Tropical Storm Alex to BP’s Rescue
I Want my life back! I am not the only one as plenty of fishes, birds, and people also want their life back that BP plc (ADR) has taken away. Not to Worry because BP feels sorry, so sorry that it is donating oil spill revenue to charity (the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation). BP said it would provide $5 million to the group immediately, Based on a current futures price of $77.83 a barrel, the collected oil is worth about $1.2 million. BP hopes to cap the well by August.
With the CEO now out of the picture time to get back to work and stop this drilling insanity. Hmm maybe not thanks to a federal judge who has overturned the Obama administration’s 6-month moratorium on new deepwater offshore drilling projects. What's the reason for overturning the decision?
The Interior Department said it needed time to study the risks of deepwater drilling but U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman said in his ruling the Interior Department assumed that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.
Come on there has to be more to this story and thankfully there is. Like many judges presiding in the Gulf region, Feldman owns lots of energy stocks, including Transocean, Halliburton, and two of BP’s largest U.S. private shareholders — BlackRock (7.1%) and JP Morgan Chase (28.3%). Here’s a list of Feldman’s income in 2008. How can he stop drilling when his heart is fully soaked in oil? He can't because Industry ties among federal judges are so widespread that they are beginning to endanger the courts’ ability to conduct routine business.
More great news! We don't need to head to Italy to see the amazing Leaning Tower of Pisa because BP pipe is tilting more.
The Deepwater Horizon riser package that sits on the seabed a mile below the ocean surface weighs over 450 tons, including the 48-foot-tall failed blowout preventer. National Incident Commander Thad Allen announced that the riser package is tilting “10 or 12 degrees off perpendicular (On June 10 it was only tilting by about 2 or 3 degrees). Engineers and geologists fear the stack atop the well could tip over if the well integrity further degrades, leading to the “unlikely, but not implausible” scenario of “oil gushing through the sea floor.”
Hey you say, its unlikely and worst case scenario and BP will get things rolling before something worse happens. What else coulg go wrong? everything is already factored for the worse.
Oh wait! More Great news just arrived! Tropical Storm Alex comes to the rescue (or not) of BP. The ECMWF model is the most aggressive in developing this system, taking it into the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane next week. The NOGAPS model keeps the storm weak and farther south, predicting that 93L will bring heavy rains to northern Honduras as a tropical disturbance or tropical depression on Friday and Saturday. But either way this will be fun to watch.
Here is the graph of Invest93 (Tropical Storm Alex)
Check out some previous BP Posts:
BP Cares about the small people June 17
BP now stands for Bad Publicity June 14
Thats all Folks,
-K
Nightly Recap 3-31-2010
Market Summary:
DOW -50.79 (10,856.63)
S&P -3.84 (1,169.43)
Nasdaq -12.73 (2,397.96)
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Disclaimer:
Open Positions: SRS at 5.97
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Nightly News Links
US Economy:
Ben Bernanke's Mortgage Buying Will Be Missed (Until Round 2 Begins) (Business Insider)
The mortgage backed security (MBS) purchase program began in earnest on March 18, 2009, when Fed Chairman Bernanke announced an expansion of the program to the size limit of $1.25 trillion. The result of that program saw the S&P 500 rise 55.08% between March 18 and today (March 31, 2010), its end. What will the world be like after?
Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time (NYT)
The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.
Chicago PMI Dissapoints (Econompic)
Investors were also disappointed Wednesday by a survey of Chicago-area purchasing managers that showed U.S. business activity continued to expand in March, but at a slower pace than the previous month. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago said its business barometer slipped to 58.8 in March, from a nearly five-year high of 62.6 in February. Economists expected a reading of 60.8.
Still, Croft noted that a reading above 50 still reflects expansion. "We think the economy is marching forward here, but not at an extremely fast pace," he said.
ADP Employment... Not Yet "Back in Black" (Econompic)
While many are waiting for Friday’s Payroll figure to tell them the state of the US labor market, I’m going to rely on today’s ADP report as a better gauge. That is because it is private sector based and thus won’t be distorted by the likely 100k+ adds of government census workers and the “methodology used to construct it” takes out most of the impact of the Feb snow storms and March snapback. It turns out that +40,000 was a bit optimistic as ADP showed a contraction of another 23,000 jobs. If these figures are to be believed (we will see "official figures" Friday), then we may have to wait for April for the private sector to stop contracting.
Market Call:Down(Zen Trader)
On a daily time frame I received my sell signal today and picked up DXD & SDS. We’ve been trading in a range with multiple distribution days this past week and it appears we’re in for some more selling. Could I be wrong and we rally? For sure. However, a number of other signals are pointing down.
World Economy:
European Unemployment to 11 1/2 Year High (EconomPic)
Euro zone inflation was much higher than expected in March and the unemployment rate reached 10 percent in February, data showed on Wednesday, highlighting the fragility of economic recovery.
