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Friday, April 16th, 2010
9:05am (EST)
The bulls extended the major indexes winning streak to six following Thursday’s gains. However, judging by this morning’s futures, the bulls will have to dig out of a hole to make it seven in-a-row.
The Dow managed to squeeze a 22 point win and closed at 11,144 after touching a low of 11,096 on Thursday. The index peaked at 11,154 and touched another new 52-week high in the process.
The S&P 500 added a point to finish at 1,211 while the Nasdaq added 11 and settled at 2,515.
The big news after the close last night was Google’s (GOOG, $595.30, up $6.30) numbers. Although impressive, shares got hammered, losing 29 points, and were last seen at $566 in pre-market trading.
The company earned nearly $2 billion, or $6.06 per share, in the quarter, versus $1.4 billion, or $4.49 per share, in the year-ago period. Goog’s would have earned $6.76 a share but took a hit for expenses covering employee stock compensation. Wall Street was expecting $6.60 a share on average.
Revenue surged over 20% to $6.8 billion which marked Google’s greatest revenue growth since 3Q08. After subtracting commissions paid to advertising partners, Google’s revenue really came in at a little over $5 billion but was still about $90 million above estimates.
We said yesterday that Google was the wild card and we also said we could get a “curveball”. Well, we did. The real deal with Google’s big drop was the fact the company’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, was NOT on the conference call. To compare it to the sports world, it would be like a NFL owner not going to the Super Bowl when the team he owns is in it.
To put things in perspective, the 30 point drop in the stock is only a 5% fall and the rumors on why their CEO did not do the yapping on the earnings call are running rampant. Look, the rumors are overblown. Yes, Google didn’t do a very good job of giving Wall Street a heads-up but this morning’s sell-off will be met with buying.
Bank of America (BAC, $19.48, up $0.08) and General Electric (GE, $19.50, up $0.15) reported this morning before the opening bell and that has helped futures come up off of their lows after they beat estimates.
Both stocks are flat as we head towards the open with BAC up a few pennies while GE is down a penny.
As we head to press, Dow futures are lower by 23, Nasdaq 100 futures are off by 6 while the S&P 500 futures are down 4.
Tags: bac, Bank of America earnings, GE, GOOG, Google's earnings, option picks, option signals, options alerts, stock options trading
Posted in Earnings, Google, Market Commentary | Comments Off
Friday, April 9th, 2010
9:00am (EST)
“When everybody thinks alike, everyone is likely to be wrong.” – Humphrey Neill
There has been so much talk about a market pullback this week that we thought we would use today’s quote to put things in perspective.
The talking heads are telling you there are chinks in the bulls armor and the bears had every opportunity to take the market lower this week. However, going into today’s session, the Dow is EXACTLY where it closed at last Friday. So what we do today will count for the week.
Yesterday looked pretty bearish but the retail same-store sales helped put a floor on the downside. A surprise increase in initial jobless claims initially weighed on the market after the Labor Department said first-time filings for unemployment benefits unexpectedly jumped by 18,000 last week but things got better.
After opening lower, the bears took the market to its lows within the first 30 minutes of trading but that was it. By lunchtime, the bulls were in control and pushed the market into positive territory for the rest of the day.
The Dow enjoyed a 30 point gain, or 0.3%, to close at 10,927. The index touched a high of 10,949 but still remains just a 73-point session away from breaking 11,000. It would be hard for us to “short” the market here because we still believe the Dow can trade 11,000 before “correcting”.
The S&P 500 held exactly at 1,175 and finished with a 4 point pop, or 0.3%, to close at 1,186. This was a sign to us that the bulls will be around next week to fight. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq added 6 points and went to bed at 2,436.
Next week is a HUGE week for earnings and Alcoa (AA, $14.87, up $0.13) will officially kick-off the earnings parade on Monday. Intel (INTC, $22.31, down $0.14) announces earnings on Tuesday; Wednesday we hear from JPMorgan (JPM, $45.76, up $0.44); Thursday is Google’s (GOOG, $567.49, up $3.95) turn and Friday General Electric (GE, $18.56, up $0.06) briefs Wall Street – not to mention April option expiration day.
The way we see it? We have one bull on our right shoulder and one bear on our left shoulder. Either all of the good news is priced into this market or we easily set new highs.
For today, futures are pointing towards a higher open as the Dow futures are showing a 20 point pop and are at 10,903 while the S&P futures are up 3 points to 1,186. Nasdaq 100 futures are higher by 5 and are at 1,185.
We will be back at 1pm with the afternoon update…
Tags: AA, DJIA, GE, GOOG, INTC, JPM, option picks, option signals, options alerts, stock options trading
Posted in Market Analysis, Market Commentary | Comments Off
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
12:30pm (EST)
General Electric (GE, $16.68, up $0.68) is rolling this week. The stock opened Mondayat $14.55 and closed yesterday at $16. Today’s 4% pop is shows the stock’s momentum after passing hitting the $16 level and shares look poised to run to $17 where there is resistance. Volume is thru the roof as 113 million shares have traded thus far.
Lottery players are all over the GE September 16 calls (GEWIQ, $0.75, up $0.49) as they are up nearly 200% for the day. They opened at 40 cents. We went to Apple’s (AAPL, $182.26, up $7.10) October party instead and the option trade I profiled at 11am is up 50% folks! If you got in at 85 cents, lock down some profits as the call options are now at $1.50!
