I was waiting for the Santa Claus rally and then thought maybe he got lost and would come around for a nice end of the year present, but apparently the reality of our economic situation is still hanging heavy on the few investors who are in their trading seats this week. Personally, I’m on vacation…
Month: December 2008
NDAQ Chart – December 22, 2008
Barron’s highlighted NASDAQ OMX Group Inc (NDAQ) a couple of weeks ago as a stock to watch and I’ve been watching, but can’t see the right time to get in yet. I’ve charted it every day for the past week and have waited to see in which direction the triangle would break. Luckily I didn’t get…
Sold Covered Calls on CELG & FCX – Dumped AA, CHK, CMI
While CELG was trading at $53.33 I sold two CELG January 55 covered calls (LQHAK) for $2.20 each and received $428.50 after commissions. I think CELG will bounce back from it’s current price, but I’m not so sure that I don’t want to get some early profit in my account now rather than risk me being…
Dow Jones 10 Year Chart – December 19, 2008
I charted the Dow Jones Industrial Average (aka DJIA or $DJI and previously $INDU) for the past 10 years using monthly price ranges as of Friday’s close. I was planning to chart the 20 year view, but most of what seemed more interesting has happened over just the past 10 years. I made notes on the chart below…
Options Expiration – December 2008
This morning my account bounced back and forth from a paper gain to a paper loss more than five times and as much as $1,500 on either side. That’s just the times I saw it. By the afternoon I settled into a down day. I own nine stocks. I’ve sold six calls (two legs on CMI) and two…
Praise for Quicken
I haven’t written a formal review of Quicken yet, but have used Intuit’s money management software since 1997. I’ve had some issues with stock and option downloads using Quicken in the past, but either they fixed the bug or I figured out what I was doing wrong and don’t have issues with it any more. …
Rate Cuts on an Option Expiration Week
Nothing like a record Fed rate cut during an options expiration week that happens to fall in the most volatile period in history to get the market moving. I’ve made two trades in the past 14 days – the bullish one turned to a profit today and the bearish one is moving deeper into a loss. I’m…
S&P 500 Chart – December 12, 2008
The S&P 500 (SPX.X) chart ending December 12, 2008 shows similar price action as I predicted in my Dow Jones Chart last week. The challenge the Dow Jones faced last week and what proved to be its ceiling and the S&P 500’s ceiling this week was the 50 day moving average. After climbing above the…
The Cost of Poor Health
The past couple of years have been expensive for my family when we look at the cost of poor health. A lot of it is obvious in missed wages and doctor/hospital fees, but sometimes it’s the intangible costs that can be more important. The emotional costs and missed opportunities can’t be overlooked when discussing true costs….