I would chalk a lot of the upside trade in the S&P 500 ($SPX) to some good old fashioned short covering. While the EU ($EZU) was able to gather some upside steam, I really did not see the type of volume that would signal newcomers at these price levels. The Seasonality Chart is a good […]

This was an impressive day with the S&P 500 ($SPX) finishing up 1.25 percent and retracing the pullback of the previous session. Volatility ($VIX) scaled back finishing at $19.31, down 8.57 percent. I did scale out of 30 percent of my volatility position yesterday. I had orders filled today, using some of the profits from […]

The pressure was on early but eased with the market retracing about 50 percent of the midday pullback. Not every asset class was pressured to the downside. Volatility finished the day right at $21 on the $VIX, which gave me an opportunity to unwind about 25 percent of my volatility exposure. With this rebalance I […]

We have now seen roughly two-thirds of the December S&P ($SPY) price gain wiped out by the second session of the new trading year. A break of $201 on the $SPY (the ETF that tracks the S&P 500) would put substantial pressure on the bulls. The Volatility Index ($VIX) fighting above $21, is at a […]

In our “Wall Street Week Ahead” segment you often hear my good friend Joe Cusick from TradingBlock and me talk about housing data. Some would rather not think about housing, it may bring back some bad memories. But, that’s the point! Housing, specifically home builders, are leading indicators. If you look back at the last […]

The small-caps($IWM) are breaking out of what has been in range for the last year. Today, $IWM hit a 52-week high. Some might say this is an index of 2000 stocks – so you take these moves with a grain of salt. I would agree, you need to weed out the sectors that are bubbling […]

I do not have to state the obvious, Energy ($XLE) has been the worst performing sector in December. We have seen Materials ($XLB) in the same category as well. There is also a lack of leadership and momentum in Utilities ($XLU), Healthcare ($XLV), and Consumer Staples ($XLP). These are leadership sectors that need to have […]

You would have to live under a rock if you have not seen the headlines on North Korea’s $HACK into Sony ($SNE),in an effort to stop the release of their new movie, “The Interpreter”. While the intrigue has been fun to watch this did bring an opportunity to light that could flow into an investment […]

‘Tis the season and traders are buying: large-caps ($SPX), small-caps ($RUT), and tech ($NDX)- oh my! I said I am buying on weakness and selling into strength. So you might ask how would you define strength? If a stock moves 20-25 percent in one to three days, that is considered strength. I would either sell […]

Buying on weakness and selling into strength, sounds good, right? But, it’s a little like standing in front of a train at a slit, hoping it goes right and not left. While yesterday I did buy the dip on all the stocks that I had on my Tradespoon Bull conviction screen, I only purchased ~30 […]