ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The stock market has churned and gone nowhere for 10 trading days, a distinct break in the steady drip upward that saw traders, investors, and even trading-bots seizing upon nearly every dip as a buying opportunity. For six months a very basic equation has dominated: printing money = higher stock prices. For now, a conditional … Read more
On Friday, CNBC reported that on that day options players placed large bets bullish on the dollar: “The options market is gearing up for a bull run in the dollar after February’s non-farm payrolls showed improvement in the U.S. jobs picture. Options traders saw sizeable downside put buying in the EUR/USD…Before Friday’s payrolls data, the … Read more
After falling as much as 15% this year, Goldcorp (GG), my favorite way to trade gold, has shot up 20%. The move through February was almost a straight line and the stock moved particularly strongly last week. *Chart created using TeleChart: While I sold the last of my trading positions in GG last week, this … Read more
Higher oil prices are not helping solar stocks. Instead, earnings disappointments and hand-wringing in Italy over solar subsidies and policy have put downward pressure on almost the entire sector. While it seems the second half of 2011 could be rough for solar stocks, the current sell-off seems to be creating some buying opportunities. First Solar … Read more
In “The Tech Trade,” Eric Savitz provides details on a downgrade of Amazon.com (AMZN) by UBS. The title seems quite alarming: “Amazon: Streaming Video Will Pressure Margins, UBS Warns.” After I realized UBS was taking its price target from $195 to $180, just above AMZN’s current price of $177, I wondered why this research note … Read more