Monday, May 17, 2010

5/18 Almanac

On Tuesday, May 18: Producer inflation, housing starts.

There are 4 days before the last trading day for May options, 32 the June and 60 the July.

On the jump, market stats, econ reports, rules, my holdings and a good book...


Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session up 0.05% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 2.4% high to low in a net move down of 2.4%.

Today's extremes: Open $114.20, high $114.52, low $111.77, close $113.95.

SPY closed within the DeMark pivots and never traded above them. The next DeMark pivots are $111.49-$114.24.

In total, 3.8 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 200 million fewer than on the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

Two major reports today.

Housing starts, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, tells the extent to which builders have begun work on new homes. A rise would mean homebuilders saw higher demand ahead and that an insufficient supply of already-built housing to meet that demand.

The producer price index, also at 8:30 a.m., is inflation before it hits the store shelves. Its companion, the consumer price index, will be released on Wednesday. The idea behind the producer price index is that inflation at the manufacturing level will eventually become inflation for consumers. Well, maybe. It's pretty simplistic, and the marketplace is actually pretty complex.

Fedhead: Cleveland Fed Pres Sandra Planalto gives a speech at 12:20 p.m. Eastern.


Rules:

By my rules, at this point in the cycle I can trade June covered calls, iron condors, and butterfly, calendar, diagonal and vertical spreads. Also, July single calls or puts. Shares, of course, are good anytime.


Good trading.



The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets
Martin Pring's detailed deconstruction of the economic cycle: What sorts stocks to look for at each stage of the recovery. A masterful analysis.






The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets
Martin Pring's detailed deconstruction of the economic cycle: What sorts stocks to look for at each stage of the recovery. A masterful analysis.



New to Private Trader? Check out the Reader's Guide
New to private trading? Here's a look at How to Become a Private Trader.

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