Stocks to Focus for Thursday – April 16, 2009

Wednesday’s recap:  What a mad dash to finish …. Stocks surged in the last hour before closing, lifting all three major indices from deep red to green.  

The last-hour surge pushed the Dow up 109 or 1.4%  to 8030.  The S& P 500 index rose 10.6 points  or 1.3%  to 852, and the Nasdaq snuck in to green with a final minute thrust and edged up 1.08, or 0.1% to 1627.   Crude 16 cents to settle at $49.25 a barrel, while gold was down $1.50 to $893.50 an ounce.

The impetus for the final hour turn around was provided by the observation in Federal Beige Book that economic contraction may be slowing down.  The market interpreted this as ‘the end is closer’ ….

TaurusTrader portfolio had a decent day.  AMR was one of the stars in today’s rally, hit it’s first target of $4.85 for a profit of 31.1%.  50% position in AMR was closed today.  For the remaining 50%, the second target is $6.50.  XRT was stopped @ $24.60 (stop moved up once), but still made over 1% profit.  AGU again came very close to hitting the profit target for the second day in a row.  FCN, HON, and EXP had decent gains.

Picks for Thursday, April 16:  An increasing stream of quarterly results from companies is likely to add to the market’s volatility.  Reports from JPM andGOOG on Thursday could reshape how investors feel about the financial and technology industries. Figures are also due on home construction and unemployment claims.

I’ll wait for reports from JPM and GOOG before committing fresh money on new picks.  However, if JPM reports a great quarter, and the market responds positively, I would buy FAS (Financial 3X long ETF) at around $9.50, and hope to ride the momentum till it hits $11.60.

I’ll also have following stocks on my radar for any swing trading opportunities:  WFC, MS, MELI, IPI, HP, TCK, and BX

That’s it for now …. Good luck trading.

TaurusTrader

http://www.taurustrader.wordpress.com

Stocks to Watch for Wednesday – April 15, 2009

Tuesday’s Market Recap:  Markets pulled back responding to unexpected poor retail sales data and also on worries about banks ahead of key earning reports.  Markets were in extremely overbought condition, and in my opinion, this pull back was needed. 

For the day, Dow lost 138 points or 1.7%, to close at 7920. The S&P 500 lost 17 points or 2%, to 841, while the Nasdaq shed 28 points or 1.7%, to 1626.   Crude fell 64 cents to settle at $49.41 a barrel, and gold lost $3.80 to $892 an ounce.

Financials led the stock market lower on Tuesday as investors brushed off an upbeat earnings by GS and focused on disappointing economic data.  Retail sales for March came in at -1.1%, far below the expected, a 0.3-percent increase.  Excluding the autos, sales fell 0.9%.  January and February sales figures were, however,  revised upward.  Still, the unexpected sharp drop spooked the market.  Meanwhile, the PPI dropped 1.2%.  Excluding food and energy costs, core PPI was flat.  Business inventories dropped 1.3% in February as expected.

A spirited speech by President Obama explaining the origin and nature of the economic crisis, and an all out effort by the administration to grow the economy – could not inspire the markets.  Similarly, Ben Bernake’s speech was also ignored despite his observation that “the economic decline is slowing down off late”

TaurusTrader portfolio closed a position for profit and added a new position.  CMED hit the profit target of $18.60 in the morning for a 12.9% profit.  AGU and AMR came very close to hitting target before retreating. Very volatile  TNA lost about 10% for the day.  Today’s pick, GNK was bought at $15.67.  The other pick, FAS did not activate the buy limit, hence was not bought.

Focus list for Wednesday:  Earnings and economic data will be the center of focus again on Wednesday.  INTC reported earnings of 11 cents a share after the close on Tuesday.  This beat the street expectation handily, but the shares were down in after-hours trading as the chip giant refused to provide an outlook.  The rail-road giant, CSX was up over 3% in the after hours trading following it’s better than expected earnings report.

On the economic front, the scheduled events for Wednesday include:  Weekly mortgage applications; NY Fed Empire State survey; CPI; industrial production; weekly crude inventories; NAHB housing index; Fed’s beige book.

