Trading Notes #14

Due to a tight schedule I will not be blogging for the next few weeks.

Just wanted to add this great trading reflection,

It is difficult to tolerate even normal drawdowns unless you have confidence in your methods. This confidence does not come from mere positive self-talk. Rather, it is a function of testing your methods (historically and in real-time) and seeing in your own experience that they truly work; - Brett Steenbarger

Have a great trading day!

Trading Notes #13

Here are today`s trading notes,

1) Pre-market is slightly lower - a short term correction is probably in the cards;

2) Eurozone keeps sending very alarming signs,

(a) German 2 year note yield drops to record low of 0.134%
(b) New ECB deposits hitting a new record: €486 billion
(c) the spanish economy is contracting fast

3) There are a few high profile downgrades today including Mastercard (MA), 3M (MMM), Coca-Cola (KO) and Ralph Lauren (RL) - analysts are catching up with earnings momentum loss

4) Hecla Mining (HL) is cutting 2012 silver production outlook - it`s getting hit very, very hard, down 14% at 5.03

On a leisure note, I watched a very competitive NBA match yesterday evening. The Thunders won in Memphis in a very tight duel.

Looking forward to an excellent league cup match in England later today. Manchester City will host Liverpool. That will be quite a match (I hope :)).

I take the chance to congratulate Leo Messi on his Balon d`Or award,

Trading Notes #12

Here are today`s trading notes,

1) eMini S&P Futures are gapping up this morning;

2) Nymex Crude Oil is trading at 103.00 - it may be near to a short term top - I hold similar views on the indexes;

3) According to ECRI, "with the USFIG ending 2011 near the lows of the year, underlying U.S. inflation pressures remain subdued”- ECRI`s Lakshman Achuthan

4) Nearly 60 percent of hedge funds lost money in 2011, according to preliminary data from the HedgeFund Intelligence Database - that is crazy!

5) It seems that the high end jewelry market is not doing so well, "Tiffany & Co. declined in New York after the world’s second-largest luxury jewelry retailer reduced its annual earnings forecast, hurt by slowing holiday sales growth across all regions." - TIF is off 7 to 8 percent in pre-market trading

6) We had 2 big consecutive rallies in chinese shares - comparatively the Nikkei 225 barely moved - japanese shares are being held back by the strong yen but they may be a decent play going forward

On a leisure note, I had to sweat a bit yesterday as Arsenal was unable to score against Leeds for over 60 minutes. In the end, an "old hero", Thierry Henry came off the bench and scored. Thanks Henry!

I will leave you with a fantastic motivational video,

Trading Notes #11

Here are today`s notes:

1) We have a very quiet session so far; I am not expecting any big moves but my bias is bearish for the short term;

2) Alcoa (AA) will kick start the earnings season; interesting to see how it will react;

3) there`s no relevant economic data points today or tomorrow;

4) CL Futures are trading down today; I am expecting a correction in that space;

I will leave you with 14 minutes of pure undiluted laugh. Enjoy,

Trading Notes #10

Here we go,

1) The NFP data came above expectations (200,000 vs. 155,000 consensus) but after the initial spike, ES Futures are trading just a few ticks below where they were before 8.30 AM ET; not very inspiring for the bull case so far;

2) Bullish sentiment soared to an 11-month high in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey - retail investors are feeling confident about the market prospects;

3) Soros says the Euro Crisis is more dangerous than the 2008 crisis, The euro zone crisis is "more serious and more threatening than the crash of 2008" (Economic Times)

4) European banks now trade like tech stocks in 2000; up 5% in one day, down 7% the next;

On other topics, Coutinho shows you how to drible and score,


I will leave you with a Jim Rohn`s quote, “Part of success is preparation on purpose.”

Have a great weekend!