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Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
12:35pm (EST)
We mentioned in the Weekly Wrap Sunday night that the market was in a tight trading range and for the Dow we mentioned the range at 9,700-10,700. While we remain optimistic that the bulls can still challenge the top end of our ranges we also know the market still has plenty of headwinds facing it.
Today’s Consumer Confidence report which showed a surprising drop reminded us just how fragile the economic recovery really is. The Conference Board says its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 46 in February from 56.5 last month. Wall Street was looking for a reading of 55.
As a result, the markets started to slide and have hit their lows for the day.
 DJIA 15-Minute Chart
At midday, the Dow is down 88, or 0.9%, to 10,294, the Nasdaq is down 35 points, or 1.6%, to 2,207, while the S&P is down 13, or 1.2%, to 1,094.
As far as specific stocks, Toyota Motor’s (TM, $72.00, down $0.93) U.S. sales chief is meeting with the House subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Capital Hill this afternoon to apologize for Toyota’s management of its recent recall.
The hot seat continues to turn up an interesting mix of companies and CEO’s answering Washington’s concerns and Toyota is the latest.
We have lots to talk about in our Members Area so let’s get to it…
Tags: Consumer Confidence, option picks, option signals, TOY, Toyota recall Posted in Company Commentary, Earnings, Economic News | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
9:43am (EST)
We have just posted a NEW TRADE. Current subscribers, check your email or the Members Area NOW.
Tags: option picks, option signals Posted in Hot Stocks | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Futures Weak Ahead Of Open
9:05am (EST)
The market held up well for much of Monday’s session due to the strength of the Financial stocks but after the closing bell sounded, the Dow ended the day with a slight 19 point loss to settle at 10,383.
The S&P gave up a point and closed at 1,108 while the Nasdaq fell 2 points and finished at 2,242.
Bank of America (BAC, $16.21, up $0.33) got a lift after a federal judge reluctantly approved a $150 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the company’s merger with Merrill Lynch.
We still have a slew of earnings that the market will digest this week and here is the list of companies we will be watching (quotes are as of Monday’s close):
Tuesday: Barnes & Noble (BKS, $21.51, down $0.17), Blue Coat Systems (BCSI, $29.15, up $0.63), DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA, $40.87, up $0.14), El Paso Electric (EE, $20.58, up $0.10), Herbalife (HLF, $39.43, down $0.64), Home Depot (HD, $30.32, up $0.17), Office Depot (ODP, $6.65, up $0.08), Papa Johns International (PZZA, $23.17, up $0.15), Target (TGT, $50.64, down $0.09) and Vornado Realty Trust (VNO, $65.68, up $0.06).
Wednesday: American Tower (AMT, $43.78, down $0.14), Churchill Downs (CHDN, $35.95, up $0.09), Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR, $49.53, down $0.47), Express Scripts (ESRX, $89.37, down $0.75), Flowserve (FLS, $99.09, up $0.18), Garmin (GRMN, $34.92, up $1.20), General Mills (GIS, $72.29, down $0,07), Health Care REIT (HCN, $42.00, up $0.14), J. M. Smucker (SJM, $60.39, down $0.16), Transocean (RIG, $85.30, up $0.18), Washington Post (WPO, $415.33, up $0.01) and Wynn Resorts (WYNN, $63.02, up $0.77).
Thursday: CenturyTel (CTL, $35.12, up $0.02), Deutsche Telekom (DT, $13.13, down $0.18), Fluor (FLR, $46.40, up $0.46), Gap (GPS, $19.77, down $0.08), H.J. Heinz (HNZ, $45.93, down $0.06), Kaydon (KDN, $34.83, up $0.22), Kohl’s (KSS, $51.13, down $0.61), Mohawk Industries (MHK, $46.80, up $0.02), Newmont Mining (NEM, $47.73, down $0.81), Revlon (REV, $15.93, down $0.38), Rosetta Stone (RST, $17.07, down $0.02), Safeway (SWY, $23.79, flat), and Steak n’ Shake (SNS, $347.98, down $0.28).
Friday: Bare Escentuals (BARE, $18.19, flat), Boyd Gaming (BYD, $7.79, up $0.04), Frontline (FRO, $28.66, up $1.12), Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS, $9.03, up $0.06) and Shanda Interactive Entertainment (SNDA, $46.91, down $2.18).
As we head to press, Dow futures are off by 40 points to 10,334 while the S&P 500 futures are down by 8 points to 1,102. The Nasdaq futures are lower by 8 to 1,812. This was a big difference from last night as futures were up strongly shortly after midnight.
Tags: option picks, option signals, options alerts, stock options trading Posted in Company Commentary, Earnings | Comments Off
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
1:10pm (EST)
The market opened slightly higher but was unable to hold its gains as the bulls and bears position themselves for this week’s battle. We have been in a tight trading range for much of the day but the sentiment is a little bearish after President Obama proposed a new Medicare tax on unearned income and $10 billion in additional fees on drug companies.
