Wednesday Wheeeee – We Love it When a Plan Comes Together!
by Phil - January 11th, 2012 8:21 am
Once again, we're done with our day before you get up.
In my 5am note to Members, I said: "I see nothing in the news to justify this pre-market "recovery" and I hate to sound like a broken record but I like shorting oil (/CL) if we get below that $102 line with tight stops and the Dow (/YM) is right at 12,400, which is a great spot to short. RUT (/TF) is at 762 and below 760 (same as yesterday) will confirm a downturn but 12,400 is a great line so why wait?" By 6:26, I was able to follow it up with:
And wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! There go the Futures!
It's 7:07 and we're still going down, with oil at $101.24 (up $760 per contract) and the Dow at 12,340 (up $300 per contract) and, as Dennis said: "Good enough for steak and eggs for me!" Roro got up late but still caught the Dow at 6:16 and that was right on the nose for the oil drop as well as we hit it right on the nose this morning and now we're done and waiting for the next good set-up.
Of course we scale in and scale out of positions as there's no need to get greedy in the Futures, where a single remaining contract catching a $1 move down in oil (now $101.25 again) pays $1,000. This week, we have even stationed our own Craigzooka in New Zealand, where it's tomorrow – which makes it much easier to bet on today's action as he can tell us what happened already! Not that today was all that hard to predict, right? My comment to Members LAST Wednesday was:
It’s been a pretty reliable bet that they tank the markets into the longer-term note auctions because it scares people into T-Bills and keeps the rates low. From this line-up, it seems to me they intend to jack us up on Friday and then zap us on Tuesday as Esther George releases something hawkish ahead of the 3-year and it’s no coincidence that Plosser, by far the biggest Hawk, is given the floor at 12:30 on Wednesday – just 30 minutes before the critical 10-year auction. Coincidence? Surely you cannot be that naive!
So that's how we've been playing the past 7 days and it culminated in pressing our…
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DiggWhite Christmas Portfolio Wrap-Up
by Phil - December 24th, 2011 8:31 am
Merry Christamas!
I know it’s tacky to give cash but, as we closed our original, virtual $25,000 Portfolio early on October 20th and we were miles ahead of our $100,000 goal, we decided to do this bonus portfolio starting with a fresh virtual $15,000 set aside out of our $130,000 – risking 1/2 of the excess profits in an attempt to make 60% more ($10,000) in two months.
We started that Monday, the 24th of October with our GNW spread (which I also discussed on TV that day) and that Friday we put up the official post where, I will remind you, our stated goal was to make a little bonus money for the holidays AND to share some of that money with a worthy cause. I want to thank everyone who chose to donate to the NYC Food Bank, we got some really spectacular donations from some of you and I really appreciate it and I hope you have all gotten into the holiday spirit and helped to support those in need this season – it’s much appreciated and I thank you.
Just as importantly, I very much hope you were able to learn something following this portfolio. We never put much capital at risk, we took quick profits off the table and we worked our way out of most of our losses through rolling and adjusting – letting the trading range do most of the hard work. Most importantly, we had BALANCE – we selected trades in both directions – enjoying the wild ride from the up and down markets.
That strategy, in fact, worked very well!
As of Friday and since our last update on the 16th, when we had $41,465 of realized gains, we closed the following positions:
- 5 SCO Dec $37 puts sold for net $1.90, expired worthless – up $1,900
- 5 FAS Dec $40 puts sold for $2.40, expired worthless – up $1,200
- 10 TNA Dec $41 calls at net $1.50, out at $1.50 – even
- 10 FAS Dec $61 calls sold at net $0 (spread), expired worthless – even
- 10 TLT 12/23 $121 calls sold for net .74 ($740), expired worthless – up $740
- 10 GNW Dec $6 puts sold for .85, expired worthless – up $850
- 10 QQQ 12/16 $56 puts at .57, out at $1.05 – up $480
- 10
…
Wednesday Weakness – Can We Survive Without QE3?
by Phil - December 14th, 2011 8:01 am
WTF?
