Daily Market Update – September 30, 2015 (Close)

 

 

 

Daily Market Update – September 30,  2015  (Close)

 

It’s not really clear what accounted for the morning’s futures pointing to an almost 200 point gain.

It could be that Asia was strong overnight, but that has been a very inconsistent indicator for about the last month. While the early part of our market’s decline definitely followed that in Asia, the uncertainty there has seemingly now been factored into our own thinking and largely discounted at this point, although you just never know what may come next from that part of the world, for better or worse.

Whatever it is that created this morning’s early rise, it wasn’t based upon any news, so it’s likely that it’s just more of the same going back and forth that we’ve seen ever since that breakdown between our markets an China, in particular. Since the, which includes the plunge that took us to our first 10% correction in years, there has been a continuing series of waves taking us up and down and in large moves.

Most of those moves have offset one another, although the net result has still had a negative bias and following Monday’s 300+ point decline everyone was running back to their charts to see where the next levels of support happened to be, just in case the next shoe were to drop.

Yesterday was the kind of day that today, by all rights should have been. There’s really not any news to account for any kind of large move, but of course, that didn’t stop Monday from happening and it didn’t stop today from happening either.

With the Employment Situation Report looming on Friday and the prospects that it may offer another in a lengthening series of strong results, comes the idea that maybe the FOMC will finally raise rates. That could have accounted for some of the early enthusiasm this morning just as it likely accounted for the early week strength that was quickly reversed two weeks ago when the FOMC disappointed most everyone by not announcing what had been widely expected.

With both Janet Yellen and Stanley Fischer scheduled to speak this week there may be some hints of what’s to come, but because the FOMC hasn’t been exactly straight forward, those hints will have to be very heavy handed if the market is going to take the bait.

With a couple of recent familiar faces having been this week’s new purchase positions, I was more than happy to see this morning’s strength and hoped that there’s still going to be some more continuation of it, or at least that the market settles in at around these levels as the week will come to its end.

If so, there could at least be some chance to see some assignments or some rollovers.

If so, especially if there are assignments of those same familiar faces, I wouldn’t mind the continuing opportunity to consider purchasing them again and again, which is the definite advantage of having a market of stocks that is really undecided about where it wants to go. As long as the volatility can remain at these or higher levels, there can be lots of advantage in not thinking too creatively, but rather just doing the same thing, and with the very same stocks,  over and over again.

At least today did bring some opportunity to sell some calls on a couple of uncovered positions utilizing some longer term options in the hope that time will bring some more recovery. But if not, or if insufficient, at least some more premiums and dividends are collected along the way to add up and make the waiting period a little bit easier.

With just 2 days remaining for this week, it is like a number of recent previous weeks. There’s no telling where we go from here as the indications are all over the place and still do nothing to instill confidence.

In just 2 weeks earnings start anew and I’m fairly optimistic about earnings this coming quarter, just as I was the last time around.

Hopefully, though, this time around it will work out as planned and won’t be a series of earnings disappointments that coincided with the beginnings of China’s meltdown.

Daily Market Update – September 30, 2015

 

 

 

Daily Market Update – September 30,  2015  (8:15 AM)

 

It’s not really clear what might account for the morning’s futures pointing to an almost 200 point gain.

It could be that Asia was strong overnight, but that has been a very inconsistent indicator for about the last month. While the early part of our market’s decline definitely followed that in Asia, the uncertainty there has seemingly now been factored into our own thinking and largely discounted at this point, although you just never know what may come next from that part of the world, for better or worse.

Whatever it is that’s creating this morning’s early rise, it isn’t based upon any news, so it’s likely that it’s just more of the same going back and forth that we’ve seen ever since that breakdown between our markets an China, in particular. Since the, which includes the plunge that took us to our first 10% correction in years, there has been a continuing series of waves taking us up and down and in large moves.

Most of those moves have offset one another, although the net result has still had a negative bias and following Monday’s 300+ point decline everyone was running back to their charts to see where the next levels of support happened to be, just in case the next shoe were to drop.

Yesterday was the kind of day that today, by all rights should be. There’s really not any news to account for any kind of large move, but of course, that didn’t stop Monday from happening and it may not stop today from happening.

With the Employment Situation Report looming on Friday and the prospects that it may offer another in a lengthening series of strong results, comes the idea that maybe the FOMC will finally raise rates. That could be accounting for some of the early enthusiasm this morning just as it likely accounted for the early week strentgh that was quickly reversed two weeks ago when the FOMC disappointed most everyone by not announcing what had been widely expected.

