ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
I last wrote about the Brazil Index Fund ETF (EWZ) at the end of the sharp correction in October. At that time, the big headline was that EWZ had lost all its gains from the Olympics-driven rally, and I was anticipating buying EWZ at the end of a total correction of 20% from the closing … Read more
Bottom-fishing is always a risky business, but sometimes it is worth a try. This is the case with First Solar (FSLR) which has printed several profitable bottoms in the past two years. After dropping for 11 consecutive days, FSLR finally managed to close with a gain on Tuesday. The 3% increase came on volume almost … Read more
As fears quickly rise that President Obama wants to wipe out American business and kill the stock market (as some like Jim Cramer would have you believe), I took a trip down memory lane to watch Obama’s (now forgotten?) famous call to buy the stock market right around the March bottom: Less than 12 months … Read more
China Economy – Jim Chanos: China's Real Estate Bubble Is Unprecedented – CNBC The bubble in China's real estate is unprecedented and companies exporting for the country's construction sector should be watched carefully, James Chanos, president and founder of Kynikos Associates, told CNBC Monday. (tags: bubbles China real_estate) Obama to seek 3-year freeze on US … Read more
VIX and More: VIX Spike of 35% in Four Days Is Short-Term Buy Signal …from a timing perspective, a long SPX position entered after a 35% spike will generally perform best over the course of a five day time horizon. (tags: volatility VIX trading_strategy)
On Friday, the S&P 500 broke down below the 50-day moving average (DMA) on high volume and volatility spiked over 50% during two days of heavy selling (charts at the end of this post). The S&P 500 has been here before. Since the March lows, this is the… Fourth break below the 50DMA: previous breaks … Read more
Taxing Wall Street Down to Size – NYTimes.com The banking system has become an agent of destruction for the gross domestic product and of impoverishment for the middle class. (David Stockman, a director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan) (tags: banking banks tax_policy)
President Obama: "Never Again Will the American Taxpayer be Held Hostage by a Bank that is 'Too Big to Fail'" | The White House This morning the President proposed what he called "the Volcker Rule," named after one of the fiercest advocates for financial reform over the past year, and who has been particularly focused … Read more
Google (GOOG) fourth quarter earnings last night were largely as expected: “Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008…GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $6.13…compared to $1.21 in the fourth quarter of 2008…Non-GAAP EPS in the … Read more
At this point, everyone should be used to looking at charts of stocks and indices that look like they are topping out, many in climactic fashion (click here for a review of Caterpillar; click here for a review of Intel). Add healthcare stocks to the growing list. Specifically, the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF, … Read more