Apple is trading up today gaining 5.84 (+0.83%). Pre-sales of the Apple iPhone 5 have shattered the tech giant’s previous records with 2 million of the phone being sold in the first 24 hours they were available. The record was held by the iPhone 4s which saw 1 million pre-orders on its first day of availability. Long line are already forming outside at New York City’s 5th Avenue Apple Store in anticipation of the product release.
Things to look for this week:
Tuesday- Housing Market Index, FedEx earnings
Wednesday- Existing Home Sales, AutoZone, General Mills, Adobe Systems, Bed Bath & Beyond
Thursday- Jobless Claims, Earnings from CarMax, ConAgra, Rite Aid and Oracle.
Friday- iPhone 5 Ships.
James Ramelli B.S. in Finance from UIUC. Email: james@keeneonthemarket.com Follow: @Jim_KOTM
I expect the performance of US indices this week to have a more honest QE3 reaction after exploding upward last week. Indices futures for the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq are all down 21.00, 3.25 and 4.25 points respectively. Metals futures are all down slightly before the market opens with Platinum and Palladium losing the most, 16.10 and 11.70 respectively. Crude futures are down 0.20%.
One of my favorite ETFs to follow in the aftermath of QE3 announcements is SPDR Gold Trust (GLD | $171.8). GLD is down $0.35 in after hours trading after taking a $0.49 gain on Friday. The Oct ATM straddle is priced around $7.00 about a 4% expected move. After the QE3 announcement, a higher probability of currency manipulations around the world will have investors continue to invest in gold.
Apple stock (AAPL | $691.28) is up 2.68 points in pre-market trading to $693.99. Apple set a presale order record with the new iPhone 5. I expect the stock will jump over $700 before the end of the month but, due to the volatility over the past week or so, it may jump back and forth over the $700 line.
Google stock (GOOG | 709.68) was up three and a half points on Friday, only slightly short of its all time high. The stock has hit a resistance point below $715.00.
Alex Kalish has a master’s in economics from Suffolk U.
Questions, comments and suggestions welcome: alexk@keeneonthemarket.com
In a statement released yesterday the FOMC outlined their plan to purchase $40 billion worth of mortgage bonds every month. The Committee also announced its intention to continue purchasing long-term debt in an effort to put downward pressure on long-term interest rates. The program means that the Fed will add around $85 billion to its $2.8 trillion balance sheet every month until economic conditions improve. The program has a more or less open-ended time frame. The Fed will evaluate the strength of the economy and will continue to ease until economic conditions, mainly unemployment, improve.
Apple (AAPL) hit a new all time high today of 696.98. iPhone 5 pre-orders opened today selling out in less than a minute. The tech giant now has a market cap of over $648 billion. The iPhone 5 is scheduled to be shipped next Friday.
Consumer prices index saw its biggest gain in 3 years. Retail sales were higher for the second month in a row.
Earnings next week:
Tuesday- FedEx
Wednesday- Auto-Zone, General Mills, Adobe Systems, Bed Bath and Beyond
There is plenty of news to play to today. The Jobless claims Report and Producer Price Income Reports are set to come out at 8:30 AM EST, the FOMC Forecasts at 2:00 PM EST, followed by the Bernanke’s press conference at 2:15 PM EST. Last week, there were 365 thousand new jobless claims reported and projections have a growth in claims to 370 thousand with a possible high of 380 thousand. The Producer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices received by domestic producers, is projected to increase 1.4%, but only 0.2% not including food and energy.
The Fed estimates released today will cover GDP growth in 2012 and 2013, inflation and unemployment. The market’s movement over the past couple weeks suggests that investors and traders expect an announcement of intervention, and the only tool the Fed has left is a quantitative easing. I expect heavy movements late in the day today or early tomorrow morning during higher trading volume.
The Apple (AAPL| 669.79) iPhone 5 event has finally passed and consumers are left with an upgraded version of the iPhone 4. AAPL was up $9.20 at the end of the day after many volatile movements, hitting new highs and lows throughout the day, a $15 range. In pre-market trading today, AAPL is up again another $5.71 to around 675.50, which is less than ten points from its all-time high hit at the end of last week. One company that should be highlighted during all the hubbub about the iPhone 5 is Nokia.
Nokia Corporation (NOK| 2.75) has had a tough year with a 52-week range of 1.63 – 7.38. NOK has been in steady decline since the beginning of the year. In pre-market trading today, NOK is up 1.82% and expect it to continue to grow if iPhone fanatics get bored with the new upgraded model. If you have seen the Lumia, you know that Nokia has built a beautiful product worthy of competing with the best smartphones. The new Lumia phones are said to run on the windows phone 8 operating system. An earnings report is expected around mid-October, estimating a $-0.12 EPS. I might look away from a short play on NOK, but a long-term and cheap OTM call spread would be a play that interests me.
Alex Kalish has a master’s degree in economics from Suffolk University.
Some of the announcements from today include iPad sales of 84 million units and the iPad accounts for 91% of web traffic. The phone has a thinner, lighter and bigger glass screen and aluminum case. Apple gave developers an early peek at the specs in order to have apps available for the new dimensions. The new iPhone is both HSPA+ and LTE compatible on a single chip and single radio. It has a new A6 processor with double the speed of CPU and graphics. The 5 is an overall upgrade from the iPhone 4.
AT&T Inc. (T) move up one dollar early in the morning most likely on news from Apple (AAPL) releasing its new iPhone 5. The stock is now up only $0.15. The carriers will have to pay a high premium to get the iPhone 5, contributing as much as $400 per customer for a two year contract.
The DOW is up 26 points today, 0.19%, to 13,347; The NASDAQ up 10 points, 0.34%, to 3,115 and the S&P is up 4 points, 0.31%, to 1,438. The DOW started higher today and peaked early in the morning at 13,374 and then hit a low around 11:00 am of 13,318. It is hard to tell what is moving the market today as both positive and negative news has come out of the media today.
Gold futures are flat, silver and crude futures are down less than half of a point but platinum futures jumped up 41.90 points today, a 2.61% gain. Corn futures are down -9 points, a 1.16% drop. Corn peaked around 830 in the middle of August and has since been down, currently sitting at 768.60.
Imports and Export prices came out today. Import prices are down on the year by more than 2%. Jobless claims and Producer Price Index tomorrow at 8:30 am EST.
Alex Kalish has a masters in economics from Suffolk University.
Questions, comments and suggestions welcome: alexk@keeneonthemarket.com
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