What’s Wrong With Expecting a 28,000,000 Dow?
by ilene - May 20th, 2010 6:16 pm
What’s Wrong With Expecting a 28,000,000 Dow?
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
Listen, it’s not THAT unrealistic, look at the Dow from March 2009 to now! It’s a miracle!
Schwarzenegger economic adviser David Crane writes about the bizarre situation in WSJ saying in 1999, then governor Gray Davis signed into law a bill that made looting California legal and gave state pensioners quite a boost in income based on completely unrealistic projections of fund performance (you know, the sort of stuff prospectuses warn about).
WC Varones shares a bit of CalPERS math (via WSJ):
What Calpers failed to disclose, however, was that (1) the state budget was on the hook for shortfalls should actual investment returns fall short of assumed investment returns, (2) those assumed investment returns implicitly projected the Dow Jones would reach roughly 25,000 by 2009 and 28,000,000 by 2099, unrealistic to say the least (3) shortfalls could turn out to be hundreds of billions of dollars, (4) Calpers’s own employees would benefit from the pension increases and (5) members of Calpers’s board had received contributions from the public employee unions who would benefit from the legislation. Had such a flagrant case of non-disclosure occurred in the private sector, even a sleepy SEC and US Attorney would have noticed.
Hahahahahahahahaha a 28,000,000 Dow by 2099! Now that’s funny.
F%$k schools, f&*k roads, f*%k social services, as long as our state employees are taken care of, what the hell do we need the rest of that sh*t for?!
See also: Mish’s Social Unrest Spreads to Slovenia and Spain; Images Around the Globe; US Not Immune to Protests
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DiggDow Plunges Nearly 1000 Points; Video of Riots in Greece; Dollar Melt-Up Continues; Treasury Bears Slaughtered
by ilene - May 6th, 2010 4:11 pm
Dow Plunges Nearly 1000 Points; Video of Riots in Greece; Dollar Melt-Up Continues; Treasury Bears Slaughtered
Courtesy of Mish
Treasuries and the US dollar both rallied hard today as panic broke out in Greece and equity markets worldwide.
Video of Greek Riots
That video is from yesterday. Tensions rose again today.
At one point the S&P futures fell all the way to 1056 from an opening at 1163. I have seen these kind of days close green, but the treasury market sure isn’t buying this rally.
Yield Curve as of 2010-05-06 3:15PM EST
Bullish Flattening of Yield Curve
That chart shows a bullish flattening of the yield curve as I expected. Those expecting a bearish flattening (yields rising) got their clocks cleaned today as treasury bears were slaughtered.
$8 per Gallon Gasoline Is Already Here (for some of us)
by ilene - May 5th, 2010 6:28 pm
$8 per Gallon Gasoline Is Already Here (for some of us) & Two Charts: the Dow and Dow/Oil
Courtesy of Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds
$8 per Gallon Gasoline Is Already Here (for some of us)
I recently wrote about the possibility of $9/gallon gasoline in the U.S. $8/gallon gasoline is already a reality for some global consumers.
Correspondent Bram S. from The Netherlands recently submitted this insightful response to Adaptation, Habituation, Consumption and $9/Gallon Gasoline.
Bram observes that gasoline is already $8/gallon (when converted from liters priced in euros) in The Netherlands, yet auto owners still spend hours every day commuting to work.
And this is a small nation with an extensive (if expensive) pubic transit system.
To the degree that every dollar/euro/quatloo spent on petrol/diesel is a dollar/euro/quatloo which is not available to be saved or spent on other goods/services, it is in effect a tax (notwithstanding the high taxes already tacked onto petrol/diesel in most of the EU nations).
Why would people continue to drive despite massive financial disincentives to do so? Could the high cost of housing be a factor, as Bram suggests? Or is personal transport so addictive that we are like the lab rats who famously starved themselves to death by continually pressing the button which released more cocaine for their "enjoyment"?
That experiment may be apocryphal, and I mention it only to suggest that there are clearly powerful emotional attractors involved in our decisions to own and drive autos. That is, it is not only a financial decision. But could the economy/society be modified structurally to bring work and home closer together, or to at least ease the financial and social decisions to move the two into close proximity?
