ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
When I examined the trading patterns in Google’s stock (GOOG) between earnings reports, I found little consistency for forming a trading strategy. For October’s earnings cycle, I chose to play one of the few promising historical patterns: 67% of the times that GOOG opened up in response to earnings, the maximum close until the next … Read more
It has been a very long time since a stock blindsided me, but the sting is no less powerful! Yesterday, SunPower (SPWR) dropped the AA-bomb – audit and accounting, announcing that: “…based upon an internal review of its Philippine manufacturing operations, the company believes there may have been unsubstantiated accounting entries made in the first … Read more
For the second straight quarter, Toll Brothers (TOL) provided a preliminary quarterly report that ignited the stock as sales volumes once again surpassed expectations. Robert I. Toll, chairman and CEO, explains: “Our fourth-quarter unit deliveries exceeded the high end of our range of guidance due to the delivery of a higher percentage of our backlog, … Read more
On a strong market day, RIMM opened up over 2% and, at the time of writing, is up over 4% on the day. RIMM’s share repurchase period begins today, and, so far, so good for propping up the stock. Yesterday, I expressed my doubts that RIMM would spend the entire $1.2B that its board authorized, … Read more
On November 5, Research In Motion (RIMM) announced a buyback of up to $1.2B in shares starting November 9 and lasting for up to a year. When I read this announcement, I pounced on the stock the minute pre-market trading opened. This was quite a mental exercise for me because I had just closed out … Read more
Soon after Google’s earnings I bought a November 570/580 call spread given that the year-over-year revenue growth rate finally seems to be turning around and revenue per employee looks ready to trend upward as well. I am finally getting around to explaining the move (as I promised to do) now that GOOG has reversed all … Read more
Whenever the market sells off, it is good to track whether the selling marks any change in character in the health of the market. Back in June, the change in character was marked by the deepest oversold conditions since March. Those conditions deepened into July and helped provide the fuel for the next strong leg … Read more
Speculative stocks typically get hit the hardest during corrections in the stock market, and solar stocks definitely qualify for a beating. In the past 4 days of selling, TAN, the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy Index, is already down 10%. Solar stocks have been big laggards this year as TAN is now back to even on … Read more
“…we do not believe that real demand…has really improved much since the end of last year, and we don’t see things in the economy from a flat roll standpoint or long product standpoint whether you’re talking automotive, construction, housing, non-residential construction, oil county[sic] goods or what have you, we don’t see that there is a … Read more
After months of steady recovery and on-going increases in commodity prices, Bucyrus International (BUCY) has finally gone from tepid to bullish in its outlook. During August’s conference call, Timothy Sullivan, President & CEO, declared that “we’re not as pessimistic as most but we’re certainly not optimistic” and it is “anyone’s guess” what specific revenues and … Read more