Finely Festooned Friday

Messy snow here but commute in and out was no problem. Going to rain all day tomorrow. Dark and grey, dark and grey.

Market Observations and Activity
What's left to say really? Things are stalled out and today there was some beatings handed out. While one of my positions, CACI, was not really near my stop out I cut it today for a -2% loss. I may have been early on this one breaking over $60, or late in a market cycle. Just looked weak and I wanted to lighten up. BANR was in a fist fight at the $20.50 level on high volume. WRI hung around. WFM was the only bright spot, closing strong over the $82 level.

Next week is pivotal if a higher run is in the cards. Market looks tired. Many solid looks that have been performing are at best stalling or at worst going in full reverse. There are some things working, but most I see are earnings or news based run ups. This does not mean a huge bear market is upon us, and I do not believe one is. This sideways snooze fest could go on but it's not worth me chasing names during that kind of market. More on Sunday and will look at more things.

Friday Night Entertainment
Let me see what I can find.

Choose Your Own Adventure Books!
Came across a great post over at Weird Universe that discussed the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books! I so loved them all when I was a kid. Seems the inventor, Edward Packard, now has them on Apple products (of course!) like the iPhone and iPad. Here are some pictures:

Cool! Best ever were the "Lone Wolf" series of books by Joe Dever.

NEVER!
Loved this Abstruse Goose comic from today. In all the realms if disbelief the USA will not adopt the metric system! "Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum" (click for larger view):

Too funny.

Optical Illusions
Just like the arrow in the FedEx logo is all I see now, after this the "&" character will never be the same:

see more epicfails

Film Clips
Check these out!

One of the best films I have ever seen was the handling of the King Arthur legend in "Excalibur". This clip is when Arthur is saved by the Holy Grail and then leads his knights back out to fight with some epic music on tap:

Ozzy will often start his shows with this very song. For extra credit, what song is this?

The only saving grace for "The Phantom Menace" was Darth Maul. Total bad ass Sith. I can spool the scene at the start of this clip when the doors open and the music plays for hours:

NICE!

Rock Blogging
Music for the masses.

Leading off tonight is a classic as picked by Sal Arnuk of Themis Trading. Open the show with Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison doing the blues!:

I love this performance so much, thanks! Follow Sal on Twitter @ThemisSal

MY friend and fellow 12631 trader Arctic Gambino has really turned me on to the Black Keys. Catch this live show of "Howlin' for You":

Very nice selection. Check Arctic out on Twitter @a_bh_a

Ok, a little something different. Please give this one a shot and listen to the end, it's really too funny! Bryan Bowers and "The Scotsman":

Awesome, yes?

Via Twitter here is my man @CapCube with a request for Weezer's "Troublemaker":

Not bad at all.

Ok, one more chance at the song from "Excalibur" and like I said, Ozzy loves to open with it. Here is "I Don't Know" with Randy Rhoads:

Unreal good. I get chills on this one.

Two left.

I don't know why Hole ended up dying, ok I do Courtney! Plenty of wonderful songs left behind though. How about "Violet":

Love that one!

Last call, grab a drink, a girl, or a stapler!

Turn the speakers WAY Up for Jimi Hendrix and "All Along the Watchtower":


Have a good night.

The Oil is Too Damn High!

Pretty large snow storm here the past two days. Heavy wet snow, but the roads were in good shape and had almost no issues with commute.

Tomorrow is Friday night, so get those requests in.

Position Review and Portfolio Changes
It's been a more wild week than markets have seen. The drop on Wednesday was somewhat more nasty than anything else seen in 2012. Again, you have to keep perspective.

I was stopped out of the position I had started on Monday in CTCT for -2.8% loss. Looking over the chart the damage to the potential breakout over $32 is not mortal, but a stop is a stop, it hits, you walk.

I have been in BANR since 2/1/12 and as it passed the key level of $20 I was liking it, as it passed $20.50 it looked better and today it was over $21 for almost the whole session and ended right at that level (click any chart for larger view):

Still holding and real buy interest here.

I am still long CACI from Monday. It's still has to prove it can stay over $60 or I am moving on. WFM continues to look solid and closed over $82 today.

I added WRI (Weingarten Realty Inc) as I had a buy order set should WRI get over the $25.20 mark and it did today. The stock was moving well all day until the oil fear induced meltdown late day (will discuss below). Still, the close over $25.20 was my trigger and WRI may get out of this range soon:

That is where I am as of today in trading account.

The Oil is Too Damn High!

"The oil is TOO DAMN HIGH!"

I was going to try and make a technical case on oil prices and the general stock market, but why? It's common sense. The oil is too damn high!

Late in the day after some real equity progress Twitter went aflame with oil price quotes. The run was insane and high oil prices are not good for anything, period. There is no way to contort that one data point any other way. Whether a Saudi Oil pipeline was or was not sabotaged or had an accident, oil going higher will cap equities in my opinion. It is so like Iran to do something like this, so I do not dismiss it out of hand. Still, some level of speculation has moved into oil, was it the silver crew moving on?

It's a mess but what I know is if oil continues higher (my man ChessNwine has a great technical case here that it will) only the best set ups and best behaving stocks will be kept or considered.

Have a good night.

Buy Charts and a Look at Some Utilities

The Daytona 500 was rained out yesterday and is being run tonight. Clearly I will be a bit distracted so just a quick post that is chart heavy for tonight.

Market Operations
This morning's sell off just did not feel like it was going to stick and pretty soon after the open buyers stepped in. After things settled in this morning I opened up 3 new long positions.

WFM (Whole Foods Market)
I usually don't enter into names I see all over Twitter and other places, but the long term 2006 top for WFM is too interesting a spot not to try out here. Click any chart for larger view.:

CTCT (Constant Contact, Inc.)
I saw this one over in the 12631 trading room as worked up by ChessNwine. Tight basing after a breakout over $30, has some room to run higher:

CACI (CACI International Inc.)
I found this idea on a PPT screen. Great buyer interest and stock has moved past the $60 level here:

I still hold BANR but it's putting me to sleep and will cut soon if the stock fails to move.

A mix of names for this week.

When I was doing my screens I noticed a large number of utility stocks making up the accumulation list. Some of these names are seeing buying numbers that are even larger than during the height of the summer doldrums. A couple I found:
NEE

D

There were about 4-5 other names that looked the same in the same sector. This screen tends to show accumulation before price moves. Why are "safe" plays like utilities being bought more aggressive than any time since the summer? I am not sure, but it's worth watching the rest of the week.

Have a good night.