ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) Two weeks ago, I described a potential pairs trade between Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) based on the ratio of their prices and relative valuations (see “Pairs Trade: Cisco Systems Is Catching Up … Read more
Like many strong momentum high-tech stocks, Baidu Incorporated (BIDU) has had an incredible run from its 2009 lows. In less than three years, the stock has increased over 16x from around $10 to over $160. Last week, BIDU traded below its 200-day moving average (DMA) for the first time since April, 2009. On Thursday, BIDU … Read more
For six days, Netflix (NFLX) appeared to have printed a bottom at $125. On Thursday, NFLX broke that critical support and plunged 11% to close at a new 52-week low. In the process, the stock also tagged $110 which was a price target established by a bearish analyst at Noster Capital. Unfortunately, Thursday’s action suggests … Read more
Many technology stocks have rebounded sharply off their August lows. Stocks like Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) have even managed to register fresh all-time highs in the past week. On the other hand, Google (GOOG) has gone nowhere in about two years and now faces overhead resistance yet again. In today’s trading, GOOG was turned … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) Cisco Systems (CSCO) has steadily declined since reaching a peak in April, 2010. For much of this time, analysts and commentators seemed to focus on company-specific problems as the blame. It seemed competitor Juniper Networks … Read more
On Thursday, September 15, investors and traders dumped Netflix (NFLX) on news that the company will lose 600,000 subscribers this quarter compared to the previous quarter. In 12 years, NFLX has now suffered a quarter-over-quarter loss in subscribers only twice. This occurrence represents a 2.4% reduction in customers. (For more details see AP story “Higher … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Tonight, RIMM disappointed traders and investors once again with its latest earnings report. This time, it was not an outright miss on overall earnings or revenue guidance. {snip} Alas, RIMM built up enough expectations … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) Research In Motion (RIMM) will report earnings Friday, September 15. As usual, I will be most interested in finding out how aggressively RIMM has executed on its latest stock repurchase authorization that began in July.The … Read more
The trading playbook for Research In Motion’s share buyback is finally unfolding. Last week, Research In Motion (RIMM) broke out, nudging itself over the rapidly declining 50-day moving average (DMA). Today, RIMM finally closed above $30 and punched into June’s post-earnings gap down. *Chart created using TeleChart The September 30/35 call spread I recommended last … Read more
Finally, Research In Motion (RIMM) is performing better than the general market. For the last two weeks, RIMM has trended upward relative to the QQQ (PowerShares QQQTrust for big-cap technology stocks). This has not happened all year. More importantly, the stock has finally jumped above the 50-day moving average (DMA). Granted, such a breakout has … Read more