UPDATE 9.16.2012 The home builders continue to look strong, but I said that I will not take this position off until expiration, because I think the it is chopping myself up too much in commissions.
Update 9.21.2012 This Put Spread is now worth $.05, but I am leaving this trade on until expiration.
DIS hit a new all time high today and, so far in 2012, DIS is up 36%.“The Avengers” and moreover the Marvel acquisition is proving to be a great move for the equity.
In the financial sector, GS broke above the 150-day moving average, which resisted price on two prior occasions in the last two weeks (8/21 and 9/4) for it has been grinding horizontally.
Other stocks of interest include AAPL, which battled its was back to unchanged after being down earlier today; even in the face of a slow market.
Be sure to check out our StockTwits account, where we will be a lot more active, tweeting out charts and analysis.
Some big movers last night were The Wendy’s Company (WEN | $4.52[+0.20]), gaining almost 5% in value. Wendy’s 52-week range moves a little more than a point from 4.16 – 5.58 and hasn’t hit a high since mid August. Dish network Corporation (DISH | $30.13 [-0.89]) fell 2.87%. DISH’s 52-week range low and high is 22.61 and 35.64 respectively. Dish has been gaining ground since the financial crisis in 2008, averaging positive gains, but is down almost 20% since 2007.
US futures are down. DOW, S&P, and NASDAQ are all down 0.21%, 0.27%, and 0.33% respectively. Metals futures are down, silver down the highest percentage at 0.68%. Crude futures are down 0.26%.
Productivity and costs reports will be released in an hour. Productivity measures the growth of labor efficiency in producing the economy’s goods and services and unit labor costs reflect the labor costs of producing each unit of output. Since the beginning of the year, non-farm labor productivity has grown at an average of 0.75% from the previous quarter and unit labor costs are up an average of 1.5%. Consensus has both levels gaining at least 1% this quarter.
Alex Kalish has a masters in economics from Suffolk University.
Amazon will launch their line of new Kindles featuring a new 10 inch Kindle Fire that will have boosted specs and a bigger display. Amazon also signed a deal with Epix today which will give Amazon Prime members access to more content.
The weeks crowded announcement schedule should be to Apple’s advantage. With nearly all of Apple’s major competitors introducing their new flagship devices this week, the individual visibility of these devices could be lost. Samsung and Sony held their events last week leaving Apple standing alone next week with the announcement for the iPhone 5. This should give Apple maximum visibility for the new iPhone and the much anticipated iPad mini. Some analysts believe that the new iPad mini could spell the death of other 7 inch tablets produced by Amazon and Google. Shares of Apple traded up today surging off of early session lows touching a session high of 674.80. Apple l closed up around 9.10.
However, this week will not be as kind to Google. In a joint marketing event with Microsoft, Nokia plans on announcing two additions to its line of Lumia smartphones. Both of these phones will feature Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 operating system. Samsung announced the introduction of their new Windows Phone 8 device last week. The Samsung announcement in particular is concerning for Google. Samsung likely introduced the new Windows Phone 8 device in order to better position themselves against any further legal action from Apple. With the threat of sales bans of android devices looming overhead more manufacturers could switch to operating systems other than Android. Google shares are trading down today coming off of session lows. The stock closed down around 4.05.
James Ramelli UIUC graduate in Finance Email: James@keeneonthemarket.com Follow: @Jim_KOTM
UPDATE 9.16.2012 With the Calls appreciating in value more than the Puts, this would turn this delta neutral trade into a slightly bullish trade, but I am looking to hedge out of it just yet.
