747 Taking Off, or There Goes Another Load?

The air here was so heavy today it was like a blanket. Pretty gross and sticky. Doctor visit went very well, I am cleared for all normal activities, such that they are. Green light on beer as well, come to papa Thursday night!

Market Operations
Last night I went over the stocks that I was going to consider playing this week. The morning open brought a nasty drop which complicates buying positions. Looking things over I pulled the trigger on CSU at $8.90. Both NI and WM still are on watch, but the weak day overall kept me from getting aggressive. Turnaround Tuesday may happen tomorrow and so I can rethink an entry at that time. Other names I am interested in for tomorrow:
-ASYS
-GPRO
I still hold GFIG.

747 Taking Off, or There Goes Another Load?
Today reminded me of a passage from the short story "Rage" by Stephen King:

'High school toilets are all the same; they sound like 747's taking off. I've always hated pushing that handle. It makes you sure that the sound is clearly audible in the adjacent classroom and that everybody is thinking: Well, there goes another load.'

You are probably asking if this is all going to make sense. It might.

At this point the markets are all over the place. Big rallies give way to sustained selling. Selling gets mauled by fast rocket ship rallies. This is a sign of a real tussle between the bullish and not so bullish (I may cut bears from my vocabulary). One of my least favorite aspects of things economic is the glacial pace of movement and the Kid Dynamite maple syrup dripping slowness of market resolution.

As such, I am sticking to my plan of trading individual names and maybe sectors while the general market goes all Royal Rumble on itself. If earnings come in good and some kind of can kicking can be done for Euro debt and the US debt ceiling, today may have marked a bottom where the 747's are cleared for takeoff. Markets can finally trend higher.

The financials are looking dead and should forward guidance sound the wrong note, well, there could be a big WHOOOOOSH and that will be the market getting flushed for the rest of the summer.

How is that for a stance? Maybe this, maybe that. I want to put my foot down here, but it's really in flux. I wish I could feel strong one way or the other.

For a great big picture technical view, I would strongly encourage anyone interested in the markets to check out iBankCoin's chessNwine with the market recap video from today:
Stock Market Recap 7/18/2011
It's the best 5 minutes you can use this evening to get a handle on where things are.

I have long held that for QE 3 to be rolled out a significant market drop would have to occur. Recent action does not even come close. How about a scare to get the debt ceiling done? Two for one? Be mindful out there.

Have a good night.

FED on Hold, Time to Roll

It is going to be 100 degrees here on Thursday, WOW!

How is This Going to Go?
iBankCoin headmaster, The Fly, had an interesting post up last night that I did not see until this morning:
ATTENTION BLOGGERS: I’m Handing Out Traffic
The Fly says to drop a link an he will check your site out. I was at work and I cannot sign onto things there so I was thinking I would be late to get a chance for Fly to drop his smackdown on my humble site. I was in luck, my man chessNwine left a link to this site in the comments! I am a bit nervous to see what happens, I have not been writing too many trading posts (waiting for my moment, details below) so I have no idea what is going to happen. It should be funny as hell no matter what.

Update:
Wowza, at least I got a B-:

Economic Disconnect: Okay, the site design here is atrocious and the author is clearly just blogging for fun. Sifting through the articles, I’m guessing he is young and somewhat interesting. He is definitely too much all over the road. If he wants to take his little bloggy to the next level, he will need to focus on a theme and run hard with it. Otherwise, it will end up in the circular file. Grade B-

Ouch.

In case I get a bunch of views tonight, here is a post a bit more financial centered about calling the top (for nervous traders) in silver and gold:
When to Sell Gold and Silver

Trade Your Plan
Based on market action and my years of FED watching I detailed a plan for the end of QE 2.0 and the recent slowing of all data on the economy. That plan is found in this post, Short Takes, and I have had graphs up showing the targets for the S&P 500.

I figured the FED would sound out loud that they are off QE mode yet still keeping rates at zero. Bernanke made his speech today (I thought it was supposed to be yesterday, sorry about that) and he signaled very clearly the FED is not rolling out anything new at this time. Some thought the FED may open up the idea of more help (in whatever form) but it just does not work that way. They had to do this and I was counting on it to open my short trades.