Here is Bram’s informative commentary:
I read your story about fuel prices today. Here in the Netherlands the fuel prices are skyhigh, but everyone is still driving his metal cubicle and waiting patiently in traffic jams. Talking about the rise of hidden taxes. In 1993 it was 46.1% tax. Now in 2010 it is 72% on gasoline.
Gasoline Excise Tax (Netherlands)
(If you are using the Google Chrome browser, just click the "translate" button in the top banner to read the entry in English)The price per liter gasoline today is EUR 1.579 of which EUR 1.14 is tax….. In dollars per gallon: 7.95. Almost your estimation but no
…
Large Put Play Reflects Investor Optimism on General Electric Co.
by Option Review - May 4th, 2010 4:08 pm
Today’s tickers: GE, XLE, DOW, BP, SKX, IYR, ZION, RIG, AA & NTRI
GE – General Electric Co. – Shares of diverse conglomerate, General Electric Company, slipped 3.85% during afternoon trading to stand at $18.52 with one hour remaining in the session. Although a great deal of bearish activity took place on GE today, there was one sizeable contrarian options play on the stock that stuck out like a sore thumb. One investor, who apparently does not anticipate an all-out collapse in the price of the underlying stock, shed 19,000 puts at the December $14 strike to pocket a premium of $0.52 per contract. The trader keeps the full amount of premium received on the put sale, which adds up to a grand total of $988,000.00, as long as GE’s shares trade above $14.00 through expiration day in December. The investor receives the premium in exchange for bearing the risk that shares of the underlying stock do not exceed $14.00 through expiration. If the December $14 strike puts land in-the-money at expiration, the trader is apparently willing to have 1.9 million GE shares put to him at an effective price of $13.48 apiece. Shares would need to plummet 27% from the current price of $18.52 before the put-seller starts to amass losses beneath the breakeven share price of $13.48. Options implied volatility on General Electric Co. is up 15% to 31.94% ahead of the closing bell.
XLE – Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF – Two options strategies representing opposing sentiment on future share price moves for the XLE were enacted today in the June contract. One of the transactions, a ratio call spread, is bullish and positions one investor to benefit should shares of the underlying fund rally sharply by expiration. The other trade, a short straddle, yields maximum benefits to the responsible party if shares settle at $59.00 by expiration. Shares of the XLE, an exchange-traded fund that seeks investment results which correspond to the price and yield performance of the Energy Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index, fell 2.75% to $58.93 as of 3:15 pm (ET). The bullish trader responsible for the ratio call spread purchased 3,500 calls at the June $61 strike for an average premium of $1.36 apiece, and sold 7,000 calls at the higher June $64 strike for roughly $0.49 apiece. The net cost of the ratio spread amounts to $0.38 per contract, and…
Improve Your Market Timing: The Doji Candlestick Pattern
by markettamer - April 9th, 2010 10:47 pm
Courtesy of Market Tamer
- The Doji occurs when the stock opens and closes at the same level.
- It is an indication of major indecision in investment sentiment.
- It is important that we interpret the Doji in the context of the market.
- The Doji is a single candlestick pattern and is extremely powerful in foretelling a reversal.
- There are many variations of the Doji- The Doji Star, The Long Legged or High Wave Doji, The Gravestone Doji and The Dragonfly Doji. Each has a slightly different story to tell.
- The primary message that the Doji sends is that there is a "Tug Of War" going on between the bulls and the bears.
- When found at the top of a trend, it may be prudent to sell if you are long the market.
- Dojis at the bottom of the trend although very significant require more confirmation for a reversal.
- Dojis found in a sideways channel are not very significant
- The market will not always reverse immediately after a Doji, but many times the reversal will occur very shortly thereafter.
- Dojis specifically and Candlesticks in general are extremely powerful when used in conjunction with other technical indicators that confirm resistance and support.
Where is the Market Headed?