Markets are still in a flux …. It is hard to predict the short term direction.  TaurusTrader portfolio has 12 open positions, and is well diversified.  I’ll be watching my positions with tight stops.  I do not want to risk more capital on new positions.  I’ll be happy to watch from the side lines, at least for now on Wednesday.

If there are questions, please do post ….

Happy trading …

TaurusTrader
http://www.taurustrader.wordpress.com

Week Ahead for Stocks, March 30 – April 3, 2009

Weekly Recap (March 16 – 20, 2009): Stocks made some historic progress …. gained for three weeks in a row, the largest move since 1938.  It was a huge 3-week rally.  However, markets stuttered a little bit on Friday heading into the weekend mostly from profit taking.

On Friday, the Dow fell by 148 points or 1.9% to end at 7776.  The S&P 500 fell 16 points or 2% to end at 815, while the Nasdaq lost 41 points or 2.6% to end at 1,545.

Index	Started Week	Ended Week	Change	% Change	YTD %
DJIA	7278.38	7776.18	497.80	6.8	-11.4
Nasdaq	1457.27	1545.20	87.93	6.0	-2.0
S&P 500	768.54	815.94	47.40	6.2	-9.7

For the week, the Dow rallied 6.8%, the S&P 500 gained 6.2% and the Nasdaq rose 6%.  For the month so far, the Dow is up 10.1%, the S&P is up 11% and the Nasdaq added 12.2%.  The S&P 500 is now up 22.4% from its March 6 low of 666.8 points.

The bulk of the gains however were made on Monday with the major indices gaining over around 6% on the news of Treasury Dept releasing details on its plan to remove troubled assets from the balance sheets of banks.The gains continued, albeit modestly through rest of the week, building on some better than expected data from the housing sector, February durable goods, and final 4th quarter GDP.

Believe it or nor, the treasury auctions usually a non-market event, turned out to be a major market mover this week due to some saber rattling by China by its negative comments on US debt.

Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke appeared before Congress during the week.  Geithner also appeared on Sunday morning media circuit touting administration’s ideas and plans to jump start the economy.  Geithner is looking more and more confident, and markets are slowly warming up to the new Treasury secretary.

In the end, all ten sectors posted solid gains for the week.  Financials advanced 12.2% , industrials gained 10.5% and consumer discretionary advanced 8.8%.

TaurusTrader had a phenomenal week.  Seven positions in the swing portfolio achieved profit targets, ranging from 8.6 to 47.4%.  The positions that hit profit target, hence closed were – TCK, MELI, BMC, RY, CPRT, BX, and WSM.  Also, the April 12.50 call option in WDC (WDCDV) was also closed netting 100% profit. Please refer to my earlier posts for details.  None were stopped out.  TaurusTrader also had several successful day trade opportunities for 2 to 5% profit per trade in several recommended equities – FAS, MS, WFC, TNA, and BAC.

At the end of the week, TaurusTrader was long in – WNR, AGU, AMR, MBT, FCN, MDR, HNT, RIO, HON and BAC.

Week Ahead, March 30 – April 03, 2009: Markers are in oversold condition. Some pull back is possible, especially at the opening on Monday.  Like in previous weeks, markets will mostly be driven by news coming out of DC on auto industry bailout and banking regulations.   The G-20 meeting of finance ministers on April 2 is another media event that could have some impact on currencies.  We may need to keep an eye on how the bond and treasury auctions go. There will  be a hearing on mark to market accounting which could impact the markets.  Fed Chair, Ben Bernanke and Vice Chair Don Kohn are scheduled to speak on Friday in separate events.  On the earnings front, 52 companies are scheduled to report this week – the last week before the “official” start of 1st quarter earnings.  Some important reports that I would be watching are:

• Monday:  CALM, LAYN, SNP, CHT
  
• Tuesday: APOL, BGP, GIGM, LEN, SAH
  
• Wednesday: WOR
• Thursday: AYI, MDRX, LNN, MU, MON, RIMM
• Friday:  AZZ
  

For details on earnings calendar, please visit: http://www.zacks.com/commentary/10445/Earnings+Preview+for+Mar+30+-+Apr+3

