Phil's Stock World, Stock Options Trading & Information

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Phil/Eric/Cwan/Matt/Cap/etc.. - I've learned so much from all of you and want to thank you. I'm up 23% this month thanks to all of your advice - Thanks, guys!

- Josiah

Phil/Everyone here/Thank you - What everyone here with their insightful comments (including yourself) has helped me with is that I'm greatly increasing my ability to trade more psychologically neutral, although I've got a ways to go. Two years ago I'd wake up early and my heart would race if futures weren't pointing exactly how I wanted… I've noticed an exponential leap in my discipline skills especially over this past two weeks. The old me would have ran with that trade for profits without even asking. Now I know that there are ALWAYS more trades and that I have PLENTY of options to turn a bad trade even. Also, it's more logical and less emotionally draining which lets me focus my faculties on my wife, college, my job, and studying for the ol' Series 7. Would it be safe to say that one of the most important skills to develop is the ability to adjust? I'd love to get to the point where I can look at a bracket and know, for example, what I need to sell for cover in what month in order to get my desired results. Both COF and my past DMM venture have been excellent learning experiences. Thanks, everyone. I look forward to further lessons.

- Skasiah

On Optrader's section yesterday he was asked how he works with AAPL as an investment. He replied that he just ‘plays with the covers'. I've got a separate portfolio where I use primarily this technique over the past 6 months. Up 60% The principles involved are stock selection, patience, patience, using covers to protect profits, rolling covers to maximize premium return, and exiting when covers are gone and stock price is high. Sometimes it's hard to remember where you learn to do this stuff, but much of it is from integrating principles I've learned here with thing I already knew. Thanks for the help on this, Phil and others.

- Iflantheman

I am a Registered Nurse, so is my wife. We work hard to take care of seven kids that are the joy of our lives. The cost for a basic membership is ALOT from our our monthly budget of spending and saving…but well worth it! Phil has allowed me to really ramp up the savings we put away for our children's college funds and our retirement.

- David

I discovered PSW while reading up on the US economy and how it applies to all the poor folk of the world and to myself as a humble UK desk slave. This year I put time into learning options trading. I upgraded (with great administrative difficulty!) my stock dealing account to deal options. Now I am an avid reader of PSW and subscribed for voyeur membership. Initially feeling out of my depth struggling to keep up with the peculiar language of options traders, I unsubscribed feeling a little under confident and uncertain if the small stake I have to invest in options could generate enough to justify my PSW subscription. Nevertheless, I've benefited considerably from the member's material. From a small number of initial trades, I've exceeded profit targets enough to consider re-subscribing in some capacity. Thanks for the knowledge and more than anything I appreciate the human angle, the humour and the ecologically sympathetic approach rarely seen in other financial media. Best wishes all - Jon

- Jon

Phil - I followed your great pick re F and sold short the 1011 2.50 puts (200 contracts) and paid for the next 10 years of membership fees…. Thanks!

- Gel1

I have learned more about options in the past 2 weeks as a full PSW member that the previous 5 yrs of making more bad than good option plays. The educational material alone is worth several times the price of admission. I have had an expensive education on what not to do- what is past is past- I am looking forward to profitable/fun future.

- Pstas

Phil, I was so impressed with the personal note in the comments that I went ahead and paid for a months trial of premium that I have been on the fence for awhile about. Just reading the comments makes me already glad for the purchase.

- Smasher

I have been here a year, and made most of my money back from the 14K fall. The people here are more than willing to help whe Phil cannot get to it. FWIW - This site is my brokerage firm, I was with Wells Fargo Portfolio and it was costing a fortune to trade, the costs here are more than offset with the data, trade ideas and profits you should make.. and I get a chuckle out of Cap and Phil's rantings on healtcare, guns, oh, yeah, and government….

- Pharmboy

Hi Phil, Thanks for the free disaster hedge ideas. I implemented variations of two of them on SDS bull call spreads and EEM bear put spreads (haven't done the TZA yet) and they really hedged my short term longs nicely today. Makes it seem a lot less like gambling. You are the man (of the people)!