The only thing missing was that I wanted a bounce in the S&P 500 to the 1300 level, but markets tanked at the close when news spread of the FED speech. What can you do.

Here are the two charts (click for larger view) for the short ideas I am going with. S&P 500 Short Fund SH:


The Nasdaq Short Fund PSQ:


Both SH and PSQ have just broken out of a long term channel. I am looking for a pullback (markets go up) and then will try to enter.

Everything is just too high and too hot for any intervention right now. It is going to take more bad data, not just on housing, and a fearful market to get the FED involved again. This should not be a fast move. Congress will be unable to offer anything and that leaves the FED once again. Long summer ahead. I am allocating two positions to these stocks. This does not mean I am not looking for long ideas, I am, but these two have been an idea I have had for a while. We shall see.

Have a good night.

Long Weekend Starts with Friday

What A week! Exciting trades, hot weather, and a 3 day weekend on the way. I have to get up and get cooking tomorrow, meat fest as usual.

On Risk Management
I have covered risk management before but I wanted an excuse to use this picture that freaks me out to the point of feeling ill because I so fear heights:

That maniac is bolting steel beams on the Empire State Building (Chrysler building in background) with no tether!! This is poor risk management.

I am tapped out for market stuff and the slow Friday for the market will be replicated next week too I think. Mini break time!

Friday Night Entertainment
What can I come up with tonight?

The Onion - Makes Fools of Us All Sometimes
I have been fooled by an article from The Onion a few times, but this one is pretty bad (via Geekologie). Click for larger view:

Now when the second girl from the bottom goes for a job interview in the future, she had better hope her Facebook posts are not searchable!

Pictures and Posters
Visual fun.

And then He rested:

see more Historic LOL

ROFL:
href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2011/05/26/classics-now-with-favorite-buttons-180/?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=sharewidget">
see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Worth a Look
Some items worth a look.

-Khufu's Ship (Little Bits of History)
-Old Quabbin Reservoir Maps (Menotomy Maps)
-A Sith sword AND a Lightsaber, Vestara Khai is a bad ass and my kind of woman! (Wookiepedia):

I am in love. Sorry Lil Kim.
-The Giant Water Bug is not cool. At all. I think we should eradicate them. (Weird Universe)

Film Clips
For the movie/TV buffs.

My man chessNwine had this clip of from "A Bronx Tale" and it is a classic. "Now, Youz Can't Leave":

Bad!

Before Jeff Bridges finally won the Oscar, he was just another overlooked amazing actor. In films like "Tucker: a Man and His Dream" you could see the mad acting skills. A cool film with Bridges was "Starman" and in this scene the man from the stars brings a deer back to life (skip tp 1:36 mark):

So pretty.

Rock Blogging
It is that time.

A big Happy Birthday shout out to loyal reader Gawains who had his birthday on Tuesday but will be celebrating this weekend. Readers know birthdays are HUGE to me so what can I send Gawains for turning the big 5-0?:

Happy Birthday!

Gawains leads off Rock Blogging with ZZ Top's "La Grange":

OMG!!! I had know idea that tune was from ZZ Top! Great pick.

Ok, not to start a trend, but I LOVE this new song by My Darkest Days called "Pornstar Dancing" (I only heard it on the radio, never saw the maybe NSFW video, be warned):

Yeah!! I mentioned to my wife we have poles in the basement but she did not seem amused!? Some people....geez.

In Antigua I sang Karaoke, and if you know me that is just NOT a thing I would do. I sang Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop the Rain", but only because they did not have "Lodi" which is my favorite because it reminds me of my Dad who was always trying to play in some low rent band:

Excellent.

My man Scharfy may like a little Ronnie James Dio (RIP) and "Rainbow in the Dark". I know I love it, live is better:

YES!

A little Otis Redding? How about "These Arms of Mine"?:

Smooth.

Two tunes left, but I imagine there will be food pics and other content this weekend.

A little Moody Blues and a weird video of "Knights in White Satin":

No, if you are wondering if I am like 60 years old, I am 35 years old but I do love the age when music was good. As in not now.

A little fun? My wife loves this song (I have NO idea) by the Beastie Boys, take a weird run with "Paul Revere":

Best Beastie Boys song, easy, "So Whatcha Want!".

Have a good night.