The IMF Warns About German Banks... And That's Bad News For France's Too (Business Insider)
Mike O'Rourke of BTIG spotlights some interesting comments from a recently released IMF report (.pdf) on Germany:
“Simulation exercises suggest that German banks could suffer significant losses from commercial real estate investments in the U.S. and Spain, and more generally from exposures to Southern Europe. The simulations also suggest that a reassessment of risks associated with claims on Southern Europe could have a large impact on capital flows within Europe, as German (and also French) banks would significantly reduce their foreign claims to restore capital ratios.”
Interesting Links:
The Story Of Bottled Water (2010)
The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day) employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand—how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industrys attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces.
Have a Good Night
-K
Nightly Recap 3-26-2010
Market Summary:
DOW +9.15 (10,850.36)
S&P +0.86 (1,166.59)
Nasdaq -2.28 (2,395.13)
____________
Disclaimer:
Open Positions: SRS at 5.97
___________
Nightly News Links
US Economy:
Q4 GDP Revised down to 5.6% (from 5.9%) (Calculated Risk)
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 ... Real personal consumption expenditures increased 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter. Note that PCE and Residential Investment (RI) - the two leading categories - were both revised down for Q4. This suggests that final demand was weaker in Q4 than in the previous two estimates.
Half of US Home Modifications Default Again (Bloomberg)
More than half of U.S. borrowers who received loan modifications on delinquent mortgages defaulted again after nine months, according to a federal report. The re-default rate of loans modified in the first quarter of 2009 was 51.5 percent by the end of the year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision said in a joint report today. The figure, which measures payments at least 30 days late, climbed to 57.9 percent for changes made in the prior 12 months.
Treasury Planning Citi Stake Sale (New York Times)
The Treasury could unveil a preset trading plan next month for the sale of its 27 percent stake in Citigroup Inc, Bloomberg said on Thursday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. Citigroup shares rose 2.9 percent to close at $4.27 following the report, which soothed investor fears that the United States would dump large blocks of shares on the market.
The Treasury plan will lock the government into a schedule for selling its shares with the aim of eliminating any concerns that the sales are based on nonpublic information.
World Economy:
Greece is finally given their safety blanket (The Big Picture)
As has been hinted at for the past few days, Germany and France have agreed to involve the IMF in a joint backstop that will be there for Greece ONLY if they run into a funding crisis. Greece needs to raise about 20b euro’s by the end of May to meet upcoming maturities. ECB Pres Trichet who said he wanted to avoid using the IMF yesterday, said he was “extraordinarily happy that the government of the euro area found out a workable solution.” Greek debt is rallying, stocks are up 3% and the euro is higher.
Geopoltical Update: South Korean Ship Likely Hit By North Korean Torpedo, Emergency Security Meeting Held In Seoul (Zero Hedge)
Several South Korean sailors were killed and one of its naval ships with more than 100 aboard was sinking on Friday after possibly being hit by a North Korean torpedo, South Korean media reported. A South Korean vessel fired at an unidentified vessel towards the north and the South's presidential Blue House was holding an emergency security meeting, Yonhap news agency said. South Korea's YTN TV network said the government was investigating whether the sinking was due to a torpedo attack by the North. The network also quoted a government source saying it was unclear yet whether the incident was related to North Korea.
Goldman Joins Race for $10 Billion Polish Asset Sales (Bloomberg)
The Polish capital is luring international investment banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world’s most profitable, as the government prepares record share offerings this year. The main lure is advisory work for the Polish government, which plans to sell stakes this year in its energy, insurance, chemical and phone companies to raise $10 billion to finance the widening budget deficit. The economy, the only one in the European Union to avoid a recession, and the Warsaw Stock Exchange, where the total value of listed companies has tripled since 2003, are also attractive, bankers said.
“It’s no wonder foreign banks are coming to Poland,”
Have a Good Night
-K
Why Not To Use Stop Loss Order
I'm busy investrader trader. I work full time so it is not easy for me to trade throughout the day. Thus, from time to time (read: sporadically), when I'm going to the meeting with an open order, I need to minimize damage to my portfolio in case something was happening to the stock while I was not looking at its chart. During those times I use stop-loss orders. Stop-loss orders are dangerous and I want to share with you something about them.
A stop order (also stop loss order) is an order to buy (or sell) a security once the price of the security has climbed above (or dropped below) a specified stop price. (Note that both bid and ask prices can trigger a stop order.) When the specified stop price is reached, the stop order is entered as a market order (no limit). This means the trade will definitely be executed, but not necessarily at or near the stop price, particularly when the order is placed into a fast-moving market, or if there is insufficient liquidity available relative to the size of the order.
I filled an order for 400 PFE at $17.90 (its support). I set a stop-loss at $17.78-- I like to take tiny losses. While away, look what happened:
For a fraction of a second, the price fell to $17.75! Coincidence? This is what happens when others set stop losses and the movement is bearish-- they are being taken out within fraction of a second. More importantly however, stop losses can be seen by market makers and they sure know how to make your life miserable.
Regardless, my stop loss order was not taken out and I'm still in this trade.