- Howard Roake

AMZN ... thanks Phil; boy did they run a squeeze on everyone there ... made me sweat ... scaling helped! I think AMZN has an 85 handle tomorrow ... maybe lower.

- Cap

That was a quick double on the DIA calls. trailing stop in place.

- Kwan

WOW, glad I went bearish… Phil, thanks for the help on the QID calls yesterday, I turned it into a partial cover rolling down to the Feb 52s selling the 55s 1/2 covered. Sold 1/2 and now lowered my cost basis to $4.38 on the $52s (fully covered).

- Texasmotion

Hello Phil, Thanks for the heads up on the comming sell off on friday, and the bs job yesterday. your our guiding light!

- Microflux

Phil, Passed a milestone today since joining 2 months ago. 25% of my account is in buy/writes, bull call spreads and disaster hedges. A majority of the trades were taken directly from your ideas or someone else`s contributions. Some were daytrades that became spreads. That part of my account is up 30% as of today. I don`t worry about it, or mess with it much, did a few rolls etc. Rest of the account is there to day trade, cover the writes and take advantage of opportunities. Thanks to everyone who contributes here, what a sweet way to trade, so many opportunities.

- Ben1Be

Have been a member for about 6 months or there abouts. Signed up for a quarter at first and then for a year. To me, and it's only my opinion, it's an investment and I have made the membership fees back many times over on the strategy advice. Since joining and implementing the strategy of buy/writes and hedges I have cut my portfolio losses for the year and have a really good chance of going positive this year. If I would have continued down the road I was on, I would still have been fumbling around without a strategy and completely inept in what I was doing. I feel now the strategy is working and I am far more comfortable with the risks I am taking. I still have a lot to learn but I feel the fees have been one of the best investments I have made. The returns have been fantastic. Still have problems with the politics but hey nobody is perfect

- DKGuy

Thanks, Phil. I really appreciate your sentiment and commitment! Just want to thank you for what you do for all of us.

- JBaker

Once again, many muchos for the SODA trade of last week. Finally out of all three legs. I didn't want to wait for expiration tomorrow and the possible peg at $70.00, following your dictum to not get greedy.

- flipspiceland

I took $2 (up 133%) and ran on those USO puts, quite a bit more than the 20 you played in the $25KP. Thank you once again for turning a bad market week into a great personal week. You will be happy to know I am back to cashy and cautious with a few of your favorite longs into the weekend. Thanks to Phil, JRW and all the members who share their knowledge here.

- Dennis

I am an investor, not a trader. The information at Phil's World is top-notch and always relevant. It is great to see your website thriving.

- Prof

Man, what a week: Bought C at 1.40, sold half at 1.59 (relatively big position), another quarter at 3.04 just now. Ran SKF down from 270 with one April put, still holding some 115's expiring in a couple days. I'm going to gamble this position like a champion Friday. Bought FAS at all sorts of levels and started cashing out. Long HOV, stock and some nickel calls for fun - Mocha up your buy-out from 5 to 8 and that's 10,900% return for the May-2.50's . Ha!

- Biodieselchris

Market manipulation…. One of the things I've gained from this site is the concept of market manipulation. I never thought it was so prevalent, but now I know it is. I actually consider its effect when I make trades. Several days ago, when AAPL was moving toward 220 I sold 210 calls. My reasoning was that they will probably pin this month at 210. They came in big time as the stock moved ever closer to 210. I agree with Phil's comment that one of the things we need to do is find out what they are manipulating, and how, and hitch a ride. They are doing this with several equities. I've actually seen one article describing several equities that were being manipulated to pin at expiration each month, and describing how it was done, and of course Phil has described it well. In some ways it's easier to figure this out than it is a ‘normal' market behavior, and thus easier to make money in certain equities.

- Iflantheman

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! How will I ever do anything else in my life that will compare to the wild ride you get trading an ultra etf in the most volatile sector in the stock market the day before option expiration?

