Well I am so glad I got out of Google early! What a lame day it had considering. I made the huge mistake of thinking it might bounce back to $450 mid-day and wasted some of my profits on more calls that quickly went worthless.
After peaking out at $4 (a nice double) the $500 calls dropped to $2.90. The $490s only fetched $5.50 but that was 175% so nothing to really complain about. They held up ok, closing at $4 but this is how greed kills as they were going for $5 all the way until 11:30.
The markets were awful and I am dreading Monday as only commodities held up the indexes. The Nasdaq’s poor performance in the face of great earnings does not speak well for next week but we are comfortably above all resistance points and this was an option expiration day so we will have to wait and see.
Oil finished way up at a record $75 and gold made it back to $635 and copper is at an amazing $310 (up 11% for the week).
An optimist would say these are signs of a robust economy but I am baffled by the mediocre performance of most of the stocks.
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Our day trades went pretty good if you followed the rules and set 20% stops:
COP $70s opened at .60 and finished at $2.49
NEM $55s never came lower than $1.05 but finished at $2.50
The NEM May $55s that were a disaster yesterday, dropping from $1.90 to .90, finished today at $4.10 so I no longer feel bad for my major recommendation.
ABX $30s came down to .10 and finished there too after peaking at .45 (again greed kills)
I got the PLAY Jan $17.50s for $1.10 but I am already regretting it!
AAPL $67.50s for came down to .60 but never went back up. I was lucky to get .50 before the close.
GM $22.50 puts opened at .10 (I love these crazy buyers!) and got better all day finishing at .70.
XOM $65s were nice enough to open for .05 but never went over .10.
CVX came in at .50 and had a great day, finishing at $1.50.
QQQQ $42s did come down to .60 and kept going all the way down to .05 but it was a falling knife from the open as we discussed in comments.
DIA $113s for .50 never panned out as they opened at .90 and by the time they hit .50 we were already discussing shorting the $114s instead (which was a great trade!).
EBAY $37.50 opened at .05 and never went anywhere. The puts would have been an amazing play as the stock finished at $35.
MOT $22.50s opened at .15 and never got back above .10 – this should have clued me in that there was not going to be a Nasdaq rally.
MCD May $35s opened way down at .50 and even though they hit .65 during the day I just kept buying more and I now have twice as many as I planned at .90.
WM $45s hit .10 on the way down but the stock couldn’t cross $45.
BHP $45s never dropped below .40 but hit $1.25 on its way to an .85 finish.
AA $35s opened at .15 and I was glad I splurged the nickle as they hit .55 mid day and finished at .45.
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The markets had a pretty good week and on the whole our picks went very well:
ABX May $30s rewarded the faithful and finished out the week at $1.35 (up 65%)
ADM May $40s went crazy today to .75 (up 85%).
ADSK May $40s perked up just a little more to $3.70 (up 275%).
AIR had a pullback today but the May $25s are still $3.70 (up 25%).
I don’t know what’s up with ALKS as the May $22.50s are just .90 now (down 35%).
AN (4/24) $22.50s are still a buy at .45.
AQNT crashed with the Nasdaq but the Jun $25s kept the faith at $2.30 (up 30%). Once you have a double (or even 50%) you should set 20% (of profit) stops!!!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AQNT&t=5d
BAY could not have been better timed! The Sept $40s are already $4.10 (up 70%).
BEAV flattened out but BA keeps on keepin’ on so don’t worry. The May $25s are safely in the money at $3 (up 100%).
BJS had a great week and the May $37.50s are now $3.50 (up 220%).
BNV Jun $30s made it back to $1.50 (up 180%).
C was a poster child for taking profits on those $47.50 puts which lost 75% of their value since yesterday finishing up just a nickle at .55.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=C&t=5d
CNI (4/20) is giving us a second chance to play with the May $50s at .15 and the Jul $47.50s for $2.
COST got hammered again today. I almost feel bad for pointing out their problems… The July $52.50 puts are now $1.30 (up 40%).
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=COST&t=5d
DD May $45s are still good for .70 (up 130%).
Remember that guy who bought a ton of DELL $30 calls? Well he was wayyyy wrong! Lesson is, never think someone knows something, he might just be an idiot (see GM).
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=&a=&c=&s=dell
We should have left well enough alone with DIS as the May $27.50s, now .55 (down 45%) wiped out all the profits from the Aprils.
DJ was the kind of catastrophe we love with te $40 puts finishing at $4.50 (up 320%).
EBAY was a wipeout with the May $40s almost worthless at .15 (down 90%).
EXPE may move one day. The May $20s are still .45.
GG July $32.50s finished the week at $3.20 (up 100%).
After much trial and tribulation the GLW May $25s turned out well at $4.40 (up 70%).
I couldn’t resist the INTC May $20s for .20 just on principle.
JNJ May $60s are still .35.
The KO May $42.50s we sold are down to .35 (-.35) while the Jan ’08 $40s are up to $5.40 (up 10%). I’m not only buying out the caller, I’m also buying those $42.50s myself!
We were target greedy on LVS when I said: “I’m rooting for LVS to run to $70 (p/e 90) where I will be happy to short it into May 1 earnings!”
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=LVS&t=5d
MER May $80s are nicely on track at $1.75 (up 10%).
MRB can’t get it going and I’m calling shenanigans! It finished the week where it began at $3.15.
MSFT May $27.50s are still just .40.
NAK finally had a good day, up 7% ending at $6.84 (up 5%).
No movement on PFE Jan $27.50s for .90 – it may take all year for people to stop thinking they will get sued out of existance like Merck.
PBG made a comeback and the Sept $30s are $2.70 again.
SBUX May $40s are still .75 (up .05).
If T was held down, they picked a weird number ($25.35)
Waiting for TGT to come down some more was a good call… Still waiting.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=&a=&c=&s=tgt
TIE had an amazing day today and the May $55s are now at $10.50 (up 400%)
I predicted the SIRI May $5s would wipe you out and I was wrong so far, still .30 (down 25%)
SNE followed a stairway to heaven and the May $50s are $3.10 (up 520%).
I say VZ was held down into options and I still like the May $32.50s, now .75 (down 12%).
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=VZ&t=1d
UNH finished right at $50 with the May $55s now just .30 (down 80%). What a disaster this one is!
XLNX also had a bad Nasdaq day which gives you a second chance to get the Jun $25s for $2.55 (up 15%).
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Our 3/31 Google spread worked out ok on the whole. The May $450s we picked up for $4.60 were at $18 earlier in the day and finished at $13.50 while the May $340 puts we got for $6.70 took a beating down to .40. On the whole the trade is up 25% even if you didn’t take advantage of the early action.
The May $500 calls hit a disappointing $4 today but that’s not bad for a $2.25 purchase (especially if you bought more at $1.35 like I did).
On our 4/14 spread of the May $490s were picked up for $1.90, now $4 against the May $330 puts for $2.15 (now .35). This is not such a great trade so far if you didn’t take the $5.50 off the table this morning. At this point, if you are still in it, the way to go is to take 75% of the $490s off the table leaving the rest all free and just see which way it goes.
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Not a bad week for our picks!
Have a great weekend,
– Phil