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VIX Draws Large Bearish Put Play
by Option Review - February 2nd, 2010 5:28 pm
Today’s tickers: VIX, MS, BAC, UNG, SU, RL, GIGM, FCX, CVS, SPF & DOW
VIX – CBOE Volatility Index – A massive bearish put position initiated on the VIX today is a bullish sign for the S&P 500 index. The VIX fell more than 6% during the current session to stand at 21.21 as the past two day’s uptick in equities serve to dissipate some of the fear and uncertainty felt by investors during the prior trading week. One investor anticipating further downside movement for the VIX picked up roughly 103,000 puts at the March 20 strike for an average premium of $0.70 per contract. The put options position the investor to accrue profits beneath a VIX reading of 19.30 through expiration. It appears the investor expects the so-called fear-gauge to head in the direction of the index’s 52-week low of approximately 17.49 attained on January 19, 2010. But, the VIX must fall another 9% from the current reading in order for the investor to breakeven by expiration. Furthermore, today’s reading is still 21.25% greater than the 52-week low described previously.
MS – Morgan Stanley – Global financial services firm, Morgan Stanley, attracted the attention of bullish options investors in afternoon trading. Shares are currently trading 1.00% higher at $27.83 with roughly one hour remaining in the trading day. A bull call spread stuck out like a sore thumb in the scantily populated March contract on the stock today. One investor purchased 5,000 calls at the March $28 strike for a premium of $1.35 each, and sold the same number of calls at the higher March $31 strike for an average premium of $0.34 apiece. The trader paid a net premium of $1.01 per contract for the spread, but stands to accrue maximum potential profits of $1.99 per contract should Morgan Stanley’s shares rally up to $31.00 ahead of expiration day. The call-spreader breaks even on the transaction as long as MS’s shares rise 4.25% from the current price to $29.01 before the options expire.
BAC – Bank of America Corp. – Optimistic sentiment on Bank of America appeared in the August contract today amidst a 0.65% improvement in shares of the underlying stock to $15.52. One bullish trader initiated a call spread to position for upward movement in BAC’s shares by expiration. The investor purchased 4,000 calls at the August $16 strike for an average premium of $1.52 apiece,…
Global Chart Reveiw Shows Key Inflection Point
by Phil - January 25th, 2010 3:00 am
Chart Review by Michael Clark
“By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.”
-- John Maynard Keynes
SO, IS THIS FINALLY THE ‘REAL’ CORRECTION?
What a week it was. The Bears gave the Bulls some payback. Obama got a wake-up call. And the banks got a well-deserved scare (and we hope they will get a well-deserved hair cut).
The markets reacted, as one might expect, with selling. Actually, the selling began before the Massachusetts election and before Obama sent a shot across the Goldman Sach’s bow. Last week Intel announced surprisingly strong earnings; and the stock started up and then sank. For the past half-year investor behavior had been the reverse: a buying spree for any stock that did not lose as much as it might have — beating ‘Street expectations’ that had been dumbed down over and over again during a quarter so that the company could report ‘surprising’ strength. Suddenly, now, even good earnings are being greeted with selling. Then came Massachusetts — wasn’t that a Bee Gees’ song?
All the lights went out in Massachusetts
Anyway, readers want to know where the markets stand today, after the sell-off this week. My view of it — my ‘view’, not my gut-feeling — is that we are, so far, merely correcting from an over-extended rally. This rally has been bizarre, to say the least. This has been a ‘fear rally’ — usually the ‘fear’ side of the equation is when selling comes in, ‘greed’ driving the expansion. But fear of systemic failure has driven this rally; and Ben Bernannke has been the captain sailing the ‘Boat of Fear’, Ben’s logic — that more debt will solve the insolvency crisis — has a shadow side, the logic that a collapse in stock prices will result in systemic failure, international chaos, revolution, repression…made him believe that preservation of the status quo was requiired, at any price. A ‘make-believe’ recovery could be jump-started, perhaps, if the Fed could just stimulate (and simulate) another asset-bubble. After all – that is how his mentor and predecessor, Alan Greenspan, had become the darling of the coctail party crowd, leading member of Time Magazine’s ‘Committee to Save the World’; and that was how he, himself, had become Time’s ‘Peson of the Year’.
Logic was thrown…
Which Way Wednesday – Beige Book Boogie
by Phil - January 13th, 2010 8:07 am
The futures were boogying "all night long."