- Matt1966

Newer member here, but just wanted to say thank you too. I've learned so much and I hope you'll be around for a long time helping us learn along the way.

- Where

Very nice in and out on those USO puts again, easy way to get the subscription covered in just a couple of hours. Thanks again Phil and everyone here contributing to such intelligent and informative discussion! I have wasted countless hours reading "professional newsletters" and message board blather over the years. Have learned a great deal here in a very short time. I have sent out a number of invites to friends and family for stockworld!

- Eyezz

Phil/BCS - Didn't realise they traded here. Should've known really. Thanks for the tip. managed to pick some up just before the close at a 15% discount to the UK closing price.

- DB

WOW, look at DRYS go. Nice call on the entry the other week Phil. I got 200 at $6.66 and sold a 7.5 call for $.50, then on the tear today sold another 7.5 call for $1. This should puts me in at an average of $5.91 and called away at $7.5 for a profit of $300+ after commisions. Once again another Phil trade pays for this months membership.

- Craigzooka

Sold the BG puts I got yesterday at $1.30 for $2 just now. Might be a little early, but I'm happy with that gain. Thanks Phil.

- Smasher

Phil - Thanks for the welcoming gift of the POT at a buck Just paid for this month and my membership is not even 24 hours old! looking forward to many more - bk

- Bjkeck

Simply the best blogger with the greatest group of members a person could surround himself with on trading day. I've been trading for quite some time now and the insights & suggestions offered by Phil and the members keep me on a continuous learning cycle.

- DDay

Posts Tagged ‘DRYS’

Retail ETF Sees Large Protective Ratio Put Play

www.interactivebrokers.com

by Option Review - June 1st, 2009 5:16 pm

Today’s tickers: XRT, CSX, POT, MON, LO & DRYS

XRT– Shares of the retail ETF have lifted higher by more than 6% to $29.19 today despite the decline in U.S. consumer spending for the second month in a row. Spending continues to suffer in the face of rising unemployment and increased efforts to save by consumers still raw from the record wealth destruction experienced in the recession. We observed one investor populate the XRT with a ratio put spread likely employed to lock into gains enjoyed on the recent rally and to establish protection from potential downward movement in shares through September’s expiration. The ratio spread involved the purchase of 25,000 puts at the September 25 strike price for a premium of 1.17 apiece which were spread against the sale of 50,000 puts at the lower September 20 strike for about 35 cents per contract. The net cost of the transaction amounts to 82 cents and yields maximum potential profits of 4.18 if shares were to edge down to $20.00 by expiration. – SPDR Retail ETF

CSX– The rail-based transportation supplier has experienced a share price rally of more than 6.5% to $33.94 in today’s trading session, attracting a plethora of option traders to the station. Near-term investors locked into recent gains by getting long of put options some 3,000 times at the June 33 strike price for 1.19 each. The higher and now in-the-money June 34 strike price saw 1,200 puts bought for 1.51 apiece. Bullish options sentiment spread to the July 35 strike price where 3,900 calls were scooped up for an average premium of 2.10 each. Call buyers at the July 35 strike are looking for shares of CSX to climb another 9% through the breakeven point at $37.10 in order to garner profits by expiration. Optimism for continued bullish movement in the stock spread to the November contract where it appears one trader has enacted a butterfly spread. The purchase of 6,000 calls at the November 40 strike price for 2.10 apiece [body] was offset by the sale of 3,000 calls at the November 35 strike for 3.80 each [wing 1] and by the sale of 3,000 calls at the higher November 45 strike price for 1.00 per contract [wing 2]. The trader receives a 60 cent credit for the transaction (1*3.80 + 1*1.00 – 2*2.10 = 0.60 cents). The investor would retain the net…

