It seems like a lifetime ago but on Friday the S&P 500 (SPX) was in an all out free-fall in the aftermath of the UK Brexit vote, closing down 3.6%. I had some fairly specific …
Continue readingMorningWord 6/30/16: Reports of the Dollar’s Death are Greatly Exaggerated – $DXY
In early March, my friend Jay Pelosky made a cogent case Why the World Needs a Weak Dollar. That was when the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) was very near its multi-year highs. Here was his main …
Continue readingBig Printin’ – $MCD: Someone’s Lovin’ It
The largest trade of the day today in a single stock option was in McDonald’s (MCD). Shortly after noon when the stock was $119.50, 50,000 of the Jan17 125 calls traded $3.15 to open. That’s …
Continue reading$TSLA – Solar Storm
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) have had a fairly volatile year, at its lows in February down 40%, at its highs in April up 90% from those prior lows. So far this year, investors concerns have …
Continue readingMorningWord 6/29/16: Why Are You Still Here?
Leader of the U.K. Independence Party and guy who led the charge for the Leave vote, Nigel Farage, took his Muppet Show on the road to EU headquarters in Brussels yesterday. Farage agreed to an …
Continue readingBig Printin’ – $XLP: Staple Remover
This whole ZIRP & NIRP thing is wreaking havoc on conventional investment wisdom. Investors are willing to pay 22.5x expected 2016 eps for Coca-Cola (KO), a consumer staple, with a 3.2% dividend yield, whose earnings …
Continue readingDomestic $TGT
Earlier I offered some updated thoughts on the current investment environment (MorningWord 6/28/16: Eyes Wide Shut). In summary, I’m less than sanguine for U.S. stocks. That has been my view since the start of 2015. …
Continue readingMorningWord 6/28/16: Eyes Wide Shut
Prior to the Brexit vote last week in the UK, a Leave decision was not a major input for my cautious view in U.S. stocks (MorningWord 6/23/16: Cause I Don’t Want to Be… Anarchy). In hindsight, …
Continue readingBig Printin’ – $HYG: High Yield High Wire
Our post Brexit investment world feels a lot like the downdraft we saw in early 2016 with currencies and credit showing strains, and the most severe downward pressure on equities and commodities. The options activity in …
Continue reading$NKE Fiscal Q4 Earnings Preview
Event: Nike (NKE) reports their fiscal Q4 results tomorrow after the close. The options market is implying about a 5.5% one day post earnings move in either direction. With the stock just below $52 the …
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