Wednesday Wrap-Up

Wow! And the hits just keep on coming… Dow cracked 11,300, the S&P hit 1,295 (big test at 1,300) the NYSE 8,357 and the Nasdaq is just under 2,150 (also a test)! To top it all off HPQ came in with great earnings and great guidance. This is just great! The Nasdaq should be in great shape as the SOX gained 4% today, rocketing up to 443 on all day strength. Oil also chipped in with a very nice $1.20 dip to $71.90, a level not seen since late June but the contract rolls over on Friday so get ready for the fireworks next week. Tomorrow we have natural gas inventories which should hopefully give the oil sector another nudge down. Gold once again couldn’t break $640 rising 1% against a falling dollar. Fed Gov. Poole rattled the sabre to shore up the dollar but now people are talking about a rate cut in the winter so there’s not much teeth in what the Fed says. Another fun day in the markets. I cashed out a lot of positions today as we had a lot of big gainers and I didn’t want to push my luck – there’s always something to trade tomorrow. ====================================== HPQ had a great week so far but I can’t wait for tomorrow to see how we do. The Sept $35s are already $1.20 (up 100% so far) while the Jan $37.50s ended the day at $1.75 (up 25%). TGT is way in the money and the Sept $47.50s are $2.60 (up 250%). STX had a heck of a day with the Mar $22.50s at $2.50 (up 60%). If I knew it was going to recover so quickly I would have played August! I’m crying over those CSCO’s I sold way back at $20! http://stockcharts.com/gallery/?csco DIS is being held down for options and the Sept $30s are just .60 (down .05 from last week’s pick). XOM Sept $67.50 puts hit $1.45 (up 140%). The recall of the current $67.50 puts have already doubled to .45. INTC made another huge move with the Sept $17.50s at $1.40 (up 180%). Even the nice, relaxing Jan $17.50s are up to $2.20 (up 45%). EBAY Oct $25s shot up to $2.40 (up 50%). Remember when we bought out that TXN Sept $32.50 call for .15? It’s worth $1.35 now! A 10 bagger! The Jan ’09 $30s are doing quite well at $9.30 (up 25%). HD Sept $35s are also slow movers at .75. Lack of hurricanes is hurting them too. MGM finally got moving and the Mar $40s are at $3.30 (up 50%). HET is on fire with the Nov $65s already at $3 (up 105). TOL rewarded the faithful with a 4% jump today and the As I said last night with XLNX, “you ain’t seen nothin yet” and they gained a full 10% today running the Sept $20s to $3.10 (up 180%). UNH is very slow with the Sept $50s just .90 (up 20%). MTU is back at $14.26 (up 8%). TM Sept $115s are almost in the money at $1.75 (up 50%). CPKI gained another 3% today! Oh well… SNE Sept $45 puts are still $1.40 (up .10). GE Sept $35s don’t look so crazy now at .20 (up 100%) while the $32.50s are up to $1.60 (up 100% too). I took a long in comments on DD today with the Oct $42.50s at .60, you only missed a nickel so far. We day traded AU and TSO for nice quick profits today and I took more TSO $70 puts at the close for .50 as a gamble on an oil dive tomorrow.