Economic Calendar: Following economic news might have impact on the markets –

For details, please refer to:   http://online.barrons.com/public/page/barrons_econoday.html

• Monday: None
• Tuesday: 1) 9:00 am, Mar. Consumer confidence (27.0 up from 25.0);  2)  9:00 am, Jan. S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, (unchanged -18.5%);   3) 9:45 am,  Mar. Chicago PMI (34.7, up from 34.2);
• Wednesday: 1) 8:15 am, ADP employment change; 2) 10:00 am, Feb. Construction Spending (-1.6% up from -3.3%);  3) 10:00 am, Mar. ISM index (36.5 up from 35.8)   4) 10:00 a.m. Feb.  pending Home sales (-2.0% vs -7.7%);   5) 10:30 am, US Energy Dept Oil Inventories For Mar 27;  6) 2:00 pm. Mar. Auto sales.
• Thursday: 1) 8:30 a.m. Initial Jobless Claims For Mar 28 Week;  2) 10:00 am, Feb. factory Orders (-0.3% vs -1.9%;
• Friday: 1) 8:30 am, Mar. Av. work week (33.3 unch.); 2) 8:30 am. Mar. Hourly earning (0.2% unch.);  3) 8:30 am, Non-farm payroll (650 K); 4) 8:30 am, Mar. Unemployment rate (8.5% vs 8.1%); and 4) 10:00 am, Mar. ISM services index (42 vs 41.6).

Picks for Monday, March 30: The big question on every ones mind on Monday would be “whether the rally of the past 3-weeks is real, can I jump in or wait on the side lines”.  No major economic data or earnings releases are slated for Monday.  So, it would be somewhat challenging to predict how the markets would react.  I thought  Geithner did OK with his media appearances over the weekend.  But, it may not be enough to move the markets.  I’m going to wait it out.  I’ll not have any picks for Monday for our swing portfolio.  I’ll watch my positions with tight stops.

I will keep the following stocks on my radar through out the week for possible inclusion in swing portfolio or for day trading opportunities:

ORLY, NFLX, DRYS, DSX, IPI, MOS, MON, RIMM, AXP, BWLD, AMZN, WDC, MELI, FAS, WFC, BAC, MTH, IYT, COV, HUM, DE, ARO, FOSL, and GME.  Also, Gold (GLD, DZZ or DGP) and Gold mining stocks (XME, GOLD, AUY).  I expect some accelerated “directional” movement to occur with Gold and Gold related stocks in the next few days.

As in past few weeks, I expect considerable volatility associated with financial stocks.  So, I’ll be looking at the following for day trade opportunities:  FAS, WFC, BAC, and MS.

If there are questions or comments, please do post …..

Have a great week and happy trading.

TaurusTrader

http://www.taurustrader.wordpress.com

Stocks to Watch for Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Tuesday’s Market Recap:  Profit taking was the game of the day, especially at the open and at the last hour before closing!  This was quite expected after a big market rally on Monday.  Major indices briefly traded positive around mid-day after the testimony by Geithner and Bernanke to House finance committee over AIG issues.  Sellers came out in force toward sessions end pushing Dow down to 7660 or a loss of 116 points (1.5%).  All Dow components, except 3 ended in red.  S&P lost 16.9 points or 2.05% to close at 806, two consecutive days above 800 and also above 50 day MA.   Nasdaq fell 39.25 points or 2.5%, to 1516.

The dollar was mostly higher against other major currencies, while gold prices fell $28.8 or 3% to $923.30.

Oil gained 18 cents to settle at $53.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

WSM hit its profit target this morning and closed for a nice 19.8% profit (please see my earlier post for details).  All three recommended picks for today, MELI, BAC, and HON, were bought and added to TaurusTrader swing portfolio.  None of the positions got stopped out.   At the end of the day, the portfolio had following open positions – WNR, TCK, AGU, AMR, MBT, FCN, MDR, HNT, RIO, MELI, HON, and BAC.

