There are 12 trading days left before April options expire, 47 the May and 75 the June.
On the jump, media, rules, econ reports, portfolio and a good book...
The stock markets were closed Friday for the Christian Good Friday holiday, the start of Eastern weekend.
Monday's DeMark pivots for SPY are $117.23/$118.38.
Mediawatch: Stephen Bernard and Tim Paradis at AP quite properly focused on the rise in interest rates after the Friday employment report. Leah Schnurr at Reuters did a much more speculative piece about hopes for higher stock prices amid an improving labor market and higher earnings yadda yadda yadda. In other words, a classic thumbsucker (as we call it in the business). The question to ask when reading such stories is, "How does Leah know? Or Leah's sources?" There are so many people trading so many shares for so many different reasons based on the hopes and fears of any given moment, a week-ahead look at the markets is slightly -- I don't mean to be rude here -- ridiculous. Bernard and Tim each get a smiley face for his workstation. Leah gets a frowny face. | A veteran of the markets, writing with the serious trader in mind, details a proven approach to analyzing market behavior, identifying profitable trade setups, and executing and managing trades–from entry to exit. |
Econ report:
The National Association of Realtors at 10 a.m. Eastern will report the pending home sales index. This is intended to be a leading indicator of how existing home sales will go, and the market watches it closely.
A sale qualifies for the index when the contract has been signed but not yet closed.
The monthly employment report was released Friday, when the U.S. stock markets were closed. S&P 500 futures moved higher on Friday, and I think Monday in part will be a response to that pre-weekend report.
My rules allow trades in May calendar and vertical spreads, as well as in unhedged call and put option purchases that expire in June or later. New positions in covered calls, iron condors, and diagonal and butterfly spreads aren't permissable at this point in the calendar.
My portfolio consists of . . .
April expiry:
Dividend shares: AOD, JNK, NLY
Zombie shares: PALM.
Enjoy the weekend!
New to private trading? Here's a look at How to Become a Private Trader.
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