Tuesday, May 11, 2010

5/12 Almanac

On Wednesday, May 12: International trade.

There are 10 days before the last trading day for May options, 38 the June and 66 the July.

On the jump, market stats, econ reports, rules, my holdings and a good book...

Stats


Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session down 0.3% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 2.1% high to low in a net move down of 0.7%.

Today's extremes: Open $115.07, high $117.36, low  $114.91, close $115.83.

SPY traded both above and below the DeMark pivots before closing within their range. The next DeMark pivots are $115.37-$117.82.

In total, 3.9 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 700 million fewer than in the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

The international trade report will be released at 8:30 a.m. Estern. Are we selling more abroad than we're buying? Bet not.

Weekly petroleum inventories will be out at 10:30 a.m.

Talking Fedheads: Boston Fed Pres Eric Rosengren at 10:15 a.m. and St. Louis Fed Pres. James Bullard at 1:15 p.m.


Rules:

By my rules, at this point in the cycle I can trade June covered calls, iron condors, and butterfly, calendar, diagonal and vertical spreads. Also, July single calls or puts. Shares, of course, are good anytime.


My Holdings

May expiry:
  • CIEN, bull call spread, c18/-c19
  • GE, bull call spread, c18/-c19
  • QQQQ, bull call spread, c49/-c50 
  • UNP, bull call spread, c75/-c80

Dividend shares: AOD, JNK, NLY

Special situation: PALM

Zombie shares: MCO

Good trading!


The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets

Martin Pring's detailed deconstruction of the economic cycle: What sorts stocks to look for at each stage of the recovery. A masterful analysis.





The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets

Martin Pring's detailed deconstruction of the economic cycle: What sorts stocks to look for at each stage of the recovery. A masterful analysis.



Skynet Panic of May 6
Panic Looks Like This
Skynet Panic Poisons Technical Tools


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.

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