1/27 Watchlist

Blue chip stocks (SPY) barely blinked at a Federal Open Market Committee announcement that left low to non-existent interest rates in place while dishing out some modest happy talk about the economy's prospects.

SPY is trading down a bit from yesterday's range, Treasury long bonds (TLT) and gold (GLD) within the range, the dollar against the euro (EUR/USD) is worth a bit more, and oil (USO) is straddling the yesterday's range in a downward move.

In other words, its just another day in 2010's low-volatility paradise. (The VIX is trading down for the third straight day.)

My holdings are all in profitable territory, except for pesky PALM, and even it is moving in the right direction for the first time in three days. None of the indicators, currencies I follow or my holdings are showing new pps signals. I mentioned in an earlier posting that I held a zombie stock, MCO, from May 2009,  the remnant of a covered call that expired below the exercise price. That stock has moved up sharply today on analyst comment, and will soon be perfect to sell another covered call against. I've already taken $2.26 in revenue off of this stock, which I bought for $29.85, and some more would be welcome.

Here's what's interesting in high-volume . . .

. . . exchange-traded funds:

• UNG, which tracks natural gas, has gapped down for the second day. It showed a new bull signal on Tuesday. The decline has put it at support set last November. The trend is sideways. I think a wide iron condor, covering from $8 to $11, would be the only way to play this stock.
• A real lack of signals today.

. . . corporate shares:

• The dog the did not bark in the night, AAPL, is trading within the $15 range in which it has stayed since Christmas Eve: $200 to $215. This despite the announcement of the long-awaited Apple tablet, which strikes me as being an attempt to create an Amazon Kindle Killer. The stock has been in pps bear mode since Jan. 22.
• AMZN, in bear mode since Dec. 7, is trading within 70 cents of this morning's opening, one day before earnings.
• BA is up 4.2 percent on earnings and showing a pps bull signal unconfirmed by the macd. The stochastic, however, has moved up across the 20-line. Near-term resistance in this uptrending stock is about $1 away, and I would want to see it pushing above $62.31 before doing a directional trade.
• AMGN rose 2 percent and showed a bull signal, unconfirmed by the macd or stochastic. It's a sideways trending stock, and to break out it would need to exceed resistance at $57.92. So I don't like it until it move up to 58 or so.
• ROK has gapped up hugely on earnings and is showing a bull signal. It's an uptrending stock trading above near-term resistance. I'll watch it, but won't go in immediately, since a gap is often followed by a retracement.
• KR, a sleepy maybe downtrending stock, but possibly a sidewinder, is showing a bear signal. Support lies about 4 percent down, so there is some potential, if I can find a decent premium.

New to Private Trader? Check out the Reader's Guide.

Topics:
S&P 500, SPDR, Spiders, Treasury bonds, high-yield corporate junk bonds, gold, precious metals, oil, petroleum, CVS, pharmacies, drugs, Electronic Arts games, Palm smartphone Pixi Pri, Moodys bond rating, natural gas, Apple Computing Macintosh iPhone iPod tablet iPad, Amazon books Kindle ereader, Boeing airplanes aviation, Amgen biotechnology, Rockwell Automation, Kroger groceries retail food.