3/5 Almanac

Friday, March 5, is 14 days before March options expire, 42 the April and 77 the May.

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session at $112.64, up 0.3% from the prior close.

In total, 3 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, down 14.2% from the day before.

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

Mediawatch: The Narrative is that stocks are doing nothing as traders await Friday's employment report. Had stocks risen, it would have been because of optimistic hopes for the report. If fallen, then because of pessimistic fears. Is a motive force that can explain any move whatsoever really a valid explainer? Gravity causes the apple to fall and the balloon to rise? What is the price struck by one trader trading? If a stock falls on a weekend, does anybody care? Heavy zen! AP's version of The Narrative, and Reuters'. My rules allow trades in April iron condors and butterfly, calendar and vertical spreads.  I allow myself to trade unhedged call and put option purchases that expire in May or later. Covered calls and diagonals are all off the table for now. Econ reports include: Employment and unemployment numbers at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. This report often has significant market impact, despite being a trailing indicator. Installment credit (debt) owed by consumers, at 3 p.m. The report as a two-month lag, so no one cares so much. It's like a report on who won the Battle of Gettysburg.

The myth of fair value and how to take advantage of it. Since we traders live on the presumption of market-driven value. "The psychology of prices is, to an extent, the psychology of life, and thus the lessons of Priceless are indeed life lessons." --math guy John Allen Paulos.

My portfolio consists of . . .

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

Shares for dividends: AOD, NLY.

Zombie shares: MCO, PALM.

Good trading!




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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.