With both Janet Yellen and Stanley Fischer scheduled to speak this week there may be some hints of what’s to come, but because the FOMC hasn’t been exactly straight forward, those hints will have to be very heavy handed if the market is going to take the bait.

With a couple of recent familiar faces having been this week’s new purchase positions, I’m more than happy to see this morning’s strength and just hope that there’s some continuation of it, or at least that the market settles in at around these levels as the week will come to its end.

If so, there could at least be some chance to see some assignments or some rollovers.

If so, especially if there are assignments of those same familiar faces, I wouldn’t mind the continuing opportunity to consider purchasing them again and again, which is the definite advantage of having a market of stocks that is really undecided about where it wants to go. As long as the volatility can remain at these or higher levels, there can be lots of advantage in not thinking too creatively, but rather just doing the same thing, and with the very same stocks,  over and over again.

Daily Market Update – September 29, 2015 (Close)

 

 

 

Daily Market Update – September 29,  2015  (Close)

 

If you are a fan of disappointment, your joy of yesterday wasn’t getting any less this morning.

Yesterday’s 300+ point loss didn’t have much of a basis for it, but it was amusing to hear so many talk about how the market was expressing a fear of an upcoming interest rate hike.

It really makes you wonder whether there is a collective deficit in short term memory or maybe those with airtime believe that the audience is either not listening or they are the ones suffering from short term memory issues.

This morning’s feeble attempt at a bounce back from yesterday’s large loss grew even more feeble as the pre-futures were edging closer to the opening bell and they weren’t offering too much encouragement. The day, as it would turn out, did nothing to make you believe that anything would get better tomorrow or the next day.

The decline yesterday took the S&P 500 well below the 10% correction level and once again people are looking at charts to give their predictions of where the market may go next if continuing to test support. Today’s gain did nothing to make things better, other than sneak 0.1% closer to not being in correction.

With the S&P 500 now sitting at 1881 to start the morning, it looks as if there is some support at about 1865 and then again not until 1820. From there, the next real stop is at about 1750.

That 1750 level would not quite represent the 20% decline level which is what is standardly seen in a bear correction.

Putting that in DJIA terms, which my mind still reverts to, those represent levels that are about 110, 480 and 1050 points lower.

WIth a couple of purchases yesterday, I thought that I’d be inclined to just sit and watch today and even if more “bargains” appeared to be popping up. Tomorrow may be no different and it may be a good idea to see just where the market can and will find support. Sometimes you just want to see some proof or some validation before you continue to stick your neck out even more.

Sticking the neck out, however, hasn’t been a very risky thing to do, but the moves have been so sudden on almost everything these days that victory is quickly snatched away. Fortunately, though, it is a little easier to find some rollover opportunities, maybe using longer term options, as long as the decline isn’t too swift and too drastic.

That, however, has definitely not been a given in any sense of the word as many stocks have exhibited some really large moves in the absence of any news.

Of course, as is usually the case, although we won’t see verification until earnings start pouring in, the level of corporate buyback activity has probably fallen as prices have.

That’ the typical perverse nature of things. 

While you and I are more apt to want to buy something when it looks value priced, corporate buyback programs are notorious for being indifferent to price and usually buying shares when they are moving strongly higher.

It doesn’t really matter when it’s other people’s money and your bonus is in part predicated on share performance. Why spend free cash to buy shares to prop up price and create support when it still leaves shares at a net loss and of no value to your bonus situation?

So even with all of that corporate cash still sitting around and set aside for buybacks, there’s much less left because so much was used at much higher levels and there’s no real incentive to use much of it now. Instead, those CEOs will likely wait for a market rebound and start buying again when it appears as if their activity may help to push shares above a certain threshold level that puts more bonus dollars in their own pockets.

What a system. You have to love it.

Daily Market Update – September 29, 2015

 

 

 

Daily Market Update – September 29,  2015  (8:30 AM)

 

If you are a fan of disappointment, your joy of yesterday isn’t getting any less this morning.

Yesterday’s 300+ point loss didn’t have much of a basis for it, but it was amusing to hear so many talk about how the market was expressing a fear of an upcoming interest rate hike.

It really makes you wonder whether there is a collective deficit in short term memory or maybe those with airtime believe that the audience is either not listening or they are the ones suffering from short term memory issues.