The bulls may be in a wait-and-see mood which could lead to some lackluster trading as they wait for more earnings reports this week.
Speaking of earnings, Campbell Soup (CPB, $33.33, down $0.60) reported numbers of $259 million, or $0.74 a share, versus $233 million, or $0.64 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Sales rose 1% to $2.15 billion. Wall Street had forecast Campbell to earn $0.73 a share on sales of $2.2 billion. Although earnings rose 11% as the company’s margins improved, it continued to see weakness in U.S. soup sales and volume fell 2%.
We mentioned Dendreon (DNDN, $32.89, up $0.53) this morning after the stock was up in pre-market trading. JPMorgan (JPM, $40.71, up $0.68) came out with an ”Overweight” rating and a $46 price target on our favorite Drug stock. The call is based upon a belief that Provenge will be approved for advanced prostate cancer.
Many of you know we have been following this story for over two years and Dendreon was by far our biggest trade return last year as our subscribers rode the stock from $4 to the mid $20′s.
There are also higher “unofficial” price targets for Dendreon but the drug must get approval first before we say it’s headed past $50. However, we think shares can hit over $100 in the next two years if Provenge is approved but it will depend on how well the company handles the transition from small town Billy to big town Bobby as sales are expected to reach over $1 billion.
We also mentioned Dendreon on our Watch List last Wednesday in our Members Area and told our subscribers about the “triple-top” resistance that was at $30-$31 and to watch for a breakthrough. We also listed an option trade that is now up 50%. We were waiting for the February options to expire before making this an “official” recommendation but the train left us.
We are still looking at other trades for Dendreon but we don’t want to chase with the options we have already talked about. There will be another opportunity for us to buy some options and that may come this week or next month as we do feel an explosive move higher is forthcoming.
As we head to press, the Dow is down 6 points to 10,396. We have a lot of updates to cover in our Members Area so let’s get to it…
Tags: CPB, dndn, JPM, option picks, option signals, options alerts, stock options trading Posted in BioTech, Company Commentary, Earnings, Hot Stocks, Market Analysis, Market Commentary, Trading Psychology, Trading Tips | Comments Off
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
9:00am (EST)
Signs of a strengthening U.S. economy helped push the market sharply higher last week. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all posted its best weekly performance since early November after a string of strong earnings and economic reports helped the bulls regain momentum.
Ahead of the opening bell, Dow futures are up 31 points to 10,409. The S&P 500 futures are higher by 4 to 1,110, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are showing a 7 point pop and are at 1,826.
Here is a look at the today’s earnings calendar (quotes are from Friday’s close):
Monday: Autodesk (ADSK, $25.99, up $0.07), Campbell Soup (CPB, $33.93, up $0.08), Dominos Pizza (DPZ, $12.28, up $0.03), Dendreon (DNDN, $32.36, up $0.35), Fannie Mae (FNM, $1.02, flat), Healthcare Realty Trust (HR, $20.84, up $0.04), M&F Worldwide (MFW, $33.87, down $0.07), NetEase.com (NTES, $37.75, down $0.38), Nordstrom (JWN, $35.70, up $0.68), PrePaid Legal (PPD, $42.59, up $0.05) and Sears Holdings (SHLD, $95.04, up $0.64).
Dendreon is up to $33.20 in pre-market trading and has been on our Watch List for the past few weeks. We haven’t pulled the trigger on a trade just yet but it looks like the stock is entering a new bullish channel.

We do profile a NEW TRADE this morning. Current subscribers, check the Members Area for the updates.
Tags: Dendreon, dndn, option picks, option signals, options alerts, stock options trading Posted in Company Commentary, Earnings | Comments Off
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Consumer Confidence Rattles The Bulls
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
12:35pm (EST)
We mentioned in the Weekly Wrap Sunday night that the market was in a tight trading range and for the Dow we mentioned the range at 9,700-10,700. While we remain optimistic that the bulls can still challenge the top end of our ranges we also know the market still has plenty of headwinds facing it.
Today’s Consumer Confidence report which showed a surprising drop reminded us just how fragile the economic recovery really is. The Conference Board says its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 46 in February from 56.5 last month. Wall Street was looking for a reading of 55.
As a result, the markets started to slide and have hit their lows for the day.
DJIA 15-Minute Chart
At midday, the Dow is down 88, or 0.9%, to 10,294, the Nasdaq is down 35 points, or 1.6%, to 2,207, while the S&P is down 13, or 1.2%, to 1,094.
As far as specific stocks, Toyota Motor’s (TM, $72.00, down $0.93) U.S. sales chief is meeting with the House subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Capital Hill this afternoon to apologize for Toyota’s management of its recent recall.
The hot seat continues to turn up an interesting mix of companies and CEO’s answering Washington’s concerns and Toyota is the latest.
We have lots to talk about in our Members Area so let’s get to it…
Tags: Consumer Confidence, option picks, option signals, TOY, Toyota recall
Posted in Company Commentary, Earnings, Economic News | Comments Off