Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session at $112.30, up 0.09% from the prior close.
In total, 3.5 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, unchanged from the day before.
On the jump, mediawatch, rules, econ reports, portfolio and a good book...
Mediawatch: New narratives! New narratives! Although sadly, less plausible than most. AP points to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book is the motivator market (in)action today. The Beigey, as it is affectionately called by central bankers, of course is the trailingest of trailing indicators and doesn't influence much at all. Reuters points to White House drafts of health care and financial regulation reform, as though there were anything new to be said about those issues. Pharmaceutical shares were down, and that of course influences the indexes, but still, the likelihood that Senate Democrats would bypass the supermajority requirement in order to pass health care reform has been on the table a long time, and is an unlikely motivator. | 101 lessons to help you prioritize your trading goals and your life. |
My rules allow trades in April calendar and vertical spreads. I allow myself to trade unhedged call and put option purchases that expire in May or later. Covered calls, diagonals, iron condors and butterflies are all off the table for now.
Econ reports include:
- Weekly jobless claims and productivity a 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Jobless claims will lead the full employment report on Friday (meaning it provides later numbers). Productivity is a key measure of labor supply vs. the output capacity, and gains in productivity can help the economic recovery.
- Factory orders and pending home sales at 10 a.m. Factory orders measures demand and the factories' ability to meet it. Pending home sales is yet another measure of how the housing industry is doing, a sector key to the recovery (just as it was key to the onset of recession).
March expiry:
- AKS, iron condor, p19/-p20/-p25/p26
- CAL, covered call, s/-c19
- CSCO, iron condor, p22/-p23/-c25/c26
- GCI, covered call, s/-c15
- WFC, iron condor, p26/-p27/-c29/c30
Zombie shares: MCO, PALM.
Good trading!
New to private trading? Here's a look at How to Become a Private Trader.
Topics: S&P 500, SPDR, Spiders, AK Steel Holdings, Alpine Dynamic Dividend closed-end fund, Continental Airlines aviation, Cisco Systems networking, Gannett newspapers media, Moodys bond rating, Annaly Capital Management, Palm smartphone Pixi Pri, Wells Fargo bank financial.
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