Do Ben Bernanke and I live on different planets? "For a lot of people," he said during a speech at Fort Bliss, "I know it doesn’t feel like the recession ever ended." For what people exactly, Dr. Bernanke, does it seem like it did end? Study after study after study show that, if you are not lucky enough to be in the top 10% of our society (and certainly not a shade of Johnson’s "Great Society" anymore) then you are pretty much f*cked – and, no, there’s not a nicer way to put it.
Bernanke seems to love the Great Depression so much he is Hell-bent on replicating it here so he can study it in greater detail. I suppose he has some sort of academic detachment regarding the untold suffering he is causing the American people but, who can blame him? He just got a great rate when he refinanced his $850,000 home.
Fortunately, we had complete confidence in Bernanke’s incompetence (see yesterday’s "To QE3 or not to QE3 – That Sets Direction") and, of course, we took advantage of yet another chance to short oil futures (/CL) off the $101 and then the $100 lines on the way down. We were HOPING (not a valid investing strategy) that we’d get some QE3 but, as I warned Members in the morning: "If not – well, Hell hath no fury like a market disappointed."
Clearly, as you can see from David Fry’s SPY chart – I was not overselling the point. Bernanke and the Fed are of the opinion that 10% unemployment is within their mandate of "promoting full employment" and don’t see the need to take action? Let’s have a little review of how good the Fed Chairman has been as a prognosticator for our economy as he enters his 7th year at the Fed:
Drivin’ that train, high on cocaine
Casey Jones you better watch your speed
Trouble ahead, trouble behind
and you know that notion just crossed my mind
Trouble with you is the trouble with me…
Easy Money Monday – Robbing Peter to Pay Portugal
by Phil - December 12th, 2011 8:27 am
That was easy!
Who’d have thought Europe’s problems could be over just like that? Certainly not us, as I was quite skeptical Friday Morning (see yesterday’s Stock World Weekly for the Executive Summary of the Week’s Events). As I noted in Friday morning’s post, we had ended the day on Thursday very bullish – too bullish I decided on Friday morning and I called for cashing out into the weekend at the end of the morning post. In the morning Alert to Members, I repeated:
When in doubt, sell half and, in this case, I want to get back to more cash by the day’s end in the White Christmas Portfolio as the WCP is too bullish and I’m just not in the mood to risk it so we’re not going to be too brave if the "rally" stops or even slows down.
The markets were very kind to us, heading higher all day long and giving us great exits. Heading into the close, we got a bit more bearish and, aside from existing hedges like our EDZ spread (mentioned as our key hedge in last week’s Stock World Weekly), we added DXD (ultra-short Dow) Jan $15 calls at $1.25 but we offset those with short FCX Feb $33 puts at $1.25 in our virtual White Christmas Portfolio, with 10 of those contracts on each side netting a free spread with unlimited upside (with the downside being owning FCX cheaply). As I pointed out to Members, DXD was $18.50 just 3 weeks ago.
At 3:26, just before the close, we added the SQQQ (ultra-short Nasdaq) Jan $16/19 bull call spread for $1.50, which I pointed out had a nice 100% potential upside all by itself but you could also, for example, offset it with things you REALLY want to own if they get cheap – like shorting a GOOG Jan $500 put ($1.20) or an AAPL Jan $320 put ($1.25) or a MSFT 2013 $20 put ($1.10) – the idea is to just thing of what stock you REALLY want to be jumping in and buying if the market throws a 20% off sale. If there’s nothing, then you should be thrilled with the 100% potential gain on the raw spread.
But THAT wasn’t the easy money (I’m not so egotistical that I would guarantee we open lower when it’s…
Monday Madness – G20 FinMins Set Two Week Deadline
by Phil - October 17th, 2011 8:01 am
Two weeks!