Best of all, just see what happened right after:
Apple Poised For a Big Move $AAPL
I have been watching Apple Inc. ( $AAPL ) form a symmetrical triangle for the past two months. This is a Continuation Pattern, which means that the triangle is used as a way to head higher if the trend has been upwards and with AAPL it has been.
A symmetrical triangle is generally regarded as a period of consolidation before the price moves beyond one of the identified trendlines.The sharp price movement that often follows a breakout of this formation can be captured by traders who are able to identify the pattern early enough.
The Symmetrical triangle pattern needs to have a few things working for it and we will check them off here.
1. Trend Should be at least a few months old: Check !AAPL is from march to december.
2. Duration of pattern should be at least 3 weeks old: Check! This pattern is 6 weeks old.
3. Breakout occurs between 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the pattern: Check! It's about 3/4 of the way.
So now that we checked a few major points off let's look at a price target. We take the distance from the widest end of the triangle and in this case is around $20.
From the breakout at around $200, this being a bullish trend apple has been in we add $20 to the upside and put it at ~$220 for a potential breakout target.
There are a few hurdles here for AAPL though the $207-208 area is major resistance so if it can break that $220 is well in sight.
I bought a January $230 Call option at 0.23 to prepare for the move instead of putting major capital in the stock
Here is the chart (Click to Enlarge)
Update: I tried posting it last night but my host was down so i gave up. $AAPL is currently at ~$207.50 (in between the resistance I mentioned)
I have also sold my Call options for a hefty 140% Profit from yesterday's buy-in price, if Apple breaks above 208 I might be re-buying some.
Merry Christmas!!
A few words on the Economy from Christopher Probyn of SSGA
I was fortunate to attend a presentation by Christopher Probyn of SSGA
"The Financial Crisis: Causes, Consequences and the Prospects for Recovery."
I spent more time listening than writing things down so pardon me for just providing an outline of what he mentioned that interested me.
- Headwinds to the economy: Weakness Abroad, Deteriorating Commercial Real Estate Markets.
- V Shaped recoveries usually follow deep recessions, Mr. Probyn is looking for a U shaped recovery to play out.
- Unemployment will reach at least 10% (It's close enough now and we shall see Friday if it happens already)
- Inflation will come way down from the current 1.5% due to the higher unemployment rate.
- There is a good chance CPI will break below 0% (It already has in Japan and Europe) Deflation Alert!
- Do need to worry about inflation until capacity utilization rate goes to at least 80% (Currently in the 60's)
That's all Folks. I hope you found it interesting to say the least.
-K
Shooting Stars are everywhere. Is it time to turn into a growling Bear?
I noticed something strange today looking at my favorite timeframe. (half a day 
)
Stars were shooting everywhere.
Many symbols like $SPX $SPY $INDU $OEX $COMPX $QQQQ etc had the shooting star pattern to an extent.
I chose to include only 3 to keep it simple
Now before I insert the image I would like to explain what a shooting star pattern is thanks to Stockcharts.com
Shooting Star: A single day pattern that can appear in an uptrend. It opens higher, trades much higher, then closes near its open. It looks just like the Inverted Hammer except that it is bearish.
Here is a visual aid to go with the definition. (Click To Enlarge)
Now bear in mind this is my own opinion of what I see happening. My system has yet to give a sell signal but today I did receive a sell in GLD so if gold is losing value that means market is going down (most times that's the correlation I've seen.)
Now listen up you Goldman Sachs! Stop reading my blog and proving me wrong. Let the market go down like it wants to.
Thank you very much.
-K
SKF (UltraShort Financials) Overbought?
I hope you saw my post about my February performance. Most of my gains were thanks to shorting the financial sector via SKF.
I have still kept an eye on the ETF after selling it and is now is extremely overbought on many levels. I had a target of $250-255 for it but I did not hold my shares past $200. Now that my target has been reached I am looking for SKF to come back down to earth, I am looking for at least $182-186 range.
With the market crashing down so fast there is not much incentive to go more short as I am sure SEC has plans for a no shorting rule or at least something to stop the bleeding. That concludes this post and I will rest my case by providing you the chart which I am basing my case on.
Below I am attaching a chart showing the RSI being overbought but also SKF itself going over the Bollinger bands that I use.
If you are looking to buy into SKF (besides trading it for quick scalps) then either stay away from it or just take the chart into consideration. (Click to Enlarge)
As always, I merely post my opinions on here so I am not responsible for anyone's financial decisions.
Have a good day,
-K
Why stops are important
Recently i began using the stop loss rule because this apple stock i own is driving me insane.
I bought DDM at 61.70 and i figured out it's volatility through Average true Range (ATR) was around $2.40 61.7-2.4= 59.3
I decided to give it a little more space so i set $59.
with 15 shares i held at 61.7 i spent $932.5 ($7 commission included)
i sold with a stop rule in effect at $59 so that is $878 after commission is deducted.
I ended up losing $54.5 or about 5.8%. I'm fine with that as long as it keeps me out of trouble.
Remember!
Disciplined Traders Use Stops and Never go against their own rules.