2/17 Watchlist

The indicators are doing now pretty much what they were doing at the opening. See today's Morningline.

The euro has almost precisely retraced yesterday's gains. It's though Tuesday didn't exist. So much for the staying power of global joy over prospects for resolving the Greek debt crisis. The EUR/USD pair continues to show a very weak macd bull signal; I have no confidence that it will remain and suspect it will turn out to be a ghost signal.

Gold (GLD has more than retraced yesterday's range, traversing 1% high to low on the third day of a strengthening macd bull signal.

The close-to-expiry drama that is a hallmark of iron condors is showing itself in my CVS February holding. The top of the maximum profit range is $34. The price has moved up to and slightly above that level.

For the moment, I'll continue to hold. Yes, options expiry gives shares a slight upward bias, and that's a risk. And yes, CVS is showing a strengthening macd bull signal, and that's a risk. However, when I set up the condor, I chose a strong resistance level for the upper boundary. It will take some time and testing of that level for CVS to push significantly above (barring a news surprise, of course). This is the same argument that I used when my other February iron condor, ERTS, dropped below the lower level of max profit. The gamble paid off. ERTS is sitting nicely in the happy zone. I'm continuing to look for another March covered call. Those I was looking at GCI, FITB and STX, have seen their premiums decline a bit. I'll wait a bit, possibly even as late as Monday, before opening a new position. Let's do the scans and see what's interesting in high-volume . . .

It's a truism in the market that things change, sometimes quickly. The Option Trader Handbook shows how to adjust your positions to turn a lemon of a position into cool, sweet lemonade.

. . . exchange-traded funds:

• XLF, tracking financials, is showing a macd bull signal on the second day of higher trading. It's a counter-trend play, and the price is at resistance. So, from my standpoint, no joy.
• SLV, bull signal, counter-trend.

. . . corporate shares:

• MSFT, macd bull signal. The stock, at $28.42 is trading a resistance set earlier this month. Further resistance at $30 and $31. Also, counter-trend.
• SNDK, macd bull signal on an upside, based on an analyst upgrade and the breaking of a bearish technical pattern. Trading at $29.09, with resistance at $30 and just under $32, $33 and $40.

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Topics:
gold, precious metals, CVS, pharmacies, drugs, Electronic Arts games, financial, silver, Microsoft, Sandisk.