ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The Pairs Trade Exactly one month ago, I pointed to a pairs trade using put options in Toll Brothers (TOL) and call options on the iShares Dow Jones Home Construction ETF (ITB). Home builders selling affordable and otherwise lower-priced homes were rapidly gaining favor. Toll Brothers, a builder of luxury, high-end homes, was greatly under-performing … Read more
M.D.C. Holdings (MDC) delivered another bullish report on its order flow. After the market closed on September 12th, M.D.C. Holdings announced… For the first two months of the 2019 third quarter, net new home orders increased 63% year-over-year to 1,418…The increase was driven by a 40% improvement in the monthly sales absorption rate to 3.75 … Read more
Housing Market Intro/Summary In the last Housing Market Review, I discussed my slow and reluctant acceptance of a stock market that was effectively front-running the seasonally strong period for the stocks of home builders (starting in October/November). I also showed the near consistent dichotomy between builders excelling at selling lower-priced homes to buyers trying to … Read more
While the month of August was full of sharp trading action which left the S&P 500 (SPY) trapped in a trading range, home builders emerged stronger. The 4.8% August gain for iShares Dow Jones Home Construction ETF (ITB) far out-performed the S&P 500 (SPY) which languished with a 1.8% loss. Ironically, the stock market’s small … Read more
AT40 = 28.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 39.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (2-month low)VIX = 19.9Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish (see caveats below) Stock Market Commentary Presidential Decrees “Q Six hundred and twenty-three points — that’s what the Dow was down today … Read more
Overall Assessment I am bullish on Meritage Homes (MTH). Both the fundamentals and the technicals on the company and stock look good even following the strong performance this year and following the last earnings report. I am very late on digging into Meritage’s latest story despite pointing out the stock’s strength several times over the … Read more
The grind played out for about 5 months – including a sell-off in June ahead of earnings. Now, KB Home (KBH) finally managed to break out to a new high for the year. KB Home (KBH) finally joined the growing list of home builders breaking to prices last seen last year and earlier. KBH is … Read more
With just one day to go until expiration of the short side, my Aug/Oct $39 calendar call spread on the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB) hit its initial profit target. I was hoping the short side would expire worthless, and I could ride the long side expiring in October into the launch … Read more
My last pairs trade going long Redfin (RDFN) calls versus long Zillow Group (Z) (ZG) put options did not work out as I over-extended my stay on RDFN. A fresh opportunity for a pairs trade has arrived with RDFN neatly testing key support after reversing most of its post-earnings gains and with Zillow Group in … Read more
Overall Assessment I am cautiously bullish on M/I Homes (MHO) which means I want to buy the stock on dips. The company’s Q2 2019 earnings report demonstrated strong growth amid record financial performance. The homebuilder is benefiting from the increasing popularity of lower-priced homes as first-time home buyers look for affordable housing amid a scramble … Read more