Yes,
Baidu.com (BIDU, $402.80, up $5.27) continues to set new 52-week highs. The stock has made an $80 move since the beginning of the month. Goldman Sachs (GS, $178.33, up $1.67) is the latest cheerleader after making some chippy comments on the company this week and setting a price target of $455. Baidu’s CEO has been quoted as saying he sees users leaving Yahoo Japan to come to Baidu over the next few years.
That’s it for now…Freeport McMoRan (FCX, $72.77, up $1.43) and Imax (IMAX, $10.10, up $0.28) are also putting in good days for us. I may try and do an 11pm update tonight but I’ve got a ton of research I’m doing. If not, I’ll see everyone in the morning by 9am (EST).
Tags: AAPL, Apple, Baidu.com, BIDU, FCX, Freeport-McMoRan, GE, General Electric, GS, Imax, options picks, options trading strategies
Posted in Apple, Company Commentary, Hot Stocks, Option Trades | Comments Off
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
9:10am (EST)
Gold has toped the $1,000 an ounce level this morning as it is up $11 to $1,007. Futures are pointing towards a big open. Dow futures are up 80 to 9,497, S&P 500 futures are up 10 to 1,024 while Nasdaq 100 futures are up 14 to 1,650.
Oil is up $3 to $70.95.
There is a lot of news out this morning. General Electric (GE, $13.87) has a pre-market bid of $14.46 after getting an upgrade. Apple (AAPL, $170.31) also got another upgrade and will be a stock to watch this week.
If my calculations are right, we should see at least a 50 point gain on the Dow at the open. If so, we could quickly hit a triple-digit gain in the first 10 minutes.
Rick@MomentumOptionsTrading.com
Tags: AAPL, Apple, futures, GE, General Electric, Gold, Oil, options picks
Posted in Company Commentary, Gold, Oil | Comments Off
Friday, May 8th, 2009
11:15am (EST)
The unemployment numbers really threw a monkey wrench in this morning’s trading plan and despite the Dow’s best efforts, we have slipped off of our highs. The unemployment rate jumped again, to 8.9% from 8.5%, as many businesses continue to be cautious from hiring. Selected areas are picking up around the country but most firms are refraining from hiring new workers. Still, the market’s overall reaction to the report was positive but has faded.
I didn’t pull the trigger on any trades, yet, and still don’t know if I will. I think the market can bounce back and challenge its highs of the day but the final hour of trading is looking like a toss-up. General Electric (GE, $14.25, up $0.29) hit a high of $14.45 and faded right at 10am. I was hoping the stock would hold and continue higher but we didn’t get that. This is why I always preach about waiting 30 minutes after the open. Yeah, sometimes you can go long at the open, but today wasn’t that day because of the employment report.
The GE May 15 calls (GEWEH, $0.12, up $0.01) have traded as high as 22 cents after opening at 15 cents and if I pull the trigger, this is the target I might aim for. Remember, I had a “saved” order to get in at 14 cents but I was a penny off on where I thought the call options would open this morning.
One trade that I do like right now is Blackstone Group (BX, $13.20, up $0.71). The June 15 calls (BXFC, $0.60, up $0.10) look tempting at these levels and I will be doing a write-up in the Weekly Wrap Sunday night.
Rick Rouse
Rick@OptionsMentoring.com
Tags: Blackstone Group, GE, General Electric, options blog
Posted in Option Trades | No Comments »
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Google (GOOG) Rocks, Stock Drops
Friday, April 16th, 2010
9:05am (EST)
The bulls extended the major indexes winning streak to six following Thursday’s gains. However, judging by this morning’s futures, the bulls will have to dig out of a hole to make it seven in-a-row.
The Dow managed to squeeze a 22 point win and closed at 11,144 after touching a low of 11,096 on Thursday. The index peaked at 11,154 and touched another new 52-week high in the process.
The S&P 500 added a point to finish at 1,211 while the Nasdaq added 11 and settled at 2,515.
The big news after the close last night was Google’s (GOOG, $595.30, up $6.30) numbers. Although impressive, shares got hammered, losing 29 points, and were last seen at $566 in pre-market trading.
The company earned nearly $2 billion, or $6.06 per share, in the quarter, versus $1.4 billion, or $4.49 per share, in the year-ago period. Goog’s would have earned $6.76 a share but took a hit for expenses covering employee stock compensation. Wall Street was expecting $6.60 a share on average.
Revenue surged over 20% to $6.8 billion which marked Google’s greatest revenue growth since 3Q08. After subtracting commissions paid to advertising partners, Google’s revenue really came in at a little over $5 billion but was still about $90 million above estimates.
We said yesterday that Google was the wild card and we also said we could get a “curveball”. Well, we did. The real deal with Google’s big drop was the fact the company’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, was NOT on the conference call. To compare it to the sports world, it would be like a NFL owner not going to the Super Bowl when the team he owns is in it.
To put things in perspective, the 30 point drop in the stock is only a 5% fall and the rumors on why their CEO did not do the yapping on the earnings call are running rampant. Look, the rumors are overblown. Yes, Google didn’t do a very good job of giving Wall Street a heads-up but this morning’s sell-off will be met with buying.
Bank of America (BAC, $19.48, up $0.08) and General Electric (GE, $19.50, up $0.15) reported this morning before the opening bell and that has helped futures come up off of their lows after they beat estimates.
Both stocks are flat as we head towards the open with BAC up a few pennies while GE is down a penny.
As we head to press, Dow futures are lower by 23, Nasdaq 100 futures are off by 6 while the S&P 500 futures are down 4.
Tags: bac, Bank of America earnings, GE, GOOG, Google's earnings, option picks, option signals, options alerts, stock options trading
Posted in Earnings, Google, Market Commentary | Comments Off