Tags: CSX, DRYS, LO, MON, POT, XRT

1 Comment »

Call Buyers Emerge

www.interactivebrokers.com

by Option Review - May 30th, 2009 6:54 am

Today’s tickers: EEM, DRYS, SLV, GLD, DHI, BRCM, STSI & LFC

EEM– The emerging markets fund attracted a number of option investors again today following the put-spreading frenzy observed yesterday. A repeat performance looks to be in the works in the September contract, but fresh call buying activity was witnessed in the July contract today. Shares of the ETF have risen 1% to $33.05. It appears that 5,000 calls were purchased at the July 36 strike price for a premium of 51 cents apiece. But, even more noteworthy was the July 39 strike where it looks as though some 30,000 calls were bought for about 13 cents per contract. Shares would need to experience a rally of approximately 18% to breach the breakeven point at $39.13 by expiration in a couple of months. The emerging markets fund was last trading above $39.00 on August 29, 2008. – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF

DRYS– Shares of the Greek cargo-carrier are higher by more than 11% to $8.13 today fueled by gains of 5.05% in the dry bulk shipping index, which has climbed more than 90% in the month of May. A number of shipping stocks have edged upwards, but DryShips caught our attention as option traders made some bullish plays in the July contract. The July 9.0 strike price had more than 5,800 calls purchased for an average premium of 80 cents apiece. More optimistic individuals targeted the July 10 strike and pocketed 1,200 calls for 63 cents each. Shares would need to rally by an additional 30% through the breakeven point at $10.63 before profits are realized by investors long of July 10 calls. – Dryships, Inc.

SLV– A massive strangle strategy was initiated by one option trader looking for shares of the silver ETF to continue to exhibit bullishness through expiration in January of 2010. The SLV ticker symbol exploded to the top of our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after 100,000 puts were sold at the January 13 strike for a premium of 83 cents apiece in conjunction with 100,000 calls shed at the January 19 strike for 1.04 each. The gross premium on the strangle amounts to 1.87 and looks to have been applied toward the purchase of 75,000 calls at the in-the-money January 14 strike at a cost of 2.80 each. The price tag on the long call position was effectively reduced…

Tags: BRCM, DHI, DRYS, EEM, GLD, LFC, SLV, STSI

1 Comment »

Friday Already?

by Phil - May 22nd, 2009 8:29 am

Man what a fun week, I can’t believe it’s ending so soon!

We are already on vacation, having followed our plan to cash out at the bottom yesterday anticipating some short covering today that would take up the markets. Actually, we took some bullish plays into yesterday’s close as it was such an obvious set-up for a stick save and there was so much bad news out already that we weren’t too worried about more. My hot streak continued as I posted to members at 11:13, with the Dow on the rise at 8,267: "OIH now at the 5% rule (94) and XLE at -4% (47.50 is 5%) and Nas at 2.5% rule (1,685) along with RUT (477) while S&P needs 880, Dow needs 8,220, and NYSE 5,725. Those are the points that should hold and bounce us at least back to -2% but, after the way they behaved at 1.5%, we need to see them retake -1.25 before we’re even slightly safe."

The Nas bottomed out at 1,678 at 2:45 but came back 20 points to -1.89%, the Russell hit 474 at the same time but finishe down 1.66%, the S&P hit 880 on the nose at 2:53 before recovering to -1.68%, the Dow hit 8,224 at 2:52 but rallied back to down 1.54% and the NYSE bottomed out at 5,728 at 2:58 before making it back to -1.53. Now I know there are lots of stock services that can tell you exactly what the market will do for the day 3 days in a row and I’m certain that there’s no way to profit from that kind of information anyway so, whatever you do – don’t sign up for this service (see, we are cleverly experimenting with reverse psychology!). We took quick profits on our DIA calls into the close but left our DDM (ultra-long Dow) calls on for fun and they should get a nice pop this morning. We also couldn’t resist some great buy opportunities during that sell-off and we picked up new, hedged positions in HMY, FIG, DRYS, RF, DAL and UYG in addition to our Dow plays. As we also sold the Dow puts to cover our longer covers – we ended up pretty darned bullish after being 100% bearish at the open. We are flexible if nothing else!

