Stock Market Blog -Nov 18th

Another week, another drop in the markets! Maybe we'll see a bottom soon. Continued layoff announcements, and bad news from companies like Hostess don't help. Not helping things either is tension in the Middle east, endless talk about the fiscal cliff, and weak earnings. The chart is clearly pointing down.

New all time highs:  GILD
All time lows: DRYS, MCP, P, TVIX
Pops:  ANF, GILD, NTAP
Drops:  DELL, MSFT, SHLD, WMT

 

AAPL -post iPhone5 top  -last week, 7th week down! -now, 8th week down!

Next week: Economic reports Thanksgiving Holiday

Earnings reports next week:  BBY, CPB, CRM, DE, HPQ, LOW,

Market Commentary

Still no bounce -maybe next week. The market is pretty oversold at this point. A low risk way to put on a bullish trade would be to sell 'Put Spreads' on the index ETFs (SPY, QQQ, TNA...). AAPL may be a good 'Put Spread' candidate also, or an Iron Condor for trade with even less risk.

Since Bonds typically trade opposite to stocks, another way to trade some upside in the market would be to be bearish on Bonds by selling 'Call Spreads' on TLT.

This week's charts:

Weekly Unemployment claims
S&P 500 -ready to bounce next week?
OptionsMakeSense

Commodities/Futures (charts):
Crude Oil was up, closing near $86.92
Natural Gas was up, closing near $3.79
Gold dropped, closing near $1714
The 30 year Bond rallied, closing near $152.22
The US Dollar was up, closing near 81.31

NEWS:
Jobless Claims in U.S. Jumped Last Week After Sandy
Hostess Brands closing for good -no more Twinkies?
Hostess and the GM Bailout: Why the Chevy Volt Shouldn't Exist but Twinkies Still Will
Postal Service Loss Of $15.9 Billion Sets Record
Institutions Are Selling These 7 Stocks With Unusual Volume After Earnings

Why Women Make Better Traders
Samsung hikes Apple chip prices by 20 percent: report
Amazon's Jeff Bezos: The ultimate disrupter
The Long Story of U.S. Debt, From 1790 to 2011, in 1 Little Chart