Today this looks increasingly like a market in sector rotation
The major U.S. indexes opened the day strongly lower on disappointing earnings news and guidance from Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG) after the market close yesterday. But the markets reversed in the morning going--the low for the day for the Standard & Poor's...
How low can volatility and the VIX go? And how fast?
Yesterday, October 16, the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) fell 17.28% to 17.62. That's a huge drop from the closing local high of 24.98 on October 11. If the market's very, very positive reaction to Netflix earnings delivered after the close yesterday is any...
U.S. stocks gently slide but VIX “fear index” continues retreat
If the market were inclined to sell off today, it could have found plenty of reasons. Under the heading of one-off scary stuff, I'd put:Â Continued tensions between the Saudis and just about everyone else over allegations--which look to be true--that the Saudi...
Stocks hold most of last hour’s gains–and that’s important
An extremely volatile day--but the market held most of its gains into the close--and that's important if you're trying to figure out whether we've seen the last (for a while, at least) of this week's selling. Let's take a look at the Standard & Poor's 500 index as...
Selling VIX November 21 calls after volatility spike
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Volatility market pulls back from “inversion panic”
Futures on the VIX, the CBOE Volatility Index, often called the "fear index" since it rises when traders look to hedge against a drop in the market, toyed with "backwardation" in today's session. If you don't know what the means, you're by no means alone. Â But what's...
I almost pulled the trigger on my VIX Put complacency trade today–but not quite yet
I almost pulled the trigger and sold my VIX complacency trade today. On September 10 I added the December 19 Put on the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) to my Volatility Portfolio with a strike of 13. The trade was coupled with a buy of the November 21 Call on...
It was a He said; Xi said market today
For much of today U.S. stocks were locked in a slightly negative range as investors and traders vacillated from fears that the Trump administration would impose a new set of tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and the hope that Chinese leader Xi Jinping would...
Adding a put/call trade to my Volatility Portfolio
It's September, the middle month of the most volatile three month period in the investing year (historically on average.) We're in the midst of an emerging market crisis that's being driven by a strong U.S. dollar--and we're looking at the high likelihood of two more...
Adding a VIX call/put trade to my Volatility Portfolio
It's September, the middle month of the most volatile three month period in the investing year (historically on average.) We're in the midst of an emerging market crisis that's being driven by a strong U.S. dollar--and we're looking at the high likelihood of two more...
Good August jobs number cements Federal Reserve interest rate increase in September (and probably December)
The U.S. economy added a net 201,000 jobs in August. That was above the projection of 187,000 from economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Government statisticians revised the July job gains to 170,000 from 153,000. The official unemployment rate remained at 3.9%. So why...Jim’s Stock Alerts
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