Among the day trade picks – FAS, BAC, WFC and MS gave great profitable setups.  As discussed in earlier posts, I follow 10-min chart for day trade setups.

Picks for Wednesday, March 25:   I expect the choppy trend to continue throughout the week.  Market movement has become increasingly news driven.  Unless some encouraging news comes out in the next few days, there is a possibility that all the gains made on Monday might disappear!  President Obama in his speech to the nation, in my opinion, spoke well and made a positive case in front of American public  for his policies and budget proposal.   

I made a case for a group of stocks in my blog on March 17.  These stocks are seeing some momentum building.  So, I thought the piece is worth repeating.  This is what I said on March 17 – “There are some positive signs that the economic activities around the word is showing signs of recovery.  I expect companies that make it happen in early stages are expected to benefit immediately, such as copper producers, dry bulk shippers, railway and trucking companies, etc.  Copper price is increasing which generally indicates increase in industrial and construction activities.  Shipping activities involving essential products across globe is picking up.  Further, I also think that Ag seed, chemical, and fertilizer companies will pick up momentum as planting season in North America is about to begin.  These companies will generate more than 60% of their revenues in the next couple of months selling seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers to farmers.  So, I’ll be keeping an eye on the following companies for the next few days” –

• TCK  – Producer of copper and other metals (TCK is up by over 10% since March 17)
• SBLK, DRYS – Dry bulk shippers.  SBLK reported good earnings after the markets closed on Monday. DRYS is again up over 10%.
• ABFS, YRCW, CSX, GBX – Railway and trucking,
•  AGU, SYT, MON, TITN, ADM – Ag seed, chemical,  fertilizer, and equipment companies
• WNR, VLO – oil refiners

TaurusTrader swing portfolio is well diversified and currently has 12 open positions.  I do not want to add any more new position until I close some.

I’ll closely watch the following stocks for day trade opportunities: FAS, BAC, and MS.

If there are questions or comments, please do post.

Regards,

TaurusTrader

http://www.taurustrader.wordpress.com

BMC and BX sold for profit … RY, TCK, MBT up big …

In TaurusTrader swing portfolio, BMC has reached its profit target @ $32.00 thos morning netting 8.6% profit.  TaurusTrader bought BMC for $29.46 on 2/24/2009.

BX also hit our profit target of $7.50 for a net of 18.9%.  TaurusTrader added BX to swing portfolio on 3/16/2009 for $6.31. …. Great!

All positions are up nicely this morning, and the most notable ones are RY ($30.00), TCK ($5.20), MBT ($30.90) and RIO ($14.65)   ….

FAS, MS, WFC are also trading well from our day trade picks ….

Hope you are having a nice day too …

TaurusTrader

Stocks to Watch for Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wednesday’s Recap:  Helicopter Ben did it again.  Fed became the market maker!  As soon as the news came out that the feds would be injecting over one trillion dollars to bolster economy, all hell broke loose, and the stocks (mostly, the financial and housing) started flying!   The decision from the fed was more than expected, hence the markets reacted favorably. 

The Dow rose 90.88, or 1.2%, to 7,486.58. The Nasdaq gained 29.11, or 2%, to 1,491.22, while the S&P 500 added 16.23, or 2.1%, to 794.35.

The financials and home builders had a superb day.  TaurusTrader’s swing portfolio as well as day trade picks saw a great day too.

In the swing portfolio, WFC hit its target for a 15% gain in two days!  Except for FCN (which had a monstrous day yesterday!), all stocks in swing portfolio ended in green.  WMS was bought today at the target entry of $10.10.  TCK and AGU are yet to be filled as they did not hit their entry limit.  None were stopped out today! Other than BX and AMR, the remaining 9 positions in the portfolio have unrealized gains!.

It was a fantastic day for day trading.  I had multiple opportunities to trade for 4 to 10% profits with my picks – FAS, BAC, MS, TNA, and WFC.  As discussed before, I follow 10-min chart for my entry and exit points.

