12:40pm (EST)
The market is trading slightly lower to start the week after another failed weekend of talks between Greece and the European Union. The head officials want Greece to sign-off on new austerity measures and several of the politicians are against the new rules as you can imagine. They still want to kick the can down the road for another couple of years but they can’t bite the hand that feeds them.
Greece has been a drag on the indexes for months but the market continues to move higher which shows that it may not be a big deal if they do default. Sure, there will be a knee-jerk reaction if there is, and Greece is suppose to submit its final proposal today or tomorrow with a EU vote on Thursday. Stay tuned.
In merger Monday news, O’Charley’s (CHUX, $9.80, up $2.88) is up over 40% despite reporting quarterly earnings well below Wall Street estimates. The company posted a loss of 38 cents a share on revenue of $182 million. The suit-and-ties had expected a loss of 22 cents a share on sales of $181 million. The good news for shareholders is that O’Charley’s also said it would be acquired by Fidelity National Financial (FNF, $18.23, down $0.20) which has a history of doing small deals like this.
We mentioned last night in our Weekly Wrap that economic news would be light for today and tomorrow so earnings and Greece will be the catalysts that move us higher or lower.
As we head to press, the Dow is down 43 points to 12,819 while the S&P is off by 4 points to 1,341. The Nasdaq is lower by 9 points to 2,896. The market may be lower but it feels as though it wants to go higher today.
We do have some good news with our current trades as most of them are in the green and are extending last week’s powerful gains. Yes, it is a stock picker’s market which we have proven for the last few months but the talking heads are now just realizing it.
We have locked-in profits on a few current winners and our Dendreon (DNDN, $16.18, up $2.01) call option trade is surging today as the stock is up 14% on no news.
We also have a NEW TRADE and profits to take on 2 other call positions as one of them is up nearly 60% since Friday while the other is up over 50% in just one week!
Subscribers, check the Members Area for the updates and we will be back in the morning with the latest & greatest.
