I would have liked to see more out of the Nasdaq but that was a pretty good day in the face of an oil melt-down.
The Dow didn’t have trouble all day but couldn’t get it’s buddies to join in the fun so it put in a subdued but strong gain to 11,354.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=1d&s=%5EDJI&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=&c=%5EGSPC&c=%5EIXIC
The Valero Rule saved me a lot of money today as VLO flew down just ahead of the oil inventories so I sold before they even announced the numbers – which seemed bullish but certainly wasn’t taken that way by the sector.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=1d&s=VLO&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
We will hear from the Fed tomorrow so consult your magic eight ball but mine says Bernanke gives a hint that they are satisfied with where we are which would really kick the markets up a notch. Of course we also get big daddy XOM reporting tomorrow but many strong earnings reports did nothing for the oil patch today. You can follow along in comments but my opinion is that today’s action may be a bear trap but we will know by the end of the week.
I remember last time we thought oil was finally dead back on 3/20 when it went from $65.50 to $61.25 in 3 days, fell below the 200 dma ant then snapped back to $67 in the next 5 days so you have to excuse me for being a little gun shy!
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BA was very, very good to us with the $85s dropping down to $1.05 in the morning and then popping right back to $2.30 at lunch. Even if you were too greedy or busy to take the double it still finished the day back at $1.75.
AHC split 3:1 this evening but went down with the rest of the oil market today. It will be interesting to watch this one tomorrow.
HPQ came down a lot today and bounced up but the $32.50s never went below $1.40 and 5% is a bit too much premium for me!
CNI couldn’t hold its gains for the day but the Oct $50s still added .15 to $1.75 as volatility increased.
BNI was much better behaved which is why we bought the $85s which finished at $1.05 (up 10%).
TM gave us all morning to watch HMC before deciding to follow it up but the Jun $120s finished about flat at $2.25.
It was wise to wait on Hal as it totally failed to follow through:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=hal
Google never really got it going but YHOO was a star today with a 3% gain. The $32.50s ran up to $1.20 for a 40% profit which was good enough for me to get out as this market is way too scary fo me!
I was thrilled to get the S $25s for .30 but not so thrilled by the end of the day when they went back to .30 – I could have been out of that trade with a double at 10:30 but greed destroyed my profits. Still looks good to me, I just don’t trust the market enough to sleep on these things.
EXPE finally broke out of its box with a nice jump at the end of the day but the May $20s are still .45!!! It picked an interesting day to do it as TZOO sold off 15%, losing 1/2 of it’s gains:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&s=TZOO&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=expe
VZ woke up today and now we are happy with the $32.50s at $1.10 (up 100%) – I’m already out!
TRAD picked up another 2% and the $15s are now safely in the money at $1.50 (up 80%).
Today it was MRB’s turn to jump 4.5% while NAK dropped 4% – are we diversified?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&s=NAK&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=mrb
SHLD tacked on another 1.5% today – ho humm…
AAPL had a nice day for a change, up 3% without crazy gyrations:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL&t=1d
TXN cannot figure out what to do but the $35s are back down to .95 but I’d rather get the $37.50s after it breaks $36 as it may back down a bit here.
T had another rockin’ day, up another 2% with the Oct $27.50s now .60 (up 33%).
VOLVY was great as it gapped up today an threw the Oct $50s up to $4 (up 90%). $50 is a tough barrier and there are no $55s to roll into so I am setting a stop at $3.50.
UNH continues to punish believers, after teasing with a nice open it finished down a point.
MS still can’t get it together but the whole sector is on hold at the moment. The May $65s are down to .95 (down 30%) and I will be happy to get my money back as I just couldn’t believe it kept going down!
PFE had a great day of all things and the $25s are up a nickle to .35 but the premium is down .15 so thats going very well for us.
XLNX had a great day (up 1.6%) and super earnings so we should get a close to a double on the Jun $25s!!!
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060426/earns_xilinx.html?.v=1
SNE just keeps going up and I can’t believe we bought those May $50s for .55 just because I liked the fact that they were getting Michael Jackson’s publishing library cheap on the 13th!
http://stockcharts.com/gallery/?sne
Sometimes, all it takes is a little catalyst. I think GE got one today at the Annual Meeting so I picked up the $35s for .15 (now .20) but I already have the Jan ’08 $30s from our trade of the day way back on 2/13 as well as the Jun $32.50s, now $2.05 (up only 15% so far):
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060426/general_electric_annual_meeting.html?.v=6