This morning’s feeble attempt at a bounce back from yesterday’s large loss grew even more feeble as the pre-futures were edging closer to the opening bell and they weren’t offering too much encouragement.

The decline yesterday took the S&P 500 well below the 10% correction level and once again people are looking at charts to give their predictions of where the market may go next if continuing to test support.

With the S&P 500 now sitting at 1881 to start the morning, it looks as if there is some support at about 1865 and then again not until 1820. From there, the next real stop is at about 1750.

That 1750 level would not quite represent the 20% decline level which is what is standardly seen in a bear correction.

Putting that in DJIA terms, which my mind still reverts to, those represent levels that are about 110, 480 and 1050 points lower.

WIth a couple of purchases yesterday, I think that I’m going to be more inclined to just sit and watch today and even if more “bargains” appear to be popping up, it may be a good idea to see just where the market can and will find support. Sometimes you just want to see some proof or some validation before you continue to stick your neck out even more.

Sticking the neck out, however, hasn’t been a very risky thing to do, but the moves have been so sudden on almost everything these days that victory is quickly snatched away. Fortunately, though, it is a little easier to find some rollover opportunities, maybe using longer term options, as long as the decline isn’t too swift and too drastic.

That, however, has definitely not been a given in any sense of the word as many stocks have exhibited some really large moves in the absence of any news.

Of course, as is usually the case, although we won’t see verification until earnings start pouring in, the level of corporate buyback activity has probably fallen as prices have.

That’ the typical perverse nature of things. 

While you and I are more apt to want to buy something when it looks value priced, corporate buyback programs are notorious for being indifferent to price and usually buying shares when they are moving strongly higher.

It doesn’t really matter when it’s other people’s money and your bonus is in part predicated on share performance. Why spend free cash to buy shares to prop up price and create support when it still leaves shares at a net loss and of no value to your bonus situation?

So even with all of that corporate cash still sitting around and set aside for buybacks, there’s much less left because so much was used at much higher levels and there’s no real incentive to use much of it now. Instead, those CEOs will likely wait for a market rebound and start buying again when it appears as if their activity may help to push shares above a certain threshold level that puts more bonus dollars in their own pockets.

What a system. You have to love it.

Daily Market Update – September 28, 2015 (Close)

 

 

 

Daily Market Update – September 28,  2015  (Close)

 

Last week’s mid-week swoon, more like a nose dive after a tepid attempt at a recovery from the previous week’s FOMC induced nose dive, wasn’t giving much indication of being reversed as we got set to start the week.

Last Friday’s gains were actually only very mild, at best, once you factored out the performance of Nike and suddenly that triple digit gain on the DJIA was barely 35 points, while the S&P 500 finished lower, in a much better reflection of what was going on for most stocks and most people.

What this week does have, though, is some catalysts that could move markets higher and possibly move them away from the 10% correction line that’s been straddled for the past month.

In addition to the usual collection of FOMC Governors speaking their minds during scheduled speeches, the two that matter the most, Janet Yellen and Stanley Fischer will be holding court.

But you wouldn’t have known that based on how the day went, especially since there was never any kind of visible effort to bargain hunt as prices went lower and lower.

Last Friday’s early rally, which ultimately gave up ground heading into the close, may have been related to a more hawkish tone taken by Janet Yellen the previous day following the market’s close. Most everyone will be looking for more of the same and some reason to believe that the FOMC believes that the economy is on a good enough forward moving path to finally tighten up a little on the cost of borrowing.

However, the market may be indicating that it is getting weary of just words and wants words to coincide with actions. In this case, that means finally getting the initial interest rate increase done and moving on with things.

Bill Dudley’s comments today that he was expecting an increase by year’s end did nothing to give traders reason to change direction and start picking up bargains.

While today was terrible, the week ends with the Employment Situation report and a strong number could really send the market higher if Yellen and Fischer precede Friday’s report with an indication that they’re really ready to move in a somewhat pre-emptive fashion on any evidence of a pattern of good economic news.

Until then, though, the market seems to be in a “show me” state of mind and just more so after the first day of the weeks has now been entered into the books.

With a couple of assignments last week and a small number of potential expirations this week, coupled with a few ex-dividend positions, there was some room to add some new positions for the week. But with some income already guaranteed and with at least a couple of the week’s expiring positions being within reach of either assignment or rollover, the need to spend money to create income isn’t as strong this week.

Still, one of the characteristics of these kinds of markets is that you can often re-do the same trades, as the newly opened positions in Bank of America and General Electric today may demonstrate.

