A Pairs Trade for the Tesla – Solar City Tinderbox

Solar stocks have had a rough 2016. Solar City (SCTY) seems doomed to join the long line of troubled companies that fell from grace. The stock is down 64% year-to-date and has traded with a downward bias since its all-time high in February, 2014. Source: FreeStockCharts.com Tesla Motors (TSLA) is trying to come to the … Read more

Cocoa Watch – A Fresh Buying Opportunity on NIB

In early 2014 I laid out a basic trading premise for the cocoa market: trade the range by buying sell-offs and selling into buying sprees. This strategy has worked extremely well since then except I only pulled the trigger once this year. The chart below for the iPath Bloomberg Cocoa SubTR ETN (NIB) shows how … Read more

Meritage Homes: Margin Pressures Cap An Already Low Valuation

Three months ago, I reviewed earnings guidance from Meritage Homes (MTH) for second quarter 2016. The guidance and subsequent positive market reaction came within weeks of a first quarter earnings report that was very poorly received (13% loss on the day). I called the guidance “too late” because of the sour taste left by the … Read more

Key Lessons from the Brazil ETF Trade

Back in October, 2009 When Brazil won the 2016 Summer Olympics, I heralded the news as an opportunity to invest in a country that promised to grow faster than the United States. The iShares MSCI Brazil Capped (EWZ) never quite matched its peak from 2008 but managed to ride the wave of a post-recession, commodity … Read more

An Important Correction to the Apple Trading Model

In early April, 2015, I simplified my Apple Trading Model (ATM). I examined the historical data to determine whether Apple’s (AAPL) open contained all the information needed to trade the stock on the day. I had an “ah ha” moment when I discovered that AAPL tended to trade in the same direction of its open. … Read more