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Daily Market Update – May 19, 2016 (Close) After another 2 days of big moves in opposite directions, yesterday ended the day flat, although it did have its moments. This morning the futures are moderately lower, despite some decent earnings news from 2 of the DJIA members. The other day when Home Depot reported good numbers and traded up sharply in the pre-opening session, those gains faded very quickly along with the rest of the market. With that as a recent backdrop and more and more betting that the FOMC may now actually make an interest rate move at their June 2016 meeting, anything can happen. For my part, I’m not really looking ahead. I just wanted to be able to get something done today or tomorrow, as I still had a number of positions expiring along with the end of the May 2016 option cycle. Yesterday, I was actually happy to rollover the Marathon Oil position, even though it was in the money, as I do like getting the elevated premium and would continue to do it over and over again if the opportunities continue to arise. Today, I was happy being able to rollover the out of the money Fastenal position, even as it required going out to August, continuing a pattern that began in 2015. While the market was somewhat lower this morning, I was looking at doing the same with some other positions set to expire, as was done with Marathon Oil yesterday,even if there’s a chance for assignment. Locking in on winners may be an easier approach than looking to select some new ones as uncertainty still reigns. What we didn’t have today was much in the way of winners, although the market cut its losses in half and actually had some good earnings from 2 DJIA components, which explained its ability to outperform the S&P 500 by 50% on the day. Despite being so close to market all time highs, very few people are talking as if they’re at or near personal all time highs, so trying to out think or out wit this market has proven fairly fruitless other than for those that have really been at the right place at the right time. There’s nothing wrong with being lucky and the age old saying about being smart or being lucky may really have application in this market. I hope there’s some good luck left over tomorrow and some trades or some assignments to go along with that luck. |
