Apple (AAPL)
In one month, Apple (AAPL) has gone absolutely nowhere while remaining under critical resistance at the 200-day moving average (DMA). In between, AAPL printed an impressive hammer which created a bottom in the stock right above the $500 level. The hammer pattern printed what now looks like a classic washout day of selling where volume surged just as the stock broke very critical support formed by the May low.
I interpreted the stall at resistance as an opportune time to finally buy puts (put spread). I actually managed to avoid puts during most of Apple’s slide into the bottom. But I consider myself now awakened to real downside risks. In the meantime, I am holding firm to my small handful of shares.
Priceline.com (PCLN)
I have not paid enough attention to PCLN since its big earnings pop on November 2nd. If I had, I would have noticed the bullishness of the breakout above the previous downtrend line from all-time highs. I would have noticed how the subsequent pullback found support exactly at the former downtrend line. Well, I am now paying much closer attention as PCLN has broken out above its 200DMA for the second time in a month. After cratering to support from the 2012 breakout line, PCLN finally seems to be on the mend, ready to return to its stubbornly bullish ways.
Siemens Atkins (SI)
Siemens (SI) remains my favorite European stock. The euro has been creeping upward and Siemens has kept knocking on the upper bound of a three-month trading range. It is now closer than ever to a big breakout after printing a false breakdown below the 50DMA that ended in a hammer pattern puncturing through the lower-Bollinger Band. That move was a promising sign of a washout of sellers that can clear the way for an extended rally.
Source for charts: FreeStockCharts.com
If the breakout does not happen this week for SI, I will have to pull in my horses and await a new buying opportunity.
Be careful out there!
Full disclosure: long AAPL shares and put spread, long SI calls