Sifting Through the Rubble of Retail High-Flyers for Potential Trades – Long and Short

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 6, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The HOLDRS Retail ETF (RTH) made new all-time highs in late July, and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) has remained in a trading range since failing a retest of its … Read more

Starbucks Becomes A Short As 2012’s Gains Disappear

Ahead of Starbucks’ July earnings report, I warned that the stock was at a critical juncture. I concluded that Starbucks (SBUX) becomes a compelling short if it broke down through support. On Friday, SBUX broke down and at one point had erased all its gains for the year. Source: FreeStockCharts.com The -9.4% post-earnings performance was … Read more

Chart Review: Starbucks At A Very Critical Juncture

On July 23, Starbucks (SBUX) tested its 200-day moving average (DMA) for the first time since last October. This support held as the general stock market rallied into the close. This level also happened to coincide with SBUX’s breakout in March as SBUX moved on to fresh all-time highs. Source: FreeStockCharts.com If SBUX fails to … Read more

Coping with Destabilizing Coffee Prices

Coffee prices have soared along with most other commodities over the past year and more. For example, the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Total Return Sub-Index ETN (aka JO) is up 70% since the end of 2009. The last earnings results from Starbucks (SBUX) demonstrated the stress from these higher coffee prices. The company slightly lowered … Read more