Focus list for Thursday, March 19:  Initial job less claims (est. 654K) data to be released prior to market open will probably affect how the markets open.  ORCL released an excellent earnings report after close Wednesday, which should help technology sector to some extent tomorrow.  I will trade with care as major indices are sitting very close to their 50 Day Moving Averages (please refer to my blog from yesterday).  I would not be willing commit any new monies until this resistance level is overcome emphatically.

As I mentioned in my blog – Stocks to Focus for Tuesday, March 17, 2009, I would keep looking at the following stocks, which I expect should go up in value, if the markets had to extend gains.

• TCK  – Producer of copper and other metals
• SBLK, DRYS – Dry bulk shippers.  SBLK reported good earnings after the markets closed on Monday.
• ABFS, YRCW, CSX, GBX – Railway and trucking,
•  AGU, SYT, MON, TITN, ADM – Ag seed, chemical,  fertilizer, and equipment companies
• WNR, VLO – oil refiners

I also would be keeping a close eye on another small list of stocks from which I might pick one or two for TaurusTrader swing portfolio in the next few days.  All these stocks are showing excellent momentum, and have the potential to explode at the right situation for quick gains ! Just be patient with the stocks, let them make their move!

TNA, CE, HUM, MRK, JCP, AMX, IFF, COH, ESV, RRC, TWGP, SY, KLAC, and CXW

I expect the financial, technology,  and small cap stocks to trade in a wide range again on Thursday.   I’ll be concentrating on following stocks for quick day trade opportunities:

FAS, MS, WFC, BAC, MELI, TNA, WDC, and OMTR

If there are questions or comments, please do post …

Happy trading ….

TaurusTrader

http://www.taurustrader.wordpress,com

WDC sold for 11.8% profit ….

TaurusTrader sold position in WDC for $17.10 for a nice 11.8% profit in a little over 2 days!!  WDC was bought on 3/10/2009 for $15.30.

The call option position, WDCDV (WDC April 12.50 call) is also appreciating nicely, and is up over 67%.  Last time I checked it was trading at $5.00.  The call was bought on 3/6/2009 for less than $3.00 per contract.

It is a nice day in the market …. hope you are having a great day too …

I’ll post the market recap and my picks for tomorrow later in the evening!

TaurusTrader

Stocks to Watch for Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tuesday’s Recap:  What a reversal of fortune!!  If we can string up a few more days like this …. I sure can dream of retiring!  It was a “hard to lose” day.  Pick any stock, it probably closed up.  If any one did not have a winner today, they need to check their stock picking skills … I’m serious!!

The markets were due for a bounce after such a prolonged over sold condition.  The time was ripe for some good news that the bulls could pounce upon!  It came from the City CEO Vikram Pandit before the markets opened.  He gave some rosy picture for City.  Who cares for the details!!  It was good enough for the banking stocks to rally!  Then came more news.  Congressman Barney Frank announced that SEC may consider bringing back the up-tick rule as early as next month.  Also, in the background, many traders were weighing on congressional committee meeting later this week to support temporarily relaxing the mark to market accounting rule for banks.  Race for short covering started in earnest providing more fuel to the rally as the day progressed.  This is the kind of day the TaurusTrader has been patiently waiting and ready for (please read my earlier blog, Week Ahead, March 9-13, 2009).

All three major indices saw substantial gains.  Dow ended up by 379 points (5.8%) to close at 6929, and Nasdaq fared even better picking up 90 points (7.1%) to close at 1358.3.  S&P rose by 43 points or 6.4% and closed at 719.6.  It was probably more than a short covering or dead cat bounce rally.  There was some indication of conviction buying.  The volume on NYSE was over 2 billion, which was higher than recent average volume.  Gains were wide spread across sectors.  Over 97% of S&P members advanced, and all 30 Dow components ended in green.  So, there could be more leg to this rally!

TaurusTrader had a great day with both swing and day trade picks.  WFC and JOYG hit their profit targets within 24 hours for 29.2 and 8.3% profit, respectively.  Four stocks triggered their ‘buy limit’, hence were added to the portfolio today.  They were – CPRT (added at $27.60), WDC ($15.30),  SOHU ($46.17), and MS ($19.70).  MR was dropped after being on the ‘buy’ list for 3 days without hitting the entry price.    Current swing portfolio holds 5 stocks,  BMC, CPRT, WDC, SOHU, and MS, along with two options, WDCDV (WDC April 12.50 call) and BIGCC (BIG April 15 call).

