ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
First Solar (FSLR) reports earnings this evening. Unlike the last two rounds, I have no strong feelings about the potential upward or downward moves this time around. I went neutral on FSLR after closing out positions on the great post-earnings pop in April, and I have not done much else since then with the stock … Read more
With tongue reaching for the cheek last week, I declared the market both extremely undervalued and very overvalued, guessing that “as earnings season grinds on, I suspect the near-predictable pattern of post-earnings fades will finally wear thin, giving way to more bullish behavior.” I did not expect the turn to happen so clearly and dramatically … Read more
I spoke a day to soon on the bearish downtrend on XLI, the SPDRs Select Sector Industrial ETF. A healthy 3% one-day gain sent the ETF hurtling over resistance and into breakout territory. The next line of resistance is the June high or the “left shoulder” formed in late May/early June, depending on your perspective. … Read more
Day-to-day, Mr. Market’s mood seems to swing dramatically up and down with little consistent rhyme or reason. The neat rationalizations of the bulls one day give way to the equally neat rationalizations of the bears the next day. For example, the market is very undervalued because of record low Treasury bill rates, highly stimulative monetary … Read more
Excitement over earnings almost trumped technicals today. The S&P 500 tipped over and then faded back ever so slightly from its 50-day moving average (DMA). Earnings news typically trumps technicals, but I was pretty convinced looming overhead resistance would hold firm no matter then news given the weak buying volume coming into today. Buying volume … Read more
Evergreen Solar (ESLR) is a “penny stock” again. As the stock plunges to 8-year lows and toward all-time lows, it appears that the company will not survive this round of doubts in its viability. Note well that in the past, I have not had good things to say about ESLR: “ESLR remains the solar stock … Read more
The first half of 2010 has ended and another earnings season is upon us. The second quarter should be a time of easy comparisons as the economy hit a trough leading into spring of last year. If there is any credence to the argument that the economy is on a sustainable path to recovery, we … Read more
As Research In Motion’s stock (RIMM) plunged the last repurchase program underwater, I speculated that RIMM would initiate another share repurchase program if the stock continued to go lower. It now seems that Research In Motion (RIMM) is indeed determined to prop up its stock with its hard-earned cash. During tonight’s earnings call, RIMM announced … Read more
At the heights of the stock market’s low-volume spring rally, Ambac Financial (ABK) soared 72% and the 105% on two consecutive days. ABK was up another 50% the next day before closing with a 28% loss. The upward surge was quite startling given ABK was pretty clear in its earnings report at the time about … Read more
Earnings excitement is one casualty of the current selling in the market. Several big cap stocks and multinational companies generated a lot of hype and attention from their earnings results this quarter. A number of those gains have been erased and then some. Four stocks have attracted my particular interest: Apple (APPL) – A market … Read more