The other day, Goldman Sachs took a sharp knife to its earnings estimates for S&P 500 companies. It cut 2015 estimates from previous $122 to $114. In 2014, these companies earned $113 in operating earnings. If Goldman is right, we … Continued
If there has been one common thread shared by major U.S. indices before the rout this Monday, it is this: the sell-off preceded a trendline break. Back in the middle of October last year, as the S&P 500 Index was … Continued
Mon’s 35-percent rally in VIX rare – largest since 43-percent surge mid-Apr 2013 After weeks of suppression, VIX:VXV spikes into overbought zone – worth watching Not much change in Jul call open interest on Mon vs Fri; ATM put IV … Continued
The SPDR Consumer Discretionary ETF (XLY) is primed for another short put options strategy. Last week, the ETF went on to rally 0.6 percent. Thus, the premium earned selling weekly June 26th 77 puts was kept. Could this work again … Continued
Last week, IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, dropped 0.3 percent, to $127.50, but not before scoring another intra-day high of $129.10. There is both good and bad in how the ETF traded during the week. First, it sold off … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of June 23, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Yields pushed up nearly 21 basis points for the week. Sales of both new and existing homes did well in May (even though … Continued
The latest (mid-June) short-interest reports are intriguing in some respects. On both the NYSE Composite and Nasdaq Composite, short interest jumped period-over-period, to 16.2 billion and 8.9 billion respectively – up 3.6 percent and 3.4 percent, in that order. (Check … Continued
Over the past couple of days, U.S. housing produced two good reports for the month of May. Monday, existing home sales were published, coming in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million units – up 5.1 percent month-over-month … Continued
Last Thursday saw a powerful rally in stocks. Several indices went on to notch new records. The Nasdaq Composite surpassed its March 2000 intra-day high. The Russell 2000 Small Cap Index broke out to a new high. Several others, including … Continued
IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, broke out Thursday, and it is time to pay heed to that famous quote, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” To refresh, back on May 26th, hypothetically … Continued