Trade of the Day (TLT) 6.6.2012

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Unprofitable:  I lose money on this trade if TLT closes between $123.34-$126.66 June 8, 2012.  The most I can lose on this trade is the amount the Spread can be worth $1 minus the price I sold it for $.25 for a total of $.75.

Reason I Like This Trade:  I like this trade, because the TLT and 10 year interest rates have been moving so much.  This trade will be profitable in either direction of stock as long as the stock moves and it has been moving a lot in the last couple of days.  Also, we have HUGE economic data today including Beige Book, Jobless Claims tomorrow, Ben Bernanke speaking tomorrow, and International Trade on Friday

UPDATE 6.7.2012  With a suprise and lack of movement after the Bernanke comments, this Spread is now only worth $1.30 and I am debating to take it off and punt it or leave it on for one more day.

UPDATE 6.8.2012  I sold stock against my Straddle at $126.72 and then when stock sold off I sold the Puts for $.05 locking in profits at $1.82 on the Straddle.  Took a little sweat on this one, but another winner at #KOTM.

Halftime Report 6.6.2012

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All of the Dow components and all 10 sectors of the S&P 500 were trading in positive territory. Fewer than 15 of the S&P 500 components traded lower. Leading the gains were energy and financial stocks, which have suffered the most in recent weeks amid rising concerns about an economic slowdown. Bank of American, JP Morgan Chase and Caterpillar are among this morning’s best performing stocks.

The Fed’s Beige Book report on economic conditions across its 12 districts, is due out at 2 p.m., and on Thursday, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before Congress. Homebuilder stocks also leaped higher after Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) reported strong quarterly earnings and said it believes the industry is in the early stages of a recovery.

Crude-oil futures rose nearly 2% to about $86 a barrel. Gold futures rose 1.3% to about $1,640 an ounce. The U.S. dollar rallied against the yen.

With stocks, Tempur Pedic has lost nearly 50% of their stock price after the mattress maker said that their quarterly earnings would be halved compared to the previous year. Tempur Pedic cited poor sales and increased competition as a major concern for growth. Facebook has once again dipped below $26 continuing its poor performance. Finally, Iron Mountain (IRM) climbed 10.67% to lead the S&P 500 components after the company said it would pursue conversion to a real-estate investment trust, which is expected to lead to the distribution of accumulated earnings and profits of $1 billion to $1.5 billion to its shareholders. The storage-space renter also said it increased its quarterly dividend by 8% to 27 cents a share.

Thomas Doherty is a student at Villanova University majoring in Finance and Economics. All questions and comments can be sent to Thomas@KeeneOnTheMarket.com

Morning Rage 6.6.2012

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The Hang Seng joined the Nikkei in the green adding 261.5 points to 18,520.53. It was led by New World
and Henderson Land Development Co. up 6.13 and 4.91% respectively.

Europe began today with a jolt with investors expecting ECB talks could lead to a stimulus. The
FTSEurofirst 300 is currently up over 1.6% with the Eurozone banks helping out up 2.9%. The Eurofirst
was led by Basic resources stock, up 3.8% while Ahold stock, a Dutch supermarket, drug the average
down with its 4.4% loss.

In PreMarket matress stocks are being watched after Tempur-Pedic cut its earnings guidance on
weak US demand. Select comfort and Matress Firm both took huge hits in pretrading of 12.8 and 13.3
respectively.

Commodities are enjoying the morning with crude above the $85 mark, gold and silver also in the green
and natural gas slacking in the red.

The MBA Purchase application made its appearance this morning showing the purchase index down
1.8% for the week of June first putting it back to mid-April level.

Contributer Chris Rygh is currently pursuing his MBA in Wisconsin and has a passion for the Market.
Comments can be directed to ryghcw19@uww.edu

Doherty At the Close 6.5.2012

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The U.S. nonmanufacturing sector’s expansion picked up steam in May, bucking economists’ expectation for it to slow, according to the Institute for Supply Management. But the group’s reading on employment declined and price pressures contracted.

