Chart Review: Nikkei Breaks Post-Fukushima Closing Low, CBOE Breaks Out

This chart review pairs an ugly chart with a blooming one. Japan’s Nikkei stock market index made very little additional progress after the sharp and rapid bounce from the March lows marked a crescendo of panic over the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe. On five separate days, the Nikkei survived tests of the closing lows from … Read more

Despite Buyback, RIMM Short Interest Increases to New Highs Ahead of Earnings

(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

Shorts Retreat Ahead of Earnings Warning for Lender Processing Services, Puts Soar

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) After discovering that shorts ramped ahead of earnings for Research In Motion (RIMM), I decided to check in again on the short interest in Lender Processing Services (LPS)… {snip} Source: NASDAQ.com So LPS caught bulls … Read more

Protective Puts Versus Puts for Profit

A friend and I have actively discussed how best to position ourselves for the near-term, bearish risks in the market. As my favorite technical indicator, T2108 – the percentage of stocks trading above their 40-day moving average (DMA), hit oversold territory, he asked my opinion about adding to his SSO put spread. Puts on SSO … Read more

Shorts Close In On LPS

(This is an excerpt from an article I published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) As I feared would eventually happen, LPS sliced right through support and made fresh two-year lows. On Tuesday, LPS closed down 3.6% on a third straight day of heavy selling volume. *Chart created using TeleChart: Put … Read more