European leaders have two weeks to settle differences and flesh out a strategy to terminate their sovereign debt crisis as global finance chiefs warn failure to do so would endanger the world economy. “The risk of a recession would be increased dramatically were the Europeans to fail to accomplish goals that they’ve set for themselves,” Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said after the G-20 meeting on Saturday.
The Brussels meeting “has the potential to turn into a positive historic moment,” Joachim Fels, London-based chief economist at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note to clients yesterday. “But it could also easily turn into a negative catalyst.”
Europe’s plan, which has still to be made public, includes writing down Greek bonds by as much as 50 percent, establishing a backstop for banks and magnifying the strength of the 440 billion-euro ($611 billion) temporary rescue fund known as the European Financial Stability Facility. “The plan has the right elements,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in Paris. “They clearly have more work to do on the strategy and the details.”
The G-20 officials — who met to prepare for a Nov. 3-4 gathering of leaders in Cannes, France (and we’re fondly remembering London’s 2009 meeting with the graphic on the right) — said in a statement that the world economy faces “heightened tensions and significant downside risks.” European authorities must “decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan.”
The policy makers held out the possibility of rewarding European action with more aid from the International Monetary Fund, while splitting over whether the Washington-based lender’s $390 billion war chest needs topping up. Europe’s latest strategy hinges on putting Greece, whose government forecasts its debt to reach 172 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, on a sustainable path. Austerity has plunged the country deeper into recession and provoked civil unrest that threatens political stability.
My reaction to this in Member Chat this Morning was to call for shorting the jacked up Dow Futures (/YM) at 11,600, saying:
Speaking of the illusion of power – yet another G20 meeting ends with yet another plan to have a plan but this time, for some insane reason, they only gave themselves a week to fix everything. I’ll be writing about this this morning but the gist of it is the Finance Ministers have essentially sent their own
…
Testy Tuesday – 1,072 or Bounce!
by Phil - October 4th, 2011 8:06 am
Has it been a week already?
That’s right – last Tuesday our title, after 3 bullish days, was "S&P 1,200 or Bust (again)" and bust we did! At the time I said "It’s not that I’m flip-flopping – we’re simply playing the range and if the trip from the bottom to the top of the range is just 2 days – then flip-flop we must!" Our bearish hedge in that morning’s Alert to Members was 30 DXD Oct $18/20 bull call spread at .70 ($2,100) offset by the sale of 10 GE Jan $15 puts at $1.05 ($1,050). DXD is already at $21.34 and the bull call spread is $1.30 (30 = $3,900) while the 10 GE short puts are $1.75 ($1,750) for a net $2,150, up 105% in the first week – even if the short puts were not stopped out with a smaller loss.
We also ran our Long Put List that morning (see Weekend Reading for recap of that strategy and list of short trade ideas) and those, of course, are up huge across the board as things got so bad yesterday we even had to short IBM – our list’s last brave holdout. Another fun short we played that day was a ratio backspread on CMG.
Taking advantage of selling into the pre-earnings excitement, we were able to add the following trade to our virtual $25,000 Portfolio:
Earnings are on the 20th, the day before expirations so I like the volatility crush of selling 5 $340 calls for $9 ($4,500) and buying 3 Dec $350s for $15 ($4,500) for a free spread. No matter what CMG does, $4,500 of premium will be gone from the callers on Oct 21st, then the Nov whatevers can be sold, hopefully for another $4,500 in premium or perhaps we can just pull the trade so let’s do one set in the $25KP and see how it goes.
