10:40pm (EST)
The bulls were off and running on Friday as the Dow opened with a triple-digit gain after Wall Street learned the unemployment rate fell to 10% in November from 10.2% in October before the bell. Most of the suit and ties figured the jobless rate would remain at 10.2% but a positive nonfarm payrolls report offered clues on Thursday.
The market also got a better than expected factory orders report 30 minutes after the open but before lunch the bulls were packing it up and heading out for the weekend. The markets then fluctuated the rest of the day on the strengthening U.S. dollar but still managed to finish the day and week higher.
The Dow was up 22 points to 10,388 and finished the week with a slight 0.8% increase. Not bad for five days worth of work but the Nasdaq carried the load as it settled at 2,194, up 21 for the day, and 2.6% for the week. The S&P 500 gained 6 to 1,105 and added 1.3%, respectively.
As you can imagine, some stocks rallied off the “good” unemployment report. Manpower (MAN, $56.77, up $5.39) soared 10% and hit a high of $58, Monster Worldwide (MWW, $16.83, up $1.80) popped 12% and Robert Half International (RHI, $25.74, up $2.56) jumped 11%.
Big Lots (BIG, $28.08, up $4.54) had a BIG Friday as shares zoomed nearly 20% after the national closeout retailer announced 3Q profits that more than doubled Wall Street’s expectations. The company earned $30 million, or $0.37 a share, compared with $12 million, or $0.15 a share, a year earlier. Wow. We were eyeballing this one in the Weekly Wrap last Sunday as an “earnings play” but felt nervous on recommending this one after our Aeropostale (ARO, $28.95, flat) debacle.
We should have stuck with our game plan as the Big Lots December 25 calls (BIGLE, $3.10, up $2.50) gained over 400% on Friday. Want one better? The BIG December 27.50 calls (BIGLY, $1.10, up $1.00) were up an astounding 1,000%! Now you know why we like earnings trades…
Elsewhere, Bank of America (BAC, $16.28, up $0.52) added 3% after it announced plans to repay $45 billion in TARP funds as it looks to find a new CEO. Hard to believe this stock was at $3 in March. We made some great option trades on the stock’s climb back to $20 which is where it ran out of gas back in October. We aren’t ready to jump back into this one but we are watching the developments.
Gold has a wild week and hit a record high of $1226 per ounce, but ended the week at $1161/ oz. after plunging $52 on Friday. We were preaching that the gold bugs were getting ahead of themselves last Wednesday when we heard “Gold $5,000″.
We don’t think the rally in gold is over but it only took two days after that retarded call for gold stocks to plunge. Barrick Gold (ABX, $42.68, down $4.16) fell 9%, Newmont Mining (NEM, $52.05, down $2.43) dropped nearly 5% and Goldcorp (GG, $42.27, down $2.88) sank 6%. Also, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX, $79.87, down $3.93), a play on copper and gold, slipped 4.7%.
Crude oil closed down $1 to $75 while natural gas gained 13 cents to $4.59.
We will be back in the morning with the companies reporting earnings this week and the current trade updates.
Tags: call option trading, chicken option trades, Covered Calls, momentum stock option trading, option trade picks, option trading online, options blog, options mentoring, options newsletters, options track record, put option trading, Rick Rouse, stock option trade pick service, straddle option trades, strangle option trades, support and resistance levels, triple-digit option trades
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on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 10:40 PM and is filed under Commodities, Company Commentary, Gold, Market Analysis, Market Commentary, Oil, Option Trades, Weekly Wrap.
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MomentumOptionsTrading.com Weekly Wrap for 12/06/09
10:40pm (EST)
The bulls were off and running on Friday as the Dow opened with a triple-digit gain after Wall Street learned the unemployment rate fell to 10% in November from 10.2% in October before the bell. Most of the suit and ties figured the jobless rate would remain at 10.2% but a positive nonfarm payrolls report offered clues on Thursday.
The market also got a better than expected factory orders report 30 minutes after the open but before lunch the bulls were packing it up and heading out for the weekend. The markets then fluctuated the rest of the day on the strengthening U.S. dollar but still managed to finish the day and week higher.
The Dow was up 22 points to 10,388 and finished the week with a slight 0.8% increase. Not bad for five days worth of work but the Nasdaq carried the load as it settled at 2,194, up 21 for the day, and 2.6% for the week. The S&P 500 gained 6 to 1,105 and added 1.3%, respectively.
As you can imagine, some stocks rallied off the “good” unemployment report. Manpower (MAN, $56.77, up $5.39) soared 10% and hit a high of $58, Monster Worldwide (MWW, $16.83, up $1.80) popped 12% and Robert Half International (RHI, $25.74, up $2.56) jumped 11%.
Big Lots (BIG, $28.08, up $4.54) had a BIG Friday as shares zoomed nearly 20% after the national closeout retailer announced 3Q profits that more than doubled Wall Street’s expectations. The company earned $30 million, or $0.37 a share, compared with $12 million, or $0.15 a share, a year earlier. Wow. We were eyeballing this one in the Weekly Wrap last Sunday as an “earnings play” but felt nervous on recommending this one after our Aeropostale (ARO, $28.95, flat) debacle.
We should have stuck with our game plan as the Big Lots December 25 calls (BIGLE, $3.10, up $2.50) gained over 400% on Friday. Want one better? The BIG December 27.50 calls (BIGLY, $1.10, up $1.00) were up an astounding 1,000%! Now you know why we like earnings trades…
Elsewhere, Bank of America (BAC, $16.28, up $0.52) added 3% after it announced plans to repay $45 billion in TARP funds as it looks to find a new CEO. Hard to believe this stock was at $3 in March. We made some great option trades on the stock’s climb back to $20 which is where it ran out of gas back in October. We aren’t ready to jump back into this one but we are watching the developments.
Gold has a wild week and hit a record high of $1226 per ounce, but ended the week at $1161/ oz. after plunging $52 on Friday. We were preaching that the gold bugs were getting ahead of themselves last Wednesday when we heard “Gold $5,000″.
We don’t think the rally in gold is over but it only took two days after that retarded call for gold stocks to plunge. Barrick Gold (ABX, $42.68, down $4.16) fell 9%, Newmont Mining (NEM, $52.05, down $2.43) dropped nearly 5% and Goldcorp (GG, $42.27, down $2.88) sank 6%. Also, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX, $79.87, down $3.93), a play on copper and gold, slipped 4.7%.
Crude oil closed down $1 to $75 while natural gas gained 13 cents to $4.59.
We will be back in the morning with the companies reporting earnings this week and the current trade updates.
Tags: call option trading, chicken option trades, Covered Calls, momentum stock option trading, option trade picks, option trading online, options blog, options mentoring, options newsletters, options track record, put option trading, Rick Rouse, stock option trade pick service, straddle option trades, strangle option trades, support and resistance levels, triple-digit option trades
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 10:40 PM and is filed under Commodities, Company Commentary, Gold, Market Analysis, Market Commentary, Oil, Option Trades, Weekly Wrap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.