Monday, May 3, 2010

5/4 Almanac

On Tuesday, May 4: Home sales leading indicator

There are 18 days before the last trading day for May options, 46 the June and 74 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 up 1.3% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 1.2% low to high in a net move up of 0.8%.

Today's extremes: Open $119.38, high $120.68, low  $119.20, close $120.35.

SPY closed above the range of the DeMark pivots. The next DeMark pivots are $119.78/$121.26.

In total, 4.4 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 900 million than in the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

The Realtors will release the pending home sales report at 10 a.m. Eastern. This shows the number of existing homes where there's a contract but it hasn't closed yet. This is intended to be a leading indicator of where completed home sales will be.



Rules:

By my rules, at this point in the cycle I can trade June calendar and vertical spreads, and 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: 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.




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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