1/14 Watchlist: Some techs on the move INTC MSFT CSCO ORCL RIMM

The blue chip stocks continue to trade around the top of their recent range. Treasury long bond prices today are rising through most of their recent range (that is, interest rates are falling).

Corporate, high-interest-rate junk bonds are barely moving, despite yesterday's bear signal.

Gold is glistening in place like a necklace on display in a high-end jewelry store window, and oil is standing still like scum on a stagnant pond, gently brushed by flitting dragonflies, after cascading for three days like Multnomah Falls on a rainy Oregon day.

Above all, similes are flying wildly as bored traders seek amusement on the Thursday before January options expire. It's a tough business, but someone has to do it.

The major foreign exchange currencies -- the dollar, yen and euro -- stayed within their recent ranges in forex trading.

Looking at stocks: The techs are on the move. Intel, Cisco, Oracle, Research-in-Motion. Household names all.

Let's see what's interesting among the . . .

. . . high-volume exchange-traded funds (ETFs):

• UNG, which tracks natural gas. The 20-day moving average has crossed above the 50-day moving average. This is a amid a sideways spell after a lengthy downtrend and comes four days after a pps bear signal.
• GLD, which tracks gold. The ma20 has crossed below the ma50, confirming a pps bear signal two days ago.

. . . high-volume corporate stocks:

• INTC bumps up 1.7% on earnings. The pps bull signal was given Dec. 21, 7.3% ago.
• MSFT shows a pps bull signal and a rise, but remains below the 31.5 near-term high set on Dec. 29. I like the stock above that price, since it has been in an uptrend since early March. Earnings will be announced Jan. 28 after the markets close.
• CSCO bumps up with a pps bull signal, blowing past near-term resistance. It now sits at resistance set last August. It also has been in an uptrend since March. Earnings Feb. 3.
• ORCL gaps up above near-term resistance, the day after a pps bull signal, and has moved into blue-sky territory. No resistance above the present level. An uptrend since March. A bearish macd and neutral but rising stochastic. Approaching the upper Bollinger band. The rise was on higher volume. And no earnings looming. I like this. A lot.
• RIMM, pps bull signal, price up nicely. But, it's still in the midst of congestion and has been flat since September. Not my kind of trade.
• FST bumps up with a pps bull signal on new Texas oil production estimates. The rise puts it past near-term resistance on a rise that began in November. It is trading around the resistance level set in October 2008. That old resistance is a deal-killer for me. Old resistance, like old soldiers, never dies. It just blocks the rise.

Among my holdings that expire on Friday, the KO iron condor (p50/-p52.5/-c57.5/c60) remains just within the upper bound of profitability,  and the LVS covered call (-c16) is trading well above my basis. It's all good.

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Topics S&P 500, SPDR, Spiders, Treasury bonds, high-yield corporate junk bonds, gold, precious metals, oil, petroleum, Intel chips semiconductors Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle database, Research-in-Motion Blackberry, ForestOil, natural gas, Coca-Cola soft drink Las Vegas Sands casino gambling Macau Nevada.