November 30, 2021 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell retired the word “transitory” to describe stubbornly high inflation in testimony today in front of the Senate Banking Committee. And, Powell continued, the Fed might accelerate the pace at which it is winding down its purchase of Treasuries and mortgage-backed assets. “It is appropriate, I think, for us to discuss at our next meeting, which is in a couple of weeks, whether it will be appropriate to wrap up our purchases a few months earlier.” The Fed is currently scheduled to complete its asset-purchase program in mid-2022
November 29, 2021 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
Today, Monday November 29, it’s a tale of two bounces from Friday’s big sell off. Technology stocks and especially big technology stocks are up big. At the close in New York Applied Materials was up 5.53%. Adobe (ADBE) was ahead 3.83%. Nvidia (NVDA) was higher by 5.95%. Amazon (AMZN) had gained 1.63%. Apple (AAPL) and Meta Platforms (AKA FB) were 2.19% and 1.47%, respectively. Qualcomm (QCOM) had gained 4.55%. Alphabet (GOOG) was higher by 2.32%. Microsoft (MSFT) had picked up 2.11%. NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) had climbed 5.41%. In most of these stocks today’s gains made up for Friday’s losses–or more. For example, on Friday Applied Materials had dropped 3.84% and NXP Semiconductors was down 3.88%. On the other hand, the “re-opening stocks” that got crushed Friday on fears that the Omicron Covid-19 variant would throw sand in the gears of the global economy showed only minor gains.
October 3, 2021 | Daily JAM, MRK |
Stocks zoomed on Friday on news that Merck (MRK) had developed and successfully trialed a pill that ... To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing...
April 18, 2021 | Daily JAM |
Earnings season will accelerate this week with reports from Coke, Johnson and Johnson, Snap, and Netflix
March 15, 2021 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed up 0.65% today and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.53% to set new record highs. Technology stocks rebounded from recent weakness with the NASDAQ finishing ahead by 1.05%. But the big impetus for the continued gains in the big indexes came from a sense that the economy is returning to normal.
March 4, 2021 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Back on February 23, I wrote a post with the headline “Everything is down today” and added that while I wasn’t buying everything on the dip I was doing some selective nibbling. Today’s market looks almost exactly the same–if a bit more so because this drop is coming after recent weakness.
January 27, 2021 | Daily JAM |
Shares of GameStop (GME) were up another 134.84% today< January 27, to close at $347.51. The stock traded at just $17.25 on January 4, 2021. The heady gains in GameStop have led traders to look for other heavily shorted stocks that might go up BIG as short sellers are forced to buy shares in order to cover their bets that the stocks would fall. So AMC (AMC), the country's largest operator of (closed) movie theaters, gained 301.21% today to close at $19.90. The shares traded at $1.98 on January 5, 2021.
Traders also cast their eyes at American Airlines (AAL), which gained 6.63% today after a mention on Reddit's Wall Street Bets forum tagged "AAL, the next GME.) And it looks like the big gains in these stocks that have come at the expense of short sellers (in what is a classic short squeeze) could be having a negative effect on stock prices outside these retail favorites.
December 10, 2020 | Daily JAM, Volatility |
Stock have moved up so strongly that the Put Options I own in my Volatility Portfolio are no longer providing any significant downside protection against a market downturn. Especially since two of the three–the Puts on MGM Resorts International, and Vale l expire on December 18. The last Put, the one on American Airlines, expires on January 15, 2021, but I’m closing that position as well. I’m also selling my two Call Options on Barrick Gold, and the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF since they also expire on December 18 and they are also so far out of the money the holding is pointless. Those Calls on gold were also added as protection against an outbreak in market volatility that never arrived.
December 5, 2020 | Daily JAM, Friday Trick or Trend |
On Friday American Airlines (AAL) said it it seeing a slowdown in demand because of surging coronavirus cases. (Again.) And that the company now has a weaker outlook on airline bookings heading into the year-end holidays. The news from American Airlines echoes a similar warning the day before from Delta Air Lines (DAL)
November 10, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
If you remember, my "calendar" listed a short-term post-election rally to be followed by a downward ... To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing...
October 29, 2020 | Daily JAM, RWM, Volatility |
Intended as insurance against a big market drop, my Puts on American Airlines (AAL) and Vale (VALE) have moved into the black in the last two days. My Puts on MGM Resorts International (MGM) could follow--the stock dropped 5.55% in after-hours trading yesterday on a...
October 27, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Volatility |
What I like to see--if I'm on the long side of stocks--after a drop like yesterday when the Standard & Poor's fell 1.86% for its biggest loss in a month and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 2.29%--is a bounce that speaks to investors and traders thinking...
