2/12 Almanac

Friday, Feb. 12, is 7 days before February options expire, 35 the March and 63 the April.

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session at $108.13, up 1% from the prior close.

In total, 3.2 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges. That's about 6.7% more than the prior day.

Mediawatch: It's back to the Greek/euro narrative. AP says stocks "charged higher" because the EU said they'd support Greece. (Anxious traders, streaming on to the New York stock exchange floor, gyros leaking in their briefcases, looking about nervously and sweating as they asked, "Yes, but what about Greece?")

On the jump, rules, econ reports, portfolio and a good book . . .

My rules allow trades today in March iron condors and covered calls, along with butterfly, calendar and vertical spreads. I allow myself to trade unhedged call and put option purchases that expire in April or later. These economic reports will be released (maybe): Consumer sentiment at 9:55 a.m. Eastern. Ready to spend your way back to prosperity? Business inventories at 10 a.m. Do they have the goods for you to spend your way etc.? Natural gas inventories at 10:30 a.m. and petroleum inventories at 11 a.m. Delayed by snow:  Retail sales and the Treasury budget. Everything except business inventories is issues from Washington and so is subject to delay. (Poor Washington, D.C. Five feet of snow and no one can move an inch. They should see winter in the mountains of northern California.) My portfolio consists of . . . February expiry: CVS, iron condor, p28/-p31/-c34/c36 ERTS, iron condor, p15/-p16/-c18/c19 MCO, covered call,  s/-c30 PALM, covered call, s/-c13 March expiry: CSCO, iron condor, p22/-p23/-c25/c26 Good trading!

Sitting, trading and snacking on Snickers all day can wreck your weight. This book has shown me a way out of the problem. You, too?

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. Topics: S&P 500, SPDR, Spiders, Cisco Systems networking, CVS Caremark, pharmacies, drugs, Electronic Arts games, Moodys bond rating, Palm smartphone Pixi Pri.