Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Post-Steve Jobs

Well, I overestimated the market reaction towards Steve Jobs ill health. I expected more negative reaction but the market was more sympathetic. I also overestimated the market reaction towards Obama Inauguration. I had expected a rally towards the end of the day.

That said, I still make some money from AAPL since the stock had been going south the last few days. Furthermore, towards the expiry day last Friday, three of the four credits spreads (AAPL, SPY, RTH) that I played made money. The last one was TGT - loss some here.

Last Friday, I played two fresh trades. Bought SPY Put and played credit spreads on SPY (apart from an existing AAPL Put). The plays were made based on the off-chance that the market would not be kind to Obama. It IS NOT kind to him ending significantly negative yesterday.

The market is oversold at the moment. It might want to test the Nov 2008 low. However, it may not have enough energy to test the Low soon. I have liquidated all my short positions for now - waiting to short again at the right moment.

Cheers !

PersianCat (Millionaire-in-progress)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Steve Jobs and Obama Rally ?

Breaking News !!!

CNBC reported after market close that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is taking medical leave till Jun 2009. The stock is expected to take a beating tommorrow.

In my 23 Dec 2008 posting, I mentioned about Steve Jobs's health. I still have AAPL April 80 Put as well as a Bear Call Spread (Jan 90/95 Call). My April Put is slightly negative while my credit spread is doing well. By tommorrow, my April Put should be doing well while my buy limit order of $0.05 on my credit spread is likely to be filled. One analyst already mentioned that AAPL is likely to be in the $75 region tommorrow. I think it could be more than that. A knee jerk reaction could force the stock to be down by more than $20 in the pre-market before settling higher. We shall see what happens next.

Obama Inauguration Rally

Prior to the breaking news on Steve Jobs, I am expecting a Obama Inauguration rally on Thursday and Friday. It is partly due to a feel good factor prior to a great event on 20 January. However, the market might be greatly affected by AAPL performance tommorrow. A rally is less likely on Thursday.

Martin Luther King Holiday

This holiday falls on 19 January. Last year, the day after Martin Luther King holiday, the DOW drops more than 600 points in pre-market. This year, the day after the holiday happens to be the day Obama will be inaugurated. While I hope things goes well for Obama, there is a small probability that the Inauguration will be marred with nasty incidents. I am contemplating of buying Puts on SPY or playing Bear Call Spreads (Feb expiry) on SPY by the end of Friday in case the market reacted negatively on 20th January. Whatever happens, I will close these positions on Tuesday if I played them.

PersianCat (Millionaire-in-progress)

Monday, January 05, 2009

Start of the New Year

Today is the first day of the year where the majority of traders will be back from holidays. Though the market was trying to put a brave front by being bullish over the last few trading days, the trading movements were based on low volume. What matters now is whether the market ends bullish today. If it does, then it is likely that the market will continue its retracement perhaps until Obama's inauguration. If it does not, then the fight between the Bulls and the Bears continues.

Stay tune !

Cheers !

PersianCat (Millionaire-in-progress)