Phil's Favorites

Hmmm... Do We Need To Guillotine The WTO?

February 9th, 2010 11:59 am

Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker

That sounds dramatic - even drastic.

But is it?

There's an argument raised over at "Washington's Blog" that the real cause of all the financial problems -the global mess - is the WTO:

On March 1, 1999, countries accounting for more than 90 per cent of the global financial services market signed onto the ...

Zero Hedge

Sigh, More Almunia Headlines

February 9th, 2010 10:48 am

Courtesy of Tyler Durden

10:44 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: SUPPORT SHOULD BE IN RETURN FOR GREEK EFFORTS10:43 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: WANTS EU LEADERS TO SAY THEY WILL SUPPORT GREECE10:41 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: CURRENT SITUATION MOST DIFFICULT SINCE EMU START10:41 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: EU SPECIAL SUMMIT THURSDAY V IMPORTANT10:40 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: NEED TO REESTABLISH CONFIDENCE IN EMU, EURO10:34 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: NEED TO INCREASE COORDINATION IN EURO ZONE10:36 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: EMU CAN AND SHOULD SOLVE GREECE BY OURSELVES

Chart School

THE MARKET IS FOLLOWING A SCRIPT YOU CAN PROFIT FROM

February 8th, 2010 10:12 pm

Courtesy of David Grandey

All About Trends

Is The Market Following A Script? If you ask Elliott it is. From Our Recent Blog: "There is also a good possibility that the whole move down off the January highs traces out ABCDE (5 Waves down before all said and done). But we'll take it a step at a time." The S&P 500 chart below has more of a 3 waves (abc) look to it just like we talked about in advance to be on the lookout for. The only problem was it's prime entry took place in the form of a gap and within minutes traced out the bulk of Thursday's move. But still it's all about trends and it's locked in a downtrend channel. One look at last week's action in the OTC Composite below (remember this area of the...

Trading Goddess

Testy Tuesday - Faber Says US Treasuries Are Junk

February 9th, 2010 9:14am

"If the US were a corporation, it would have bonds that are junk rated."

That's the word from Marc Faber but, then again, his column is called the "Gloom, Boom, Doom Report" so he is very much talking his book. Faber makes the case that our unfunded liabilities make the US a toxic investment, much the way GM health and pension obligations. The US ended up bailing out GM but who can bail out the US? Faber argues that additional debt growth no longer has the ability to add to GDP growth, meaning we have passed a tipping point where we have no choice but to pay off existing debt (most likely through inflation) or default.

Pragmatic Capitalist has a great article discussing...

Oxen Group Trades

The Oxen Report: Three, Three, Three: A Trade of the Day, An Overnight Trade of the Day, and a Long Play Too

February 9th, 2010 9:22 am

Hello readers,

I apologize for missing the last few days. I have been really busy with some other projects. So, to make it up to you, I have three picks for today. ...

The Options Report

By Andrew Wilkinson

Bank of America Bears Buy Puts

February 8th, 2010 4:14 pm

Today’s tickers: BAC, PBR, F, FXI, NXY, KFT, DELL & HPQ

BAC – Bank of America Corp. – Bearish option traders purchased put options on Bank of America today with shares of the firm trading 3% lower to $14.52. The number of put options purchased at the March $14 strike price surpassed existing open interest at that strike, suggesting many investors are bracing for continued near-term share price erosion. Approximately 33,000 puts were purchased for an average premium of $0.59 apiece at the March $14 strike. Investors picking up the put options perhaps anticipate B of A’s share price could slip beneath the effective breakeven point on the trade at $13.41 ahead of March expiration. The 12% increase in the reading of options implied volatility on Bank of America to 43.74% today points to increased fluctuation in the...

Insider Zone

INSIDER BUYING & SELLING REMAINS BEARISH

February 8th, 2010 7:45 pm

Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist

After a brief respite last week, insider buying and selling trends returned to their regularly scheduled bearishness.  The recent market dip has not attracted many buyers to the market as total insider buying for the latest week totaled just $10.2MM.   Total selling surged to $490MM from last week’s reading of $250.1MM.

The insider selling and buying trends continue to reflect the low level of confidence that insiders have in the future performance of their own shares.  This has been best reflected in the continuing weak trends in the labor markets and the...

OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of February 8th, 2010

February 7th, 2010 11:43 pm

This post is for live trades and daily comments. 

To learn more about the swing trading portfolio (strategy, membership etc.), please click here

- Optrader

• German
• Spanish
• French
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Japanese
• Korean
• Russian
• Chinese

• 19,699 Newsletter subscribers