Financial chiefs from the Group of Seven leading nations pressed Europe during a teleconference to act more aggressively to tame its escalating debt crisis. The officials expect euro-zone leaders to bolster their banking system in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported. Spain’s budget minister said earlier that the government had effectively lost access to capital markets.

European markets were mostly higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.3% as the weak data offset hopes for coordinated action to help solve the euro-zone debt crisis. But Germany’s DAX fell 0.1% to its lowest level this year. Asian markets were mostly higher, with a 0.25 percentage-point interest-rate cut in Australia helping improve sentiment.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) fell -3.24 as the provider of content delivery networks fell with Netflix providing its own such network. Facebook fell once again, hitting another all time low of $25.88 as it suffers it eight loss in its 11 trading sessions. Sandisk finished up 6.86% after the Pacific Crest analysts gave the computer memory maker’s stock an “outperform” rating.

Thomas Doherty is a student at Villanova University majoring in Finance and Economics. All questions and comments can be sent to Thomas@KeeneOnTheMarket.com

Halftime Report 6.5.2012

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In corporate news, Starbucks (SBUX) fell -3.53% after the coffee giant said it would acquire Bay Bread and its La Boulange Bakery for $100 million in cash to expand its food offerings. The world’s most popular stockk, Facebook (FB) fell again today with its 7th loss in 10 trading days since its IPO. Currently, Facebook is trading at $26.36, an all time low. Dollar General fell -2.68% after the discount retailer announced that they would be issuing 25 million shares to the public in a secondary sharing. This secondary offering offsets great results in Dollar General’s quarterly reports with increased profit and earnings outlook.

Thomas Doherty is a student at Villanova University majoring in Finance and Economics. All questions and comments can be sent to Thomas@KeeneOnTheMarket.com

Movers and Shakers (DG) 6.5.2012

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While Dollar General has fallen in early morning trading, their shares briefly soared yesterday afternoon after they posted better than expected quarterly earnings. Dollar General posted 63 cents of EPS, 4 cents better than expectations on a 13% revenue jump. The company also raised its annual guidance by 3 cents per share to a range of $2.68 to $2.78. The retailer of low-cost goods has seen its profit push higher in recent quarters as it has opened new stores and added better-known brands of merchandise to its shelves. The company also has been trying out bigger stores and refurbishing old ones. Dollar General reported a quarterly profit of $213.4 million, or $0.63 a share, compared with $157, or $0.45 a share in 2011. Meanwhile, revenue rose by 13% to $3.9 billion with same store sales growing by 6.7%. For the fiscal year, the company raised its per-share earnings estimate by three cents to a range of $2.68 to $2.78 and affirmed its guidance for overall sales and same-store sales growth.

Thomas Doherty is a student at Villanova University majoring in Finance and Economics. All questions and comments can be sent to Thomas@KeeneOnTheMarket.com

Morning Rage 6.5.2012

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The Hang Seng finished up less than .5% with Sands China leading the way up 3.59%.

European Stocks are looking shaky ahead of the teleconference, investors cannot seem to determine a
move. The FTSE and Greek bourse indexes are both down with the bourse getting slammed losing 4.3%.
The Spanish IBEX is slightly up in with hopes the teleconference will lead to a solution.

Investors react negatively premarket to Starbuck’s purchasing of La Boulange to expand their offerings,
currently trading down 1.8%.

After acquiring Gaylord Hotels last week, Marriot announced today that it plans on hiring up to 10,000
people and open up to 150 hotels, as per Chairman Bill Marriot to Bloomberg. MAR is currently down .5%
appearing that investors have not yet analyzed the announcement.

Commodities are interesting this morning with energy down and metals on the rise, crude is under $84
inching its way towards the mental barrier of $80.

Contributer Chris Rygh is currently pursuing his MBA in Wisconsin and has a passion for the Market.
Comments can be directed to ryghcw19@uww.edu