ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Ever since I recommended shorting the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT), I have been keen to look for opportunities to short individual retail names. A huge exception was Wal-Mart (WMT) which is currently making an encouraging bottoming move after a long 2015 of nearly non-stop selling. I noted Best Buy (BBY) as a prime target … Read more
At the end of 2015, I wrote about the critical tests facing LGI Homes (LGIH). After another strong monthly closing report, LGIH seems more likely to pass the test of financial performance in coming earnings reports, but the technical test remains in place. LGIH reported record results for a single month in December, 2015: 433 … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 29, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) In mid-September, I wrote “LGI Homes Is Now A Bit Hot To The Touch.” LGI Homes (LGIH) is down 18% since then. LGIH also hit an all-time high on December 1st … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 3, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) reported earnings last week on the morning of October 29, 2015. {snip} Source: FreeStockCharts.com From my perspective, the always colorful commentary from Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 27, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) Toll Brothers (TOL) had the misfortune of reporting its third quarter 2015 earnings in the middle of a severe market sell-off. {snip} Source: FreeStockCharts.com The selling in TOL plunged the stock … Read more
Century Communities, Inc. (CCS) reported third quarter earnings on the evening of November 5th at the tail-end of a particularly challenging time for the stock. Going into earnings, CCS was down 35% from its 52-week and all-time closing high set in early September. CCS is still up 7.5% for the year, but the recent earnings … Read more
The pre-earnings trade on Apple (AAPL) unfolded exactly opposite of expectations. The model pointed bearishly, but AAPL ended the day with a very impressive 4.2% pop that placed it right back where it closed on Friday’s impressive rally. Source: FreeStockCharts.com This particular pre-earnings trade turned out to have too many moving parts and caveats. I … Read more
It was fun while it lasted. The trades I described in coal in the wake of news of investments by George Soros seem to be coming to a decisive end. The recent bottoms have not yet given way but seems sure to do so in the coming days or weeks. Arch Coal (ACI) has swung … Read more
Last week, I updated the data on the Apple (AAPL) pre-earnings trade in a piece called “The Apple Pre-Earnings Trade: October, 2015 Edition – An Important Juncture.” I concluded that the main trade for AAPL going into earnings October 27, 2015 is to fade the 7-day average daily price change. Not including today (the 27th), … Read more
At the timing of writing, Apple (AAPL) is up 0.6% for the year, essentially flat. When I last wrote about the Apple pre-earnings trade back in January, I looked back at the December 1, 2014 “flash dip” in AAPL’s stock as a lingering harbinger of more selling to come. As it turned out, AAPL sold … Read more