With the DJIA right at the 10% correction line and the S&P 500 just a it better, at only a 9% decline from its July 2015 highs, the pre-opening futures were doing nothing to help either index create a safety cushion on the right side of that line and the depth to climb out of that hole simply got larger, but it was hard to resist going back to the well a 5th time in the past month for General Electric and a 3rd time for Bank of America.

While I’m not entirely resistant to adding some additional new positions this week, especially if also including some dividends, I doubt that I’ll be as active in doing so as was the case last week.

For now, there’s very little reason to put too much faith into where the FOMC will be going, even though it feels as if they can only go in one direction. The real issue has been a question of “when” they’ll get going and they keep confounding
everyone, particularly when you recall that most everyone was calling for that rate increase this past March and now many are thinking in terms of December.

While I would still like to add to cash reserves, if the market can continue straddling this 10% correction line and punctuate its moves with large moves higher and lower, I’d continue being happy to try and make some trades with a very short term time frame on them and would continue looking for opportunity to lock into some longer term contracts for their enhanced premiums, for as long as they might last.

We got one of those big moves today, hopefully there will be some sort of offset in the other direction.

So, as with most weeks, the week began with an open mind awaiting some indication of direction and sentiment and a hope that any opportunities are real and not illusory.

We’ll see about that tomorrow.

 

Daily Market Update – September 28, 2015

 

 

 

Daily Market Update – September 28,  2015  (8:00 AM)

 

Last week’s mid-week swoon, more like a nose dive after a tepid attempt at a recovery from the previous week’s FOMC induced nose dive, isn’t giving much indication of being reversed as we get set to start the week.

Last Friday’s gains were actually only very mild, at best, once you factored out the performance of Nike and suddenly that triple digit gain on the DJIA was barely 35 points, while the S&P 500 finished lower, in a much better reflection of what was going on for most stocks and most people.

What this week does have, though, is some catalysts that could move markets higher and possibly move them away from the 10% correction line that’s been straddled for the past month.

In addition to the usual collection of FOMC Governors speaking their minds during scheduled speeches, the two that matter the most, Janet Yellen and Stanley Fischer will be holding court.

Last Friday’s early rally, which ultimately gave up ground heading into the close, may have been related to a more hawkish tone taken by Janet Yellen the previous day following the market’s close. Most everyone will be looking for more of the same and some reason to believe that the FOMC believes that the economy is on a good enough forward moving path to finally tighten up a little on the cost of borrowing.

However, the market may be indicating that it is getting weary of just words and wants words to coincide with actions. In this case, that means finally getting the initial interest rate increase done and moving on with things.

The week ends with the Employment Situation report and a strong number could really send the market higher if Yellen and Fischer precede Friday’s report with an indication that they’re really ready to move in a somewhat pre-emptive fashion on any evidence of a pattern of good economic news.

Until then, though, the market seems to be in a “show me” state of mind.

With a couple of assignments last week and a small number of potential expirations this week, coupled with a few ex-dividend positions, there is some room to add some new positions for the week. But with some income already guaranteed and with at least a couple of the week’s expiring positions being within reach of either assignment or rollover, the need to spend money to create income isn’t as strong this week.

With the DJIA right at the 10% correction line and the S&P 500 just a it better, at only a 9% decline from its July 2015 highs, the pre-opening futures are doing nothing to help either index create a safety cushion on the right side of that line.

While I’m not entirely resistant to adding some new positions this week, especially if also including some dividends, I doubt that I’ll be as active in doing so as was the case last week.

For now, there’s very little reason to put too much faith into where the FOMC will be going, even though it feels as if they can only go in one direction. The real issue has been a question of “when” they’ll get going and they keep confounding everyone, particularly when you recall that most everyone was calling for that rate increase this past March and now many are thinking in terms of December.

While I would still like to add to cash reserves, if the market can continue straddling this 10% correction line and punctuate its moves with large moves higher and lower, I’d continue being happy to try and make some trades with a very short term time frame on them and would continue looking for opportunity to lock into some longer term contracts for their enhanced premiums, for as long as they might last.

So, as with most weeks, the week begins with an open mind awaiting some indication of direction and sentiment and a hope that any opportunities are real and not illusory.

 

Dashboard – September 28 – October 2, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

SELECTIONS

MONDAY:   The week ends with the Employment Situation Report and will have lots of Federal Reserve Governors weighing in before that. But to begin the week, the market is continuing where Friday left off, if you take out the performance of just a single stock, Nike. We’re heading down until there comes some good economic news to change minds about how we now feel.