CMG took a nice dip since then (now $292) and the 5 Oct $340 calls fell to $2.20 ($1,100) but the 3 Dec $350s have held $8.60 ($2,580) for a net profit of $1,480 off a trade that cost no cash just 7 days ago. These are the kinds of trades we love around earnings season. We didn’t need to hold it for a month and now we can free up the margin (about…
Investors Peruse Kohl’s Options
by Option Review - May 12th, 2011 5:29 pm
Today’s tickers: KSS, AEP, FCX & SPLS
KSS - Kohl’s Corp. – The department store operator’s shares jumped 4.25% this afternoon to an intraday high of $55.90 following the company’s first-quarter earnings release ahead of the open this morning. Kohl’s Corp. raised its full-year profit forecast to a range of $4.25 to $4.40 a share, which tops average analyst estimates of around $4.36 a share. Some strategists browsing through Kohl’s options today are positioning for the stock to extend gains, while others could be taking profits on pre-earnings positions or taking a more bearish stance on the stock in the near term. Traders picked up around 2,200 now in-the-money calls at the May $55 strike for an average premium of $0.47 each. Call buyers at this strike make money if shares in KSS exceed the average breakeven price of $55.47 through expiration next week. Meanwhile, put and call selling took place in the June contract. Traders sold roughly 1,160 calls at the June $52.5 strike for an average premium of $3.10 each, and shed 1,900 calls up at the June $55 strike at a premium of $1.40 apiece. Open interest in the June $52.5 strike calls suggests investors bought some 5,090 calls at that strike for an average premium of $1.68 each back on April 26. Traders selling the now deep in-the-money calls could be cashing in on their well-placed bullish positions. On Tuesday, around 1,000 calls were picked up at the June $55 strike for an average premium of $0.70 each. The subsequent rally in the price of the underlying has these contracts trading with an asking price of $1.70 per contract as of 2:15pm. Volume of 2,200 calls at the June $55 strike exceeds open interest of 1,592 contracts. Nearly all of the calls exchanged at that strike sold for an average premium of $1.40 each. Perhaps call sellers see shares in Kohl’s trading below $55.00 at expiration in June. Put players sold around 2,000 contracts at the June $52.5 strike…
Options on Las Vegas Sands Active Ahead of Earnings
by Option Review - May 2nd, 2011 4:10 pm
Today’s tickers: LVS, FRX, FCX & SD
LVS - Las Vegas Sands Corp. – A number of options players hit the like button on Las Vegas Sands call options today ahead of the casino operator’s first-quarter earnings report after the final bell on Tuesday. Shares in the LVS increased as much as 2.6% this morning to secure an intraday high of $48.25, but currently stand just 0.60% higher on the session at $47.29 as of 12:50pm in New York. A number of pre-earnings speculators targeted the weeklies to position for the price of the underlying to extend gains ahead of expiration on Friday. Investors purchased around 2,250 calls at the May ’06 $48 strike for an average premium of $1.45 a-pop. Call buyers at this strike profit in the event that the stock rallies 4.6% over the current price to surpass the average breakeven point on the upside at $49.45 by expiration. Bulls paid an average premium of $0.77 per contract to pick up roughly 1,600 calls at the higher May ‘06 $50 strike price. Meanwhile, investors populating the May ’06 $52.5 strike sold 1,300 calls to receive an average premium of $0.28 each. Call selling at this strike may represent a near-term ceiling on shares in LVS for some investors. Traders keep the premium pocketed on the transaction as long as the price of the underlying stock fails to exceed $52.50 at expiration. Low-delta call buying occurred up at the May ’06 $55 strike where some 250 calls were picked up for an average premium of $0.09 per contract. More than 61,900 option contracts have changed hands on Las Vegas Sands as of 1:00pm. Options implied volatility on the stock is up 6.2% to arrive at 46.57% in early afternoon trade, one day ahead of earnings.
FRX - Forest…
Monday Morning: Might Moody’s, Merkel & Meltdowns Matter?
by Phil - March 28th, 2011 8:08 am
![[GERPOL]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/WO-AF006_GERPOL_NS_20110327191833.jpg)
Oh, where to begin this morning?