Our futures are looking pretty good this morning despite BKUNA being siezed by regulators in a move that will take a $4.9Bn bite out…

Tags: CHINA, DAL, DIA, Dollar, DRYS, FIG, HMY, National Debt, Oil, Philstockworld, RF, USO, UYG

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Cisco lower ahead of earnings: Put selling noted

www.interactivebrokers.com

by Option Review - May 4th, 2009 6:11 pm

Today’s tickers: CSCO, NYT, DRYS, INTC, VIX, MON, USB, CROX, IPG, ELN, & WFC

CSCO Cisco Systems, Inc. – Shares are off slightly by less than 1% to $19.42 ahead of earnings expected for release from the company this Wednesday. We observed a rash of put selling in the June and July contracts, a bullish sign from option investors on the stock. The in-the-money June 20 strike price saw some 4,700 puts sold for a premium of 1.40 apiece while the in-the-money July 20 strike also had about 4,500 puts sold for 1.61 per contract. Finally, the deeper in-the-money July 21 strike had some 4,400 puts shed for a rich premium of 2.23 apiece. Perhaps put-sellers see Cisco rebounding through the summer months.

NYT The New York Times Company – The media company has experienced a share price surge of more than 8.5% to $5.87 amid reports that the New England newspaper, The Boston Globe, is safe for now as NYT has not filed its intention to close the newspaper. NYT appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner late in the trading day as one investor appears to have sold 5,000 in-the-money puts at the July 7.5 strike price for a premium of 2.12 apiece in order to fund a bull call position in the October contract. The put premium helped fund the purchase of 15,000 calls at the October 10 strike for about 37 cents each. The trade yields a net credit of about 1.01 to the investor given the richer put premium received on the sale (1*2.12 – [3* 0.37] = 1.01). NYT plans to continue talks with its unions in order to avoid closing The Globe. The deadlines for negotiations have been extended to Sunday.

DRYS DryShips, Inc. – Shares of the shipping company have gained 13% to arrive at the current share price of $9.35. The drybulk carrier received a target share price increase to $12.00 from $10.00 by an analyst at Jeffries & Co. as well as an upgrade to ‘outperform’ at Oppenheimer. Bulls hungry for a continued near-term rally on DRYS picked up 12,500 call options at the May 11 strike price for an average premium of 25 cents apiece. The overall tone on the Greek fleet was optimistic as investors showed their preference for call options by trading calls more than five times to every put option in play. It…

Tags: CROX, CSCO, DRYS, ELN, INTC, IPG, MON, NYT, USB, VIX, WFC

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DryShips upgrade attracts option investors to upper deck

www.interactivebrokers.com

by Option Review - April 17th, 2009 4:29 pm

Today’s tickers: DRYS, XTO, LGF, MCRI, RVBD, RF, HA, CBS, PCLN

DRYS DryShips, Inc. – The drybulk carrier’s share price rally of more than 25% to $6.94 breathes new life into DryShips’ sails today amid an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘market perform’ by an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. this morning. The company has also managed to raise $500 million via equity offering that it plans to use to decrease its massive debt. Option investors saluted the bullish news by purchasing calls in the May contract. At the May 7.5 strike price 7,300 calls were picked up for an average premium of 59 cents apiece. Shares need only rise by an additional 7% in order for the May 7.5 strike calls to land in-the-money by expiration next month. More optimistic traders selected the May 9.0 strike and bought 3,000 calls for about 28 cents per contract. Another positive sign for the cargo-carrier was the sale of 1,400 puts at the May 6.0 strike price for 74 cents each as some investors hope that shares remain above the breakeven on the trade at $5.26 by expiration. While much of the activity we observed was bullish in the May contract, we did notice that some downside protection was sought at the May 7.5 strike price as about 2,100 in-the-money puts were picked up at an average premium of 1.55 each.

XTO XTO Energy, Inc. – Shares of the oil and gas exploration company have rallied by more than 3% to $35.20. XTO edged onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after one investor took profits by closing a short put position. It appears that this individual originally established a short position on March 11, 2009, by selling 19,500 puts at the August 22.5 strike price for a premium of 1.86 apiece. Today, he purchased the lot of 19,500 puts at the same strike for an average price of 75 cents apiece. The difference between the two put premiums yields this investor 1.11 today for closing the position. It looks as though he plans to once again profit from a similar trade as he sold 15,000 puts at the August 26 strike price for an average premium of 1.35 apiece.