Our day trade picks for Tuesday also had a phenomenal day.  The financial picks – BAC (up 37.6%), WFC (up 23%), and UYG (up 28.5%), and Ag sector picks, MON (up 6.5%), AGU (up 8%) and IPI (up 9.6%) provided ample day trade opportunities. 

Picks for Wednesday, March 11, 2009:  I would keep a close eye on banking stocks, specifically – BAC, WFC, and MS.  They were already gaining from where they left off at close, in the after market hours.  Wednesday may see some more substantial gains for these stocks.  Energy, shipping, technology, mining, and ag sector stocks are also of interest.  I would focus on HP, DSX, MELI, IPI, AGU, and JOYG for any day trading opportunities.

Also, I would like to add the following stocks to TaurusTrader swing portfolio:

1.  DRYS – Buy above $4.65, Target $6.50, Stop $3.95

2. MBT – Buy above $28.35, Target $33.10, Stop $24.30

Good luck trading ….

TaurusTrader

http://www.taurustrader.wordpress.com

WFC target hit for 29.2% profit …

WFC has hit our target of $11.30 at the market open today.  Our entry price was $8.75 which triggered yesterday.  It is a nice 29.2% profit in less than 24 hours. 

JOYG was also up nicely – up by over 6% and is alomost close to hitting our target ($19.50).

All banking stocks are up nicely this morning upon City CEO Vikram Pandit’s positive comments.  I expect some nice day trading opportunities in this sector.  Per my earlier blog entry, I’ll be in and out of BAC, WFC, and UYG as when the opportunity arise.  I use 10-minute chart for day trading decisions.

Good luck …

TaurusTrader

Good Riddance, February …. March on to March.

February was a disaster for markets to put it bluntly. Despite some resiliency at times, any hope for a rebound was dashed in the last week. It was the worst February since 1933. Major averages dropped through a series of long term lows. For the month, S&P lost 10.9% to close at 735.09, and Dow lost 11.7% to close at 7062.9. Dow has fallen steadily (- 38%) for 6 months in a row. However, Nasdaq is still holding the November 21,2008 low of 1295.5, and it closed at 1377.84. For the first two months of this year, Dow is down by 19.5%, S&P by 18.6%. Nasdaq is a little better, but still down by 12%.

It was a bad Friday, the last day of trading in February. Bad news came from all directions. Before the open, news came out that Uncle Sam would own 36% of City (C) effectively diluting current share holder value to just 26% of the company. Then came the worst GDP data (-6.2%) since 1982, indicating a deeper contraction in the economy than originally announced. And, on top later in the day, GE announced that it would slash dividend to 10 cents from 31 cents in order to preserve about 9 billion in capital and to maintain AAA credit rating. This action is the first for GE which had maintained or increased its dividend for 32 consecutive years. This spooked the market even further. 36 companies in S&P have cut their dividends in the past 6 months. Many more are likely to follow in the next few months as companies are trying whatever they can to preserve capital and survive this economic down turn.

Let the “March Madness” begin …. I believe that ‘volatility’ will be again the name of the game. There is still a lot of uncertainty about the direction of the market. Markets are in extremely oversold condition and want to bounce up with any whiff of good news. But, any good news is hard to come by. The political rhetoric in DC is not helping out a bit. It looks like ‘traders’ have revolted against the proposed policies of President Obama’s administration. Market is worried about the sweeping unprecedented changes proposed in health care, education and energy policies. Questions about the health of nation’s biggest financial institutions are still murky despite the government action with City (C) last week. Worries about toxic assets on their balance sheet still plague the markets. Many market pundits are predicting another leg down as a path of least resistance.