THIS is why we love being born-again bulls. China’s Hang Seng down 578 points on the Hangs Seng (2.5%) – It doesn’t matter! Shanghai down 3.1% – It doesn’t matter! Europe down half a point – It doesn’t matter! Germany’s economy contracted 5% in 2009, the worst decline since WWII (the big one) – It doesn’t matter! ABC Consumer Comfort Poll drops 11% with just 9% of Americans rating the economy postively – IT JUST DOESN’T MATTER - because WE are those 9% of Americans, right! OUR economy is just fine and we don’t know what that 91% contingent of babies is whining about do we?
Yes, it’s been a while since I dubbed us in a Meatball Market. The last market I labled as such was November 30th, 2006, when the Dow broke through 12,000 on the way to 14,000. Our bullish picks that day included BA, CAT, COF, DOW, GE, HD, JWN, QQQQ, TIE, TIF, XLE and XOM. Those were all, of course, fantastic picks but what I want you to do is read the October 2nd, 2007 article, where I began to turn cynical on the "Meatball Market" and I made the following statement:
Up, up and away – it’s Super Market! It’s bugdet proof, oil proof, terror (threat) proof, housing proof, inflation proof and pullback proof - 3 weeks in a row!
This is truly a Market of Steel (and the recent movement of X underscores that) and looking at the movement of the past week we really do have to believe it can fly… Is the US consumer (driver of 2/3 of the economy) really impervious to harm? What, if anything, is our stock market Kryptonite?
Unstable currency, runaway commodity prices, spiraling inflation, low savings rates, hedge fund collapses, declining home values, banks writing down their virtual portfolios, hundreds of thousands of layoffs, millions of foreclosures — it simply does not matter as long as they are LOCAL problems for the US as we are a smaller and smaller cog in the great global economy, one day we may even be granted emerging market status by our Chinese masters!
Doesn’t sound like much has changed in 2 years does it? Unfortunately, that also happened to be the day that Alan Greenspan (now working for PimpCo) decided to call China, with the Hang Seng…
Why You Should Care About DJIA Priced in Gold
by ilene - January 10th, 2010 11:12 pm
Why You Should Care About DJIA Priced in Gold
"The Real Dow" has proven to be a good leading indicator for nominal DJIA.
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Dramatic drop" did indeed follow: Between October 2007 and March 2009, the DJIA lost 53%, high to low.
For more information, download Robert Prechter’s free Independent Investor eBook. The 118-page resource teaches investors to think independently by challenging conventional financial market assumptions.
The Last Charts of the Decade!
by Phil - December 30th, 2009 11:38 pm
OK, I got a new toy today so I’m going to put up some charts!
Rather than my usual spreadsheets, I thought a visual representation of what I think is going on would be appropriate. So far this week, we have failed to break my levels, which were predicted by our own 5% rule way back in July. I don’t have a drawing tool for the 5% rule but I’ll try to give you an idea of what I see when I look at a chart, now that I can capture them for you.
First of all, let’s look at the S&P, which the analysts are ga-ga over as they make a 50% retracement of the March dive:
Notice the 50% mark is right about our 1,127 watch zone but we didn’t get 1,127 from that spot, we calculated 1,127 as it was a 30% move off the real floor of 867, which is our 5% rule drop. The 5% rule sensibly tells us to throw out spikes and, while it’s hard to think of a 3-month, 200-point drop as a spike, in the grand scheme of things it still is. Here’s how the same Fibonacci series looks if we take 867 as a bottom, rather than 666:
Not quite as impressive a recovery is it? Do you see how the adjusted chart makes far more sense on the way down – with support at the 61.8% line, then at the 50% line and then clearly at 0. The big difference is, in my view of the action, it has been an easy slog to make the effectively dead-cat bounce back to 38.2%. This recent action proves nothing as we have yet to test 1,135, which should provide heavier resistance. It’s going to be a long time before we do a "life cross" (where the 50 wma moves above the 200 wma) so that 1,220 mark is going to weigh very heavily in the future as well, probably all the way into August before the S&P is ready to make a real move up (assuming we don’t fall down in between).
Running the same series on the Dow, we get this:
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Of course the problem with the Dow is that the Dow we have now is NOT the same Dow that fell last year. We jettisoned GM and C for CSCO and TRV – a very good trade…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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