Halftime Report for 3.12.2012

However, this is a record steepness decrease and investors should be aware. On the other hand, is this the signal “long term” investors were waiting for to start putting money to work and go long stocks? NYSE short interest is the lowest it’s been in nearly four years. ES is currently down 4.50 points at the 1362.25 level. Crude Oil is down 1.22 points or 1.14% at $106.18. Silver is down $0.41 or 1.2% at the $33.80 level. The EUR/USD is at session highs trading at the $1.3147. Interesting bit of news I came across is Greece gas prices and unemployment rates are at record highs.

Banks release stress test results on Thursday March 15th, 2012. Banks capital to assets ratio looks healthy. Bigger Banks such as BAC, Citigroup, and JPM’s balance sheets in terms of profits, should be positive. Deleveraging in the US seems to be over and this bolds well for the bigger US banks. Perhaps time to buy Calls on the XLF ahead of the stress test results?

By: Greg Zimny