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Thursday, May 17, 2007

Snoozer

I see several dozen people have signed up for MyBlogLog. Cool. Basically what it lets you do is sign up with your name and a photo, and you can check out what your fellow readers are also reading. It's a pretty cool way to amble around the community of readers we have on this blog and find interesting new stuff.

Today was a rather yawner day. The Industrials crossed above the 13,500 market, and then slumped in the last part of the day to close slightly down. The Dow is really running on fumes at this point, given its rapid ascent.

I keep an eye on the currency markets too. I've mentioned the NZD/USD here many times before. As you can see, there is a very strong correlation recently between the NZD/USD and the U.S. Markets (I've used the S&P 500 here).

The $XMI is also a good illustration of how the market may be in a position to "roll over" after this explosive upswing.

I'm hanging onto my BSC puts. They are doing OK - nothing spectacular yet.

Energy stock DRQ, mentioned here bullishly before, looks better than ever. I'd put a stop of $44.11 on this.

A reader mentioned ESS as a good short idea today. I agree! (A similar conclusion could be had with VON).

My InfoSys (INFY) short is also doing pretty well, although it needs to break that neckline to get juicy.

It might be a good second chance for those of you wanting to be short JC Penney (JCP) to get in at a better price now.

PSB - like many real estate stocks today - fell pretty hard, and it is right on the cusp of violating its neckline. Lovely!

Another bullish energy play - SWN - looks terrific.

Go sign up for MyBlogLog if you haven't already! :-)

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

The Slope of Hope

First off, as you can see, I've dolled up the site a bit. After I added MyBlogLog (for which you really should sign up - it's pretty cool, and it's free) I decided to spruce things up a bit, including the title of this blog. Perhaps you haven't heard the old saying about how markets climb a Wall of Worry and fall down a Slope of Hope. But that's where the title comes from.

On the plane home, I started reading Ken Fisher's The Only Three Questions that Count. I like it a lot so far. You might want to check it out if you enjoy Mr. Fisher's writing in Forbes.

Today was another weird day on the market. It was weird in that, once again, my totally bearish portfolio gained value in spite of another triple-digit climb on the Dow and another record high. And it was also weird that, yet again, really crummy economic news came out, yet the markets cheered. What a bunch of psychos. Oh, well.

BBD has been mentioned here as a bullish play, and it's looking stronger than ever.

I also like (bullishly speaking) CRDN.

I have avoided copper for a while, but I think I'm going to acquire some puts on Southern Copper (PCU) based on its location within this channel.

John Deere (DE) is something on which I already own puts, and I like the look of this huge bearish engulfing pattern, particularly since it was in the context of a big "up" day.

Real estate is getting even weaker, and KRC is another good short within that world.

Lastly, I hate to bore you with another ONT chart, but I continue to be amazed how well this stock is doing. It was first mentioned by a reader in this blog at the point where the arrow is showing, and I agreed with her bullish take on the stock a few days later. Since then, it has more than doubled, and on amazingly strong volume.

It's nearly midnight, so I'm off........see you at the regular time tomorrow afternoon! And remember to sign up for MyBlogLog - it's a kick!

Phoenix

Greetings from the land of perpetual 100 degree heat. Phoenix. I just spoke to a large group here today, and I'm at the airport. And you know what that means........ that's right, a very late posting!

In the meantime, you might want to check out MyBlogLog, which is the widget I've added to this site showing the most recent readers and for which you need to sign up in order to participate. It doesn't cost anything, and it's an interesting way to connect with others. My web skills are pretty limited, so I need to figure it out how to get it on the sidebar instead of dominating the top of the blog!

I'll post (much) later tonight........