9:10am (EST)
The bulls were feeling good before the bell yesterday as it appeared they were going to halt their two-day losing streak. Futures were pointing towards a decent open and they got off to a good start but we mentioned in the 1pm update that the market was struggling with direction.
President Obama couldn’t provide a spark but the market began to pick up momentum shortly after our briefing. There were a couple of stocks that showed some nice rebounds and we have mentioned a few of them over the past couple of weeks.
Goldman Sachs (GS, $166.44, up $4.60 made a strong bounce off $160 and is back over $165. We told you it would be hard to bet against Goldman and although there was a small window of opportunity to buy put options, we know Goldman is a stock that tends to lead the market higher.
Apple (AAPL, $197.80, up $7.93) closed BELOW $190 on Tuesday but popped 4% after getting an upgrade and a $275 price target. The options on Apple have gotten a little rich for our taste over the past few months and we would love for the company to do a 2-to-1 or even a 3-to-1 stock split early next year. Once a stock gets over $150, we tend to look stay on the sidelines until it comes back down or splits.
The gains from Goldman and Apple spread to other names and sectors as the Dow added 51 points to close at 10,337. The S&P gained 4 to 1,095 while the Nasdaq rose 11 to 2,183.
The reversal yesterday was interesting and we have got accustomed to small pullbacks in this bull market that has had horns since March. If we take a closer look at where we have been over the past month then it isn’t that impressive. We are basically flat. A month ago the Dow was at 10,250. However, the index has been topping 10,500 which clears the way for our target of 10,800.
Another stock we are watching closely is Research In Motion (RIMM, $64.14, up $2.98) which reports earnings next week. Folks, this one is setting up for a sweet strangle trade and we think the next move in RIMM could easily make this a “risk-free” trade. We have talked about these types of trades before and last time out the company announced earnings it got taken to the wood shed.
The stock dropped $83 to $69 on volume of 88 million shares as Wall Street turned its back. The stock held up well after that September 25th debacle but had fallen to a low of $57 by the first week of November.
We are reading the cards carefully because the chance of an EXPLOSIVE more either up or down is there. In fact, it could be the perfect storm. Will RIMM surprise Wall Street with its new phones and China news and will it be enough to push the stock back towards its 52-week high of $88? Or will the company disappoint and we see a test of $57 again?
As we head to press, Dow futures are up 51 points to 10,337. Current subscribers, check the Members Area for the trade updates.
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