TUESDAY:   If you were looking for a meaningful bounce this morning, keep looking, as even the pathetic attempt lost ground as the morning’s futures drew closer to the opening bell.

WEDNESDAY:  A decent mid-week advance is in the works after some overnight strength in Asia, but still not enough at its current level to wipe out Monday’s loss. But it’s a start, at least

THURSDAY: The morning after has typically been a different story, for better or worse. This morning the direction isn’t clear, as the S&P 500 sits just barely in correction territory, continuing to straddle that line

FRIDAY:. A very disappointing Employment SItuation Report is sending the market much lower as data isn’t backing up increasing FOMC rhetoric about the justification for an impending interest rate increase

 

 

 

 

 



 

                                                                                                                                           

Today's TradesCash-o-Meter

 

 

 





 “SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK” APPEARS ON FRIDAYS

Sneak PeekPie Chart Distribution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Summary

  

Weekend Update – September 27, 2015

Subscribers to Option to Profit received preliminary notification of this week’s stock selections on Friday, September 25th, 8:00 AM EDT and updated at 10:20 AM. The full article was distributed on Saturday, at 11:25 AM)

I doubt that Johnny Cash was thinking about that thin line that distinguishes a market in correction from one that is not.

jhgty

For him, walking the line” was probably a reference to maintaining the correct behavior so that he could ensure holding onto something of great personal value.

Sometimes that line is as clear as the difference between black and white and other times the difference can be fairly arbitrary.

Lately our markets have been walking a line, not necessarily borne out of a clear distinction between right and wrong, but rather dancing around the definition of exactly what constitutes a market correction, going in and out without much regard.

The back and forth dance has, to some degree, been in response to mixed messages coming from the FOMC that have left the impression of a divergence between words and actions.

Regardless, what is at stake can hold some real tangible value, despite a stock portfolio not being known for its ability to keep you warm at night. Indirectly, however, the more healthy that portfolio the less you have to think about cranking up the thermostat on those cold and lonely nights.

It had been a long, long time since being challenged by that arbitrary 10% definition, but ever since having crossed that line a month ago there’s been lots of indecision about which direction we were heading.

This week was another good example of that, just as the final day of the week was its own good example of the back and forth that has characterized markets.

Depending on your perspective our recent indecision about which side of the line we want to be on is either creating support for a launching pad higher or future resistance to that move higher.

When you think about the quote attributed to Jim Rogers, “I have never met a rich technician,” you can understand, regardless of how ludicrous that may be, just how true it may also be.

While flipping a coin may have predictable odds in the long term, another saying has some real merit when considering the difficulty in trying to interpret charts and chart patterns,

That is “the market can stay irrational far longer than you can stay liquid.” Just a few wrong bets in succession on the direction can have devastating effects.

The single positive from the past 10 days of trading, however, is that the market has started behaving in a rational manner. It finally demonstrated that it understood the true meaning of a potential interest rate hike and then it reacted as a sane person might when their rational expectation was dashed.

Part of the indecision that we’ve been displaying has to be related to what has seemed as a lot of muddled messages coming from the FOMC and from Federal Reserve Governors. One minute there are hawkish sentiments being expressed, yet it’s the doves that seem to be still holding court, leading onlookers to wonder whether the FOMC is capable of making the decision that many believe is increasingly overdue.

In a week where there was little economic news we were all focused on personalities, instead and still stewing over the previous week’s unexpected turn of events.

It was a week when Pope Francis took center stage, then Chinese President Xi trying to cozy up to American business leaders before his less welcoming White House meeting, and then there was finally John Boehner.

The news of John Boehner’s early departure may be the most significant of all news for the week as it probably reduces the chance of another government shutdown and associated headaches for all.

It also marked something rare in Washington politics; a promise kept.

That promise of strict term limits was included in the “Contract with America” and John Boehner was a member of that incoming freshman Congressional Class of 1995 running on that platform, who has now indicated that he will be keeping that promise after only 11 terms in office.

None of that mattered for markets, but what did matter was Janet Yellen’s comments after Thursday’s market close when she said that a rate hike was likely this year and that overseas events were not likely to influence US policy.

That was something that had a semblance of a definitive nature to it and was to the market’s liking, particularly as the coming week may supply new economic information to justify the interest rate hawks gaining control.