LGF Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation – The diversified independent producer and distributor of motion pictures jumped to the top of our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner after one investor…

Tags: CBS, DRYS, HA, LGF, MCRI, PCLN, RF, RVBD, XTO

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Investors dispute Monsanto “Hold” assessment

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by Option Review - March 25th, 2009 5:13 pm

Today’s tickers: MON, HPQ, WFC, MYGN, QCOM, XLI, C, WFR, DRYS, FXI, AMD & RMBS

MON Monsanto Company – The St. Louis-based provider of herbicides, seeds, and related biotechnology trait products used to improve farming productivity, experienced a 1.5% decrease in shares to $82.13. Despite the slight decline, a report from Standard & Poor’s this morning noted that the agriculture sector experienced its strongest year in 2008, and further, that “seed and agriculture technology companies stand to benefit” from the health of the farm economy. Monsanto was highlighted for its solid research and development efforts and its promising estimates for earnings through 2012. However, one analyst did report that shares are “fairly valued” at $84.00, prompting a ‘hold’ recommendation. MON popped onto our market scanners after one investor initiated a bull call spread in the May contract. The purchase of 7,500 calls at the 95 strike price for 2.30 was spread against the sale of 7,500 calls at the 105 strike for 55 cents apiece. The net cost of this strategy amounts to 1.75 and yields a maximum potential profit of 8.25 if shares can rally upwards to $105 by expiration. Shares would need to grow by 28% in the next 2 months in order for this optimist to succeed in capturing the maximum profit of 8.25 by expiration day.

HPQ Hewlett-Packard Co. – In contrast to the call-selling witnessed yesterday in the options world, today investors were keen on purchasing calls in the November contract as shares of HPQ rally 1% to $30.95. The world’s largest personal-computer maker received an “outperform” rating by RBC Capital Markets due to the company’s, “diverse revenue portfolio, recurring book of business, stronger margin profile and solid management team,” according to one report released today. While most of the activity occurred in the November contract, one investor was seen banking profits on the sale of 3,000 calls at the in-the-money April 27.5 strike price for a premium of 4.00. Moving ahead 7 months, investors splurged on 2,000 November 32.5 calls for 4.40 apiece. Meanwhile, 5,500 calls were purchased at the 35 strike price for 3.40 at the same time that 6,500 calls were picked up for 2.50 at the 37.5 strike price. Finally, the most optimistic traders looked to the November 40 strike where some 2,400 calls were coveted for a premium of 1.80 per contract. Investors are clearly hoping for HPQ to…

Tags: AMD, C, DRYS, FXI, HPQ, MON, MYGN, QCOM, RMBS, WFC, WFR, XLI

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Commodity bulls go call buying at DryShips and Schlumberger

www.interactivebrokers.com

by Option Review - March 19th, 2009 5:39 pm

Today’s tickers: DRYS, SLB, GE, EWZ, YHOO, BAC, C, FRE, MS, JPM & RYL

DRYS DryShips, Inc. – With the wind at its back, DryShips has experienced a 26% rally today to stand at $5.29. Investors were seen getting bullish on the drybulk carrier by purchasing call options across multiple contracts. Highly optimistic traders picked up more than 5,600 calls at the April 7.5 strike price for 39 cents each. In order to profit from the calls, shares would need to increase by an additional 49% from the current price in order to breach the breakeven point at $7.89 by expiration next month.

SLB Schlumberger Limited – When the closing bell tolls oil will likely remain above $50 for the second time since January 15th. SLB is riding the wave of higher oil prices today with shares up 5.5% to $45.30. A provider of project management and information solutions to clients in the oil and gas industry, SLB has seen its share price touch all the way down to $35.61 earlier this month. Hoping that the darkest days are behind Schlumberger, option traders picked up 14,000 calls at the April 50 strike price for a premium of 1.23 each. Shares will need to continue to rally by another 13% in order to surpass the breakeven point at $51.23 by expiration.