March will begin with a flood of economic data in the first week. Expect significant volatility and wide swings within a short period of time as the markets try to digest numbers. Some important economic data scheduled for release during the week are –

Source: http://bloomberg/markets/ecalendar/index.html

Monday – Personal income; ISM manufacturing index; Construction spending
Tuesday – Motor vehicle sales; pending home sales
Wednesday – ADP employment; ISM non-manufacturing; Beige book; crude inventory
Thursday – chain store sales; jobless claims; productivity and costs; factory orders;
Friday – Unemployment and non-farm pay roll; consumer credit.

Apart from these, also watch for Fed chief Ben Bernanke, who is scheduled to appear before senate budget committee on Tuesday morning.

On Earnings front, about 240 companies, including 8 members of S&P are scheduled to report.  

Source: http://www.zacks.com/commentary/10168/Earnings+Preview+for+Mar+2+-+6.

I would be keeping an eye on the following companies –

Monday – ABM, DISH, EGLE, SATS, MDR, POM, SWHC,
Tuesday – AZO, ARD, SSW,
Wednesday – BJ, COST, URS, MATK, MR, PETM, AUY
Thursday – CIEN, CNQ, COO, URBN, WNR, EBS, FTEK, IPI,
Friday – HRB

TaurusTrader portfolio recap – We were very conservative in our picks, as well as in our stops and profit targets. Despite the market downturn, our portfolio had a decent week. As I said before, who cares what the overall market does … we don’t. What we care is how our ‘picks’ do!! Please check my blog entry on February 24 – Is this the bottom … I don’t care, so shouldn’t you. We pick the ‘right’ stock to trade using our research and best judgement. So, because of this philosophy within a short period of time (1 to 4 days), we booked tidy profits with our ‘swing’ picks – C (av. 30%), SWHC (30.7%), MS (11.7%) and MELI (11.3%). We were stopped out of DRI (-8.1%)and ATHN (-6.2%).  We still hold UYG, CMG, PBR, and BMC, which are either up or down by 1 to 3% for the week. ADM and SVR failed to hit our target entry price, hence were not filled.

The day trade picks suggested throughout the week (BAC, UYG, WFC, MS, IPI, SYT, SU, HP, MON, HPQ) provided excellent intraday volatility to pocket any where from 2 to 13% within a day depending on ones entry and closing targets. However, two picks – WDC and AGU did not turn out well.

Picks for Monday, March 2: I’ll be on a ‘holding’ pattern. I’ll monitor my longs carefully, and follow with predetermined stops. On my day trade picks, I will be conservative and at the same time very nimble. In might even liquidate profitable positions even before they hit my profit target if the markets start to turn against me. I’ll protect my profit. If I liked a stock so much, there will be chances to reenter at a later time. If not, there are always other equities with a greater probability for a favorable outcome.

Following equities are on my watch list for Monday, March 2:

Drop ADM from ‘add’ list per my rule. It did not hit the “entry limit” of $28.50 within being on the list for 3 days.

ORBC – Buy above 2.07, stop 1.69, target 2.50 (very volatile, reports on 3/16/2009).
SWHC – will be releasing earnings on 3/2/2009. Would re-enter on a good earnings report.

Retail sector will be in focus next week. RTH had a good day on Friday. Same store data is due on 3/5/2009. I expect, some members of this group to gain some more momentum heading in to the data release. I’ll be watching ARO and BKE. These the two teen retailers have consistently reported good same store sale numbers in the past. I’ll also watch for movements in BIG and FDO, which are looking good technically.

As in last week, Ag and energy sector stocks will be the focus for day trade opportunities. The equities include – MON, AGU, SYT, MOS, IPI, SU, and HP. I would closely follow the crude price when I’m trading these stocks. They tend to move in tandem with crude, especially the ETF’s DIG or USO on intraday basis.

MELI hit our profit target of $16.80 on Friday. The stock is still riding on its earnings momentum. I may consider re-entering MELI above $17.15, to a profit target of 19.25.

As usual, if there are questions, please do post …. Let us help each other profit from good trading ideas!

Please watch out for volatility ….

Wish you a very pleasant and profitable day

Regards,

TaurusTrader
http://www.taurustrader.worlpress.com