Friday’s revised GDP data indicating a 3.9% growth rate for the year is a start, as the coming week also bring Jobless Claims, the Employment Situation Report and lots of Federal Reserve officials making speeches, including more from Janet Yellen, who had been reclusive for a while prior to the September meeting and Vice Chair Stanley Fischer.

As a prelude to the next earnings season that begins in just 2 weeks, the stage could be set for an FOMC affirmation that the economy is growing sufficiently to begin thinking about inflation for the first time in a long time.

After being on the other side of the inflation line for a long time and seeing a lost generation in Japan, it will feel good to cross over even as old codgers still dread the notion.

Both sides of the line can be the right side, but not at the same time. Now is the time to get on the right side and let rising interest rates reflect a market poised to move higher, just as low interest rates subsidized the market for the past 6 years. However, as someone who likes to sell options and take advantage of this increased volatility, I welcome continued trading in large bursts of movement up and down, as long as that line is adhered to.

Since the mean can always be re-calculated based on where you want to start your observations, this reversion to the new mean, that just happens to be 10% below the peaks of the summer, can be a great neighborhood to dance around.

As usual, the week’s potential stock selections are classified as being in the Traditional, Double Dip Dividend, Momentum or “PEE” categories.

Last week I was a little busier than has been the usual case of late with regard to opening new positions. Following the sharp sell offs to end the previous week I had a reasonably good feeling about the upcoming week, but now feel fortunate to have emerged without any damage.

I don’t feel the same level of optimism as the new week is set to begin, but there really is no reason to have much conviction one way or another, although there appears to be a more hawkish tone in the air as Janet Yellen is attempting to give the impression that actions will be aligned with words.

With the good fortune of getting some assignments as the week came to its close and having some cash in hand, I would like to build on those cash reserves but still find lots of temptations that seek to separate me from the cash.

The temptations aren’t just the greatly diminished prices, but also the enhanced premiums that accompany the uncertainty that’s characterizing the market.

That uncertainty is still low by most standards other than for the past couple of years, but taking individual stocks that are either hovering around correction or even bear market declines and adding relatively high premiums, especially if a dividend is also involved, is a difficult combination to walk away from.

The stocks going ex-dividend in the upcoming week that may warrant some attention are EMC Corporation (EMC) and Cisco (CSCO).

I own shares of both and both have recently been disappointing, Cisco, after its most recent earnings report looked as if it was surely going to be assigned away from me, but as so many others got caught up in the sudden downdraft and has fallen 14% since earnings, without any particularly bad news. EMC for its part has dropped nearly 13% in that same time period.

As is also so frequently the case as option premiums are rising, those going ex-dividend may become even more attractive as an increasing portion of the share’s price drop due to the dividend gets subsidized by the option premium.

That is the case for both Cisco and EMC. In the case of EMC, when the ex-dividend is early in the week you could even be excused for writing an in the money call with the hope that the newly purchased shares get assigned, as you could still potentially derive a 1% ROI on such a trade, yet for only a single day of holding.

Cisco, which goes ex-dividend later in the week may be a situation where it is warranted to sell an expanded weekly option for the following week that is also in the money by greater than the amount of the dividend, again in an effort to prompt an early assignment.

Doing so trades off the dividend for additional premium and fewer days of holding so that the cash may potentially be recycled into other income generating positions.

On such position is Comcast (CMCSA) which is ex-dividend the following Monday and if assigned early would have to be done so at the conclusion of this week.

While the entire media landscape in undergoing rapid change and while Comcast has positioned itself as best as it can to withstand the quantum changes, a trade this week is nothing more than an attempt to exploit the shares for the income that it may be able to produce and isn’t a vote of confidence in its strategic initiatives and certainly not of its services.

The intention with Comcast is considering the sale of an in the money October 9 or October 16, 2015 call and as with Cisco or EMC, consider forgoing the dividend.

However, for any of those three dividend related trades, I believe that their prices alone are attractive enough and their option premiums enhanced enough, that even if not assigned early, they are in good position to be candidates for serial sale of call options or even repurchases, if assigned.

As long as considering a Comcast purchase, one of my favorites in the sector is Sinclair Broadcasting (SBGI). I currently own shares and most often consider initiating a new position as an ex-dividend date is approaching.

That won’t be for a while, however, the second criteria that I look at is where its price is relative to its historical trading range and it is currently below the average of my seven previous purchases in the past 16 months.

While little known, it is a major player in the ancient area of terrestrial television broadcasting and has significant family ownership. While owners of Cablevision (CVC) can argue the merits or liabilities of a closely held public company, the only real risk is that of a proposal to take the company private as a result of shares having sunk to ridiculously low levels.

