Z-SYMBOLS

Will a 5% drop bring out the buy on the dippers? Not, I’d argue, until the People’s Bank makes a move

Will a 5% drop bring out the buy on the dippers? Not, I’d argue, until the People’s Bank makes a move

The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell another 1.70% today and it’s now down 3.94% from the September 2 high. As the index dropped last week (again) and over the weekend, lots of Wall Street money managers said Hey, stocks were over-valued and news from Beijing and Washington (and places in between) is negative, but if stocks drop 5% we will be buyers. It looks like might get to test that conviction sooner than anyone expected. Which way will things break on another decline?

Call to Action: Sell November VIX Calls at 18 and Roll into December Calls at 19

Call to Action: Sell November VIX Calls at 18 and Roll into December Calls at 19

Huge surge in volatility this morning. It’s as if everybody woke up and said, “Hey, you know there are risky trends in the world.” As of 12:30 p.m. New York time today, Monday, September 20, the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index is up 29.51% to $26.08. I think there’s more volatility ahead so today I’m going to sell the VIX November 17 Call Options with a strike price of 18 in my Volatility Portfolio and buy some more time with a purchase of the VIX December 22 Call Options with a strike price of 19.

So far it’s just a typical September slump

So far it’s just a typical September slump

I found myself humming “I scare myself” this morning as the market continued its September selling. The Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks song pretty much sums up the market action this morning. We all know that stocks go down in September so we’re sending stocks downward. And we all know that September 17 is the Big Bad Day in the month so it’s unreasonable to expect a turn in sentiment before that date. But so far, I’d note, the selling seems “orderly” with the usual candidates bucking the trend and showing up in the green. It’s when those still in the green stocks start tumbling that I’ll really start to worry.

Selling Apple September Call Options to roll over into October Calls

Selling Apple September Call Options to roll over into October Calls

The Apple September 17 Call Options with a strike of $150 in my Volatility Portfolio climbed another 23.3% today. The options looks to be moving up as traders position themselves for a bump in Apple after the company’s next new product day–speculation has the date for the announcement of a nee iPhone as September 14 with pre-orders to start on September 17. The announcement is likely to be big news and will probably drive the stock higher. For the September 17 Call Options, however, the date is something of a double-edged sword since a September 14 announcement–a big positive–runs right into the time decay of the options since them expire on September 17.

Click your heels together and repeat, “There is no inflation”

Click your heels together and repeat, “There is no inflation”

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), which makes chips for everybody and everything, plans to raise prices on its silicon by 10% to 20% in 2022, DigiTimes reported today. The company will raise prices on “mature-technology chips” manufactured on 16 nanometer or larger processes by 20%. Leading-edge chips with circuits smaller than 16 nanometers will see price increases of about 10%.

Ford gains on doubling of production target for electric F-150 pickup

Ford gains on doubling of production target for electric F-150 pickup

Shares of Ford Motor (F) are up 3.02% as of 3:15 p.m. New York time today, August 24, on news that the company has doubled its production target for the F-150 Lightning because of strong early demand for the full-sized electric pickup truck ahead of its 2022 launch. The automaker is targeting annual production of more than 80,000 in 2024, up from its prior target of more than 40,000.

Why Microsoft outpaced the market and techs today

Why Microsoft outpaced the market and techs today

Today Microsoft (MSFT) closed up 2.08%. The NASDAQ 100 was ahead just 0.51% and the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained only 0.13%. The gains took Microsoft shares to a record intraday high of $297.35. Why the extra pop in Microsoft shares? Because today Microsoft raised the price of its Microsoft 365 productivity suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook and Enterprise Mobility) by as much s 20%, effective March 1. The price increase is the first since the launch of Office 365 ten years ago.