We already covered "Big Trouble in Little Tokyo" in our Weekend Reading post so we’ll just say things are still sucking in Japan. The Nikkei lost 0.6% in this morning’s trading but it was Angela Merkel who lost control of Germany this weekend as nuclear concerns gave a huge victory in a state election to the Green (environmental) party who, along with the Social Democrats (what it sounds like) now control 47.1% of Germany’s coalition-based Government vs just 44.3% held by Merkel’s Christian Democrats and her allies in the Free Democrat party.
As a stand-alone, Germany’s GDP is about $3.5Tn, the World’s 4th largest economy, behind Japan’s $5.4Tn (maybe less at the moment) and China’s $5.8Tn and, of course, our $15Tn juggernaut of an economy. Together with the EU, however, Germany is part of a $16Tn economic union where it is followed by France ($2.5Tn and Sarkozy also took an electoral hit this weekend!), Italy ($2Tn), Spain ($1.4Tn) and then you drop down to The Netherlands at $770Bn. We know what kind of shape Italy and Spain are in so keep in mind that it’s Germany and France who run the EU – no matter who is "in charge."
Moody’s put another nail in Spain’s coffin this morning, downgrading 30 Spanish banks by one or more notches. Interestingly, they left STD and BBVA alone and I’m liking STD with their 9% dividend as money is likely to be drawn away from the smaller banks and moved to the relative safety of STD. STD is trading at $11.94 and they can be covered with Sept $11 calls at $1.60 for a net $10.34 entry or paired with the sale of the Sept $11 puts at $1.05 to drop the basis to $9.29. That gives you a net on the buy/write at $9.29/10.14, which is a 15% discount if put to you at $10.14 or called away with an 18% profit if called away at $11 in 9 months – PLUS the 9% annualized dividend!
Not surprisingly, Germany and the rest of the EU rushed through the final approval of their now $987Bn bailout fund as that was the number one issue that was crushing Merkel’s party and it’s not entirely sure Germany will have the will, going forward, to commit any more capital. The agreement requires 80Bn euros…
Monday Market Movement – Do or Dive!
by Phil - January 24th, 2011 8:14 am
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Big week ahead!
$30Bn in POMO from the Fed runs headlong into earnings reports from 15 of the 30 Dow components along with MoMo darlings like VMW (tonight), BLK (tomorrow morning), POT (Thursday morning) and AMZN (Thursday night). I already sent out an Alert to Members this morning outlining our strategy and Stock World Weekly did it’s usual amazing job of wrapping up last week’s action and laying out the week ahead so I won’t be too redundant here. The key driver for the markets continues to be the dollar, which is making more sense now as it saved the Dow and the S&P last week (50% of revenues come from overseas) but not the Russell (only 10% of revs from overseas) or the Nasdaq (30%).
The Dollar was relentlessly driven down last week, bottoming out at 78 on Friday evening, back to November lows, where they ditched the Dollar all the way down to 75.63 in early November before it broke back up and ran to 81.44 on the last day of the month. Now we’re back down 4.2% from the Thanksgiving highs for the Dollar and the Dow and S&P are up 8%, which is our usual 2:1 correlation yet Uncle Rupert’s Journal would have you believe that the Dollar no longer matters and that this rally is about (please sit down, PSW cannot be responsible for any beverages you are about to spit on your keyboad) – wait for it – Fundamentals!
According to the Journal: In recent weeks, for example, moves in stocks and the U.S. dollar have had little connection—a breakdown of the trend during much of 2010, when they were virtual mirror images of each other. Stocks were considered risky and would rise when investors were feeling confident, while the dollar was a haven, benefiting when investors were worried. Commodities, too, have broken away from rising and falling with risk perceptions. Now more old-fashioned concerns, like the weather, are having an impact. Corn, soybean and wheat prices jumped this month after supply estimates were cut due to dry weather in South America and floods in Australia.
Really? So the run in DBA from 22.85 in June of last year to 31.65 (38.5%) in early November was speculation but the run from 31.65 to 33.50 (6%) since then has been based on solid fundamentals. ROFL!!! That…
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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...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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