For mental health reasons, we hardly ever watch CNBC anymore. But glancing at it this afternoon, at one point we saw three separate live graphics displaying the price of crude oil. So much screen space was taken up by live oil trackers, there wasn’t enough space left to show the chart of whatever alternative energy company they were pumping. Was oil making a new high today? Did the U.S. unilaterally attack another country? Did someone accidentally double-park in the Strait…
Friday, June 6, 2008
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This morning (premarket) we sent a note to subscribers laying out some hedging strategies, should they be needed in the event of a continued rally. Happily, not only was that note totally unnecessary, but today’s fantastic drop has us ideally positioned going into next week. As several members mentioned today in correspondence, the advantages of market-neutral trading strategies aren’t limited to markets that blandly drift sideways; being neutral is also a great way to avoid the day-to-day whiplash of the…
Sunday, May 11, 2008
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The S&P 500 is sitting right at the trendline that extends from the March lows, and is also right at the 20DMA, which is a reasonable place to be after drifting above that moving average for the past couple weeks. Market internals suggest that this pullback may be about finished, providing a setup for some further upside; breadth and on balance volume improved on Friday. At the same time, options sentiment is still bearish, and a few technical indicators (CCI,…
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
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So the big question now is whether the markets are consolidating and setting up for another move higher, or are preparing to roll over from the lack of broad-based leadership. As energy and commodities power higher, the financials continue to act as a major drag – consider the chart at right comparing the S&P500 ETF (white line) with the Dow Jones Industrials ETF (blue line). The Dow has clearly outperformed recently, and without some relief in the financial sector, it’s…
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
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Nice comeback in the markets today – the SPX again held the area around 1326, which has been such an important level so far this year. Futures are up tonight, presumably on the good earnings from Intel (INTC), so we’ll likely see a higher open and some strength in the morning. If SPX moves up from here we will have seen consistently higher lows since early March. This may be yet another quiet options expiration week. Adam notes that…
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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