I don’t see that on the horizon, although the old set of rabbit ears may be to blame for any fuzzy forecasting. Instead of relying on high technology and still being available the old fashioned way for free viewing, Sinclair Broadcasting has simply been amassing outlets all over the county and making money the old fashioned way.

As I had done with my current lot of shares, I sold some slightly longer term call options, as Sinclair offers only the monthly variety. Since it reports earnings very early in November and will likely go ex-dividend late that month, I would consider selling out of the money calls, perhaps using the December 2015 options in an effort to capture the dividend, the option premium and some capital gains on shares.

While religious and political luminaries were getting most of the attention this past week, it’s hard to overlook what has unfolded before our eyes at Volkswagen (VLKAY). Regulatory agencies and the courts may be of the belief that you can’t spell “Fahrvergnügen,” Volkswagen’s onetime advertising slogan buzzword, without “Revenge.” Unfortunately, for those owning shares in the major auto manufacturer’s, such as General Motors (GM), last week’s news painted with a very broad brush.

General Motors hasn’t been immune to its own bad news and you do have to wonder if society places greater onus and personal responsibility on the slow deaths that may be promoted by Volkswagen’s falsified diesel emissions testing than by the instantaneous deaths caused by faulty lock mechanisms.

For its part, General Motors appears to really be bargain priced and will likely escape the continued plastering by that broad brush. With an exceptional option premium this week, plumped up by the release of some sales data and a global conference call, GM’s biggest worry after having resolved some significant legal issues will continue to be currency exchange and potential weakness in the Chinese market.

With earnings due to be reported on October 21st, if considering a purchase of General Motors shares, I would think about a weekly or expanded weekly option sale, or simply bypassing the events and going straight to December, in an effort to also collect the generous dividend and possibly some capital gains while having some additional time to recover from any bad news at earnings.

MetLife (MET) is a stock that is beautifully reflective of its dependency on interest rates. As rates were moving higher and the crowd believed that would go even higher, MetLife followed suit.

Of course, the same happened when those interest rate expectations weren’t met.

Now, however, it appears that those rates will be getting a boost sooner, rather than later, as the FOMC seems to be publicly acknowledging its interests in a broad range of matters, including global events and perhaps even stock market events.

With a recently announced share buyback, those shares are now very attractively priced, even after Friday’s nearly 2% gain.

With earnings expected at the end of the month, I would consider the purchase of shares coupled with the sale of some out of the money calls, hoping to capitalize on both capital gains and bigger than usual option premiums. In the event that shares aren’t assigned prior to earnings, I would consider then selling a November 20 call in an effort to bypass earnings risk and perhaps also capture the next dividend.

Finally, I’ve been anxious to once again own eBay (EBAY) and have waited patiently for its price to decline to a more appealing level. While most acknowledge that eBay gave away its growth prospects when it completed the PayPal (PYPL) spin-off, it has actually out-performed the latter since that spin-off, despite being down  nearly 12%.

While eBay isn’t expected to be a very exciting stock performer, it hadn’t been one for years, yet was still a very attractive covered option trading vehicle, as it’s share price was punctuated by large moves, usually earnings related. Those moves gave option buyers a reason to demand and a reason for sellers to acquiesce.

That hasn’t changed and the volatility induced premiums are as healthy as they have been in years. As that volatility rises in the stock and in the overall market, there’s more and more benefit to be gained from selling in the money options both for enhanced premium and for downside protection.

It would be good to welcome eBay back into my portfolio. Even if it won’t keep me warm, I could likely buy someone else’s flea bitten blanket at a great price, using its wonderful services.

 

Traditional Stocks:  eBay, General Motors, MetLife, Sinclair Broadcasting

Momentum Stocks: none

Double-Dip Dividend: Comcast (10/5 $0.25), Cisco (10/1 $0.21), EMC Corp (9/29 $0.12)

Premiums Enhanced by Earnings:  none

Remember, these are just guidelines for the coming week. The above selections may become actionable – most often coupling a share purchase with call option sales or the sale of covered put contracts – in adjustment to and consideration of market movements. The overriding objective is to create a healthy income stream for the week, with reduction of trading risk.

Week In Review – September 21 – 25, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

September 21 – 25, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO NEW STO ROLLOVERS CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED CLOSED EX-DIVIDEND
4   /   4 0 2 2   /   0 0  /  0 0 1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

September 21 – 25, 2015

This was a week of real indecision.

