Late Day Sell Off Keeps the Market ($SPY) in Check (look for our best Bull and Bear Picks for Thursday)

The late day weakness in the S&P 500 ($SPY) kept the market in check after an impressive midday pop. This just continues the range that we have had in the S&Ps since November. This is frustrating for investors. But for traders, it’s awesome.

Volatility is a traders best friend – especially if you have technology that can pinpoint the best and worst breads of stocks like we do here at Tradespoon. I ran the Bulls and Bears Screen at the close and two names came up as the most Bullish and Bearish names for the next 50 days.

The most bearish name is Vale SA ($VALE). Vale SA is a mining company engaged in the mining of iron ore, gold, copper and potash. We have a 0 Trend Score, our most bearish rating. The Implied Volatility Rank is 94 percent, so there is a big move being priced into this stock going into earnings on 2/26. I would look at an in the money put spread that expires in February weeklies. For example, buying the Feb. $8 puts and selling the $7 puts for $0.52.

Our most bullish pick with a Trend Score of 10 would be Illumina Inc. ($ILMN). This is a leading developer of next-generation tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. Bio and Biomed names are hot, and this is the best of breed.

Take a look at our free weekly picks to get more information, http://www.tradespoon.com/weekly/ideas.php. Have a great trading day!