Not going down is good!
It would have been better if the entire gain (outside of tech) wasn’t based on commodities again but we’ll take it.
Gold exploded to $636 and oil cracked $72 so the amazing thing is that everything else didn’t collapse. We may get a correction in oil tomorrow as all the signals look way overbought and expirations are looming.
Lots more earnings this week so we will have to see where it all goes! I wasn’t happy with the way IBM was treated today but in general reactions were fairly realistic (as opposed to last year when everything went down no matter what companies did).
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COST dropped a point today (I hope it wasn’t something I said!) and the July $52.50 puts ended at $1.05 (up 10%) making me very confident in this call.
BAY really took off, running the Sept $40s to $3.20 (up 25%).
KO ran up much faster than I thought and today would have been a great day to sell those May $42.50s but I’m happy with the Jan ’08 $40s at $5.30 (up 10%) for a first day.
ET gapped open and flew up so fast I ended up buying the $25 puts for .10 but sentiment is very against me! Nope, I’m dead on this one, profit up 54%, raising guidance…
Speaking of sentiment, CNBC is sitting with an analyst who says INTC will disappoint below what is projected to be horrendous earnings! And me with all these May $20s…
SBUX had a great morning but pulled back to a 1% gain. The May $40s finished at .80 (up 15%).
I got rid of most of my EBAY May $40s as they ran up to $2.15 (up 75%), it was too much to risk and it looks like I made a good call as the stock is tanking after hours on what looks like a small miss with lower guidance. I’ll look later but I see a lot of things I like here.
INTC hit the quarter but lowered guidance. This sucks for the PC sector so look for DELL and HPQ to take a hit as well as you can’t attribute this kind of downward guidance to AMD (who will also go down) so it must be a sector thing. Expectations were so low for Intel I still might make out on my May $20s but I think I’ll have to wait it out. So many people were short on this stock that this just may not be enough to hurt it!
Apple beat again! What a company!!! Revenue rose 34%, profits rose 41% beating expectations by 10% but a little light on the top-line. Now comes the conference call where they tell you all the really good stuff! 8.5M IPods sold in the quarter – 61% more than last year…
BTU picked up another 8% today! Remember on Monday morning we said “BTU is heading into tomorrow’s earnings with low expectations (.44) and now that natural gas prices are on the rise again it will make a good day trade but I wouldn’t want to touch these over-priced options in advance.” Well big pat on the back for me saving a ton of premium and catching all the good stuff!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BTU&t=5d
AQNT continues to fly, up another 6% today with the Jun $25s now deep in the money at $3 (up 90%). At this point I would flip to the $30s for .80 and take the profits off the table.
XLNX also ran up again with those Jun $25s reaching $3.40 (up 60%).
EXPE continues to do nothing while TZOO tacked on another 18% today – I think we backed the wrong horse but let’s give it some time!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=3m&s=EXPE&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=tzoo
WB had a bad start Monday but it turns out I do know how to read an earnings report and a nice recovery lifted the $55s to $1.45 (up 15%) where I am happy to get my money back!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=&a=&c=&s=wb
PD $87.50s should really be taken off the table by now at $4.10 (up 310%).
ALKS is very frustrating and the May $22.50s are down to .85 (down 40%).
GLW responded nicely and the May $25s are up to $3 (up 15%) but I would keep a tight stop in light in case we have a market pullback.
You all thought I was mad when I dropped my other gold stocks in favor of the BVN June $30s for .95 and then doubled down at .55 but they are already at $1.80 in 48 hours so I can live with your scorn!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=&a=&c=&s=bvn
If you kept the ABX May $30s (which I rebought today when gold hit $631) you are just as happy at $1.95 (up 150%).
GG $30s are now $2.65 (up 350%) and the Jul $32.50s are $2.90 (up 85%).
GOOG is just killing my spread with a lack of motion as the May $490s are just $2.50 (up 25%) and the May $330 puts are $2.15 (even). Zzzzzzzzzzz! I cashed out my 1/2 of my naked May $500s for a small profit this morning as I am losing faith in this one.
How nice is last week’s XOM spread of the $62.50s with the calls now fetching $1.90 (up 600%) even with the .20 wipeout on the puts!
YHOO had a huge day (up 7%) and the $32.50 calls made a clean double at $1.10.
C had a rough day but the $47.50 calls are still .85 (up 60%) but should have been sold as a double this close to expiration!
TIE continues to rock and roll with the May $55s moving up to $7.40 (up 300%).
BEAV also moved well with the May $25s flying to $2.80 (up 75%).
AIR is the worst of our Boeing pals but the May $25s managed $4.10 (up 33%).
DD is all over the place into earnings and the May $45s are only up 30% to .40 so far.
SNE May $50s are just about in the money at $1.75 (up 250%). I love news trades!
Boy did we make a mistake not going out to May on ELN! It never pays to be cute with timing…
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=&a=&c=&s=eln
DJ continues to self destruct and the $40 puts should be sold by now for $3.70 (up 270%).
AN is making a comeback and I still like the May $22.50s for .35 (down .15).
Big big test on these mixed market signals so let’s be careful out there!
