Friday, June 20, 2008
Pay Day!!!
Thursday was a good day for us and the markets. The Dow gained 34.03 points to close the session at 12,063.09. The SPX added 5.02 points to close at 1,342.83. Thursday was the last trading day for our play and we finished 48 points away from our short strike.
Given that the futures are looking very bleak this morning I think I can be very confident in saying that this play was yet another winner!!
Oil was the story Thursday (as I suspect it will be today but more about that in my next post!) with crude down $4.75 a barrel to $131.93. News that China was lifting prices on retail gasoline pushed down demand expectations (higher prices equals less demand) and this put crude at a low not seen in over a week.
In economic news, jobless claims were higher than expected, falling by just 5,000 to a level of 381K. The Philly Fed survey was also weak, falling further into contraction territory at -17.1. New orders, shipments and employment were all weaker during the month, showing that manufacturing activity in the region remains very soft.
Finally financial stocks continued their suffering after Citigroup (C) stated it is likely to take substantial additional markdowns due to problems in the credit markets. This news pushed Citi shares down 1.1 percent to $20.17. News that two former managers at Bear Stearns (BSC) could see criminal charges also put pressure on financials.
Fridays sessions sees a "quadruple witching hour" as they say on CNBC. This apparently only occurs four times year and relates to the expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single stock futures!!
What this means is that trading can be volatile (and futures are pointing to a slide in the markets on the open) so lets see what Friday brings!
Until next time
Given that the futures are looking very bleak this morning I think I can be very confident in saying that this play was yet another winner!!
Oil was the story Thursday (as I suspect it will be today but more about that in my next post!) with crude down $4.75 a barrel to $131.93. News that China was lifting prices on retail gasoline pushed down demand expectations (higher prices equals less demand) and this put crude at a low not seen in over a week.
In economic news, jobless claims were higher than expected, falling by just 5,000 to a level of 381K. The Philly Fed survey was also weak, falling further into contraction territory at -17.1. New orders, shipments and employment were all weaker during the month, showing that manufacturing activity in the region remains very soft.
Finally financial stocks continued their suffering after Citigroup (C) stated it is likely to take substantial additional markdowns due to problems in the credit markets. This news pushed Citi shares down 1.1 percent to $20.17. News that two former managers at Bear Stearns (BSC) could see criminal charges also put pressure on financials.
Fridays sessions sees a "quadruple witching hour" as they say on CNBC. This apparently only occurs four times year and relates to the expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single stock futures!!
What this means is that trading can be volatile (and futures are pointing to a slide in the markets on the open) so lets see what Friday brings!
Until next time
# posted by Paul @ 9:28 AM 
