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Daily Market Update – May 5, 2016 (7:30 AM) Yesterday was another of those weak days that have been happening lately. It looked as if oil was leading the way lower, but when ADP released some disappointing numbers, there was no real change. It was, as I thought heading into that report and then heading into Friday’s Employment Situation Report, that no one really knows what to think and do in the event of either good news or bad news. As some are beginning to question whether the FOMC is really driven by data, there is more reason for uncertainty. It’s comforting to know that there are rules in place, even if you can’t understand the rules. It’s a little more unsettling when there may be the appearance of arbitrariness. For some, that explains the interest rate hike executed toward the end of 2015 and may be the basis for any other increase in 2016. Yesterday’s ADP didn’t seem like very good news and with oil prices rising you do have to wonder where the spending will come from that will push a consumer led economy forward. I wonder that. Futures were sharply higher in the early part of the session as oil was much higher. However, as the session wore on, albeit still early in the session, those stock gains were getting smaller and smaller. The triple digit gain in the DJIA futures had been cut in half while oil and precious metals were still climbing. With now only 2 days remaining in the week, it looks like this will be another that’s been seen all too often in 2016 for me. No trades. Luckily there were 3 ex-dividend positions as a source of cash, but that’s not really enough. There just didn’t appear to be any really good entry opportunity this week and as we get ready to begin trading on Thursday, so far I’m glad that i didn’t go after anything. It certainly would have been nice to have bought something, or even better to have sold calls on an existing positions, but the dynamic has been very week to this point. Next week may be a bit more interesting as retailers start telling their stories. This week was really just one boring story after another. Hopefully that will be different in just a few days, but at this point, I’d just like to see the May 2016 option cycle come to a close. That’s only because I have a few positions in play and expiring at the end of the cycle and those could offer the only chances to get something meaningful done over the next 2 weeks. |