GE General Electric – Voicing loudly his opinion that the share price rally at GE won’t necessarily be long lasting, one option trader wrote the September 10/12 call spread 34,000 times earlier for a credit of 88 cents. Currently the rally is holding after comments from the company and shares are higher by 2% at $10.50. Higher premium calls at the 10 strike were sold in exchange for lower premium ones at the 12 strike. The size of the credit for bearing the risk of the trade determines that losses would accrue starting from a share price of $10.88 at expiration and would amass to a maximum of 1.12 per contract should shares rally to the upper strike or above.

EWZ iShares MSCI Brazil – As the U.S. markets travel downward, risk appetite has spread to emerging markets where such an appetite is more favorable today. Shares are up 2% for the ETF and option trades indicate bullish sentiment on EWZ. In the April contract traders shed more than 66,000 puts between the 28/36 strike prices, bringing in premiums ranging…

Tags: BAC, C, DRYS, EWZ, FRE, GE, JPM, MS, RYL, SLB, YHOO

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Market Montage

Whitney Houston Dead at 48

February 11th, 2012 8:20 pm

Submitted by Mark Hanna

Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.

Damn. Two (MJ and Whitney) of the big 4 of the 80s gone – Madonna and Prince remain. Probably the most well known Star Spangled Banner ever…

Disclosure Notice

Any securities mentioned on this page are not held by the author in his personal portfolio. Securities mentioned may or may not be held by the author in the mutual fund he manages, the Paladin Long Short Fund (PALFX). For a list of the aforementioned fund's holdings at the end of the prior quarter, visit the Paladin Funds website at http://www.paladinfunds.com/holdings/blog

...

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Zero Hedge

Europe: "The Flaw"

February 11th, 2012 8:05 pm

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Submitted by Tyler Durden.

We have posted various extracts from this piece from Credit Suisse previously. We will post from it again, because, to loosely paraphrase Lewis Black, it bears reposting... especially in the context of the latest and greatest Greek "bailout" (of Europe's bankers), which incidentally, will achieve nothing and merely bring the country one step closer to a military coup and/or civil war.

The flaw

The market is essentially proceeding on the assumption, as we see it, that banks’ capital requirements can be met organically, through earnings and deleveraging. We ...

Phil's Favorites

It's Well Past Time for Plan Z

February 11th, 2012 6:46 pm

It's Well Past Time for Plan Z

Courtesy of The Automatic Earth

Mario Draghi captured the utter ineptitude of him and every other Eurocrat out there when he said the following at today’s press conference in response to a question about a Greek exit: “To have a Plan B means defeat already. I am confident that all the pieces of this will fall in the proper places.”

Most 5-year old children in pre-school have already been told not to believe that they can always win and that “winning isn’t everything”, but Draghi & Co. still refuse to consider the possibility of failure even as it is staring them in the face. What’s really disturbing is that the stakes here are obviously much, much higher than they are o...

Chart School

The Student Loan Debt Bomb

February 11th, 2012 5:35 pm

Courtesy of Doug Short.

Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.

It's interesting to watch some of the terms bandied about in headline news. For example, the LA Times headline reads S&P says student loan debt could be next financial bubble.

Next? Could Be?

What with the word "next"? Also what's with the words "could be"? Without a doubt student loans are in a bubble and have been for many years. The source of the problem, as it always is with financial bubbles, is cheap money, loans to nearly anyone, and in the case of student loans, no way to discharge the debt, even in bankruptcy.

From the article:

"Student-loan debt has ballooned and m...

Sabrient

Sabrient Risers - 2/11/2012

February 11th, 2012 12:00 am

Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysisICABUYThe projected value for Empresas ICA is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.XBUYThe projected value for US Steel is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.FEICBUYProjected value continues to rise for FEI while long term increases in earnings growth are also becoming more widely expected.ASBCBUYMany analysts are expecting higher than previously expected long term growth from Associated Bancorp, and its near-term earnings outlook is also improving....

