ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Watching the U.S. dollar try to rally is like watching a wet noodle trying to stand up…in a downpour. The latest relief rally that I expected in the U.S. dollar came and went with a whimper. A week of lackluster meandering upward has ended with three days of selling, punctuated by the Reserve Bank of … Read more
Some fun facts: Gold (GLD) is up 18% for 2009. The S&P 500 is up 17% for 2009. The S&P 500 has essentially gone nowhere in “real gold” terms. The angriest bears out there might declare that the stock market rally is merely a mirage, the result of the decreasing value of paper currency. I … Read more
Once again, I am left wondering why another poor jobs report has supposedly caught the market and pundits by surprise. Those of us on the ground, and not just generating models, know and understand the ugliness of the job situation and see how it continues to worsen, not improve. We remain on schedule to hit … Read more
Last week, I noticed media headlines screaming the horrible news that “Crude steel output in 2009 to hit lowest level in 40 years.” As I searched for the direct source of this quote from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), I stumbled upon its “Preliminary Report on Iron and Steel, Non-ferrous metal, and … Read more
While I feel bad for Chicagoans and America for losing out on the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, I am very excited for Brazil. It is about time South America got the chance to host these games. My one Olympics experience was in Atlanta in 1996. I had a lot of fun back then, … Read more
Toward the end of September, I argued that VXX, the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures, was making a bottom. While some kind of bottom has been confirmed with the spike in volatility last week, the VXX has proved to be a dud in following this spike. While the VIX has popped about 29% from … Read more
Thursday’s stock market sell-off could finally be the start of the sharp Fall correction I have speculated about in various forms for months now. The extent of the technical damage and the heavy distribution of stock certainly seem to have put a ceiling on stock prices for now. Solar stocks were heavily hit as speculative … Read more
We have all heard the claims that traders take the summer off, choosing to exchange their flashing computers for the calm, cool breezes of the beaches of the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard, etc… Yet, year after year, it has appeared to me that summers deliver plenty of noteworthy trading action. I finally decided to take a … Read more
Schaeffer’s Investment Research is reporting today that the Macau IPO for Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) has been meet with heavy put buying the past two days. October 65 puts were popular yesterday and the bearish trading has extended to the 60 strike today. The option strangle trade I outlined last week on WYNN uses the … Read more
It seems traders in ReneSola (SOL) are moving one step too slowly. Options traders loaded up on Oct 7.5 calls earlier this month, only to be greeted with last week’s news that SOL’s revenues would come in a little light based on weaker than expected pricing. SOL also announced a fresh offering of 14.4M in … Read more