Following last week’s bad reaction to news of no interest rate increase, the best we could do this week was a small bounce back on Monday.

As we flirted in and out of correction I bought more new positions in a single week than for quite some time.

The 4 new positions out-performed the unadjusted S&P 500 by  2.0% and also out-performed the unadjusted S&P 500 by 2.0%.

Those positions were 0.6% higher for the week while the unadjusted S&P 500 finished 1.4% lower and the unadjusted S&P 500 was 1.4% lower.

Existing positions trailed the S&P 500 by 0.9% for the week. Their relative performance was again dragged down my energy and materials.

For the year the 52 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 4.8% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.1 % higher. That difference represents a 357.4% performance differential. 

While this was a week that spent most of its time exhibiting weakness, it did feel like a good time to add some new positions as the market was still bouncing back and forth, but was staying relatively close to the line distinguishing between a market in correction and one that isn’t.

Those large bounces back and forth are helping to drive up volatility and the volatility rise is making premiums more attractive.

Combined with prices on stocks that may already be in their own personal bear correction, that becomes more and more attractive, especially when there’s also a dividend involved.

The various strategies that can be used definitely increase as the volatility does, as well, as there is more premium built into in the money options and greater advantage to the Double DIp Dividend trades, even if the dividend ends up not being captured.

The market got off to a good start on Monday and for most of the day looked as if it was going to end the week even better than how it had started, as Janet Yellen may have removed some uncertainty late Thursday, after 3 really weak days.

Those days were nothing more than the market being confused and disappointed.

That’s a bad combination.

Fortunately, despite the weakness seen in the overall market, it wasn’t too bad of a week, with opportunity to create some income from the new positions that were opened, as well as the rollover trades that were able to be completed and a single ex-dividend position.

This was a good week to see a number of past ex-dividend positions suddenly show up as cash in the account and that’s always appreciated, although this week did have a decent number of active trades generating income. The dividends are more appreciated in those weeks where there isn’t very much trading to be done.

After having dug deeply to open those new positions this week I was especially happy to see the 2 assignments get made, but would have been happier if there were some more, but I won’t be complaining, given how the week was looking as it was getting ready to end the week.

With a little bit of cash and a small number of positions set to expire next week, including some positions going ex-dividend, there is some more chance to create some additional income next week.

With the manner in which the market closed the week I’m not entirely certain what path looks predominant as the coming week gets ready to open. At the moment, I’m not as positive about its direction as I was early this week. I was definitely willing to spend cash this week, but am not certain I’ll feel the same way when Monday gets here.

With next week ending with an Employment Situation Report and lots of key Federal Reserve people giving speeches, including Janet Yellen and Stanley Fischer, there’s good reason to believe that they’ll be re-inforcing the message that the interest rate hike is coming in 2015.

Janet Yellen did that yesterday and the market seemed to like that relative certainty, so next week there could be more of the same and a strong Employment Situation Report could really drive home the confidence that the market is developing that it can still thrive as interest rates begin a slow climb higher.

Here’s to good news, but I wouldn’t mind staying at these levels for a while and keeping volatility at these higher levels, as well.


 

This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below

(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):



New Positions Opened:   CY, BAC, DOW, GE

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle:  GE (10/9), HFC (10/23)

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  none

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cyclenone

New STO:  none

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: ANF, BAC

Calls Expired:  none

Puts Assigned:  none

Stock positions Closed to take profits:  none

Stock positions Closed to take losses: none

Calls Closed to Take Profits: none

Ex-dividend Positions CY (9/22 $0.11)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:   DOW (9/28 $0.42), EMC (9/29 $0.12), CSCO (10/1 $0.21)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF, COH, CSCO, CY, FAST, FCX, GDX, GM, GPS, HAL, HPQ, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS,  MCPIQ, MOS, NEM, RIG, WFM, WLTGQ (See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)



* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.



Daily Market Update – September 25, 2015

 

 

 

Daily Market Update – September 25,  2015  (8:00 AM)

 

The Week in Review will be posted by 10 PM and the Weekend Update will be posted by Noon on Sunday.

The following trade outcomes are possible today:

Assignments:  ANF

Rollovers:  BAC, GE

Expirations:  none

The following were ex-dividend this week:

The following will be ex-dividend next week:   CY (9/22 $0.11)

Trades, if any, will be attempted to be made prior to 3:30 PM EDT.