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Insider Scoop

Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday February 10, 2012

February 10th, 2012 6:20 pm

Courtesy of Benzinga.

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday February 10, 2012:

Actuant Acquires Jeyco Pty

The Deal:
Actuant (NYSE: ATU) announced Friday that it has acquired Jeyco Pty Ltd (“Jeyco”). Headquartered near Perth, Australia, Jeyco designs and provides specialized mooring, rigging and towing systems and services to the offshore oil & gas industry in Australia and other international markets. Additionally, its highly engineered products are used in a variety of applications for other markets including cyclone mooring and marine, defense and mining tow systems. Jeyco generates annual revenues of approximately $20 million.

Actuant shares closed at $27.33 Friday, a loss of 0.18% on average volume.

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ETF Selector

ETFs Skid On Greece (VGK, EWG, FXE, DIA, SPY)

February 10th, 2012 4:11 pm

Courtesy of John Nyaradi.

Greece was “saved” for less than 24 hours but now major ETFs around the world skid into the weekend on Greek fears

After wangling for a week or more, Greek took their new deal to the European Ministers meeting, only to have it promptly rejected and so as we go into the weekend, major global markets and ETFs have again hit the skids on Greece.

After two years of wangling, the European zone is demanding yet more and deeper cuts for Greece to qualify for the next round of bailout loans that will keep the country from going bankrupt on March 20th.

Major European and United States ETF responded negatively to the new developments:

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial ETF (NYSEARCA:...

All About Trends

Mid-Day Update

February 10th, 2012 1:40 pm

Reminder: David is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Click here for the full report.

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Option Review

True Religion Falls Apart At The Seams After Earnings

February 10th, 2012 1:22 pm

Today’s tickers: TRLG, KR & IGT

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OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of February 6th, 2012

February 6th, 2012 9:02 am

Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).

We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options.

Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.

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

Optrader

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Stock World Weekly

Stock World Weekly: The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics

February 5th, 2012 5:19 am

NEW: Elliott and Ilene are available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.

Here's the latest Stock World Weekly, called "The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics."

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IRA Strategy/Income Trader

Weekend Virtual Portfolio Update 1/30/2012

January 30th, 2012 7:22 am

Here is a quick update of past trades and our current position. AA Money No trade this week as we wait for AA to settle. Phil remarked last week that AA seemed overvalued. In the meantime, it looks like we might have to roll our Feb 9 calls. Good thing we sold only 5 of them against our position. Last week P&L - 310.00 We lost ground last week, but we still have 11 months to sell premium! FAS Money Very good week for FAS Money as we benefited from the large amount of premium sold the previous week. We covered most of the shorts in advance of the Fed speech, but sold another set of options on Wednesday after the speech - 2 FAS calls that expired worthless on Friday, 2 FAS put that we are still holding and 2 FAZ put that we bought back for a profit on Friday. A late stick comparable to last week's almost gave us problems at the end of the day though! Last week P&L - $4277.00 IWM Money A decent week in this virtual portfo...

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Pharmboy

Biotech Investing for 2012

January 18th, 2012 1:09 am

Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Finding new and exciting Biotech companies that target novel mechanisms is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure there are many companies working on cutting edge science, but investing in those companies to reap the rewards of their work is a very dangerous game. More often than not, companies fail because the mechanism does not pan out, the compound(s) do not have pharmacokinetics (get into the body or last very long in the body), or an adverse event happens that knocks years off a development timeline. In addition, the stock can be manipulated by market makers so investors don't know which way is up. I approach investing in biotechs as a long term prospect. I continue to like our current portfolio of biotech companies (join in chat for many of those plays), and we continually add/subtract shares and sell/buy options on ...

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About Phil:

Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...

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Ilene is editor and affiliate program coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site (blogroll, archives, more). Contact Ilene to learn about our affiliate and content sharing programs.

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