly fairy tales.

They just haven’t become reality and so often, what may have looked like a bargain following a large drop, whether in an individual stock or in the broader market, hasn’t been a bargain at all.

That now brings us to mid-week and futures are again flat.

That was the case for the preceding days of the week, as well. There had been no clue of what was brewing in the markets.

Actually, even as those big moves were happening, it’s not too likely that anyone had a clue as to why they were happening.

This morning, as for the next 2, there is still some earnings news.

While we await those reports for a handful of remaining important companies, there’s still the issue of oil and whether the market will continue to mostly follow along.

Now you can also add to it the newly re-discovered belief that the FOMC may have found a reason to increase rates sooner rather than later and maybe more than once between now and the end of the year.

A few weeks ago I couldn’t wait for earnings season to begin, but more importantly I couldn’t wait for the May 2016 option cycle to end.

With more expiring positions on this Friday than has been the case for all of 2016, I’m hoping to get some trades done and maybe even see an assignment or two.

The way things have been going back and forth lately, however, I